SAP Fiori has redefined the way users interact with enterprise applications by focusing on simplicity, responsiveness, and role-based design. One of the key innovations accelerating SAP Fiori adoption is SAP Fiori Elements, a framework that allows rapid development of SAP Fiori apps with minimal coding while ensuring a consistent and high-quality user experience.
This article introduces SAP Fiori Elements, its benefits, architecture, and how it empowers organizations to build scalable and maintainable applications efficiently.
SAP Fiori Elements are a set of pre-defined templates and components that developers use to create standardized SAP Fiori applications. Instead of designing the UI from scratch, Fiori Elements enable the generation of consistent, responsive, and accessible apps based on metadata annotations and reusable building blocks.
By leveraging SAP Fiori Elements, organizations can accelerate app development, reduce errors, and maintain uniformity across their SAP application landscape.
- Faster Development: With predefined templates and automation, developers spend less time on UI design and more on business logic.
- Consistency: Apps created with Fiori Elements adhere strictly to SAP Fiori design guidelines, ensuring a uniform look and feel.
- Reduced Maintenance: Because of standardized code and metadata-driven UI, maintenance and upgrades become simpler and less error-prone.
- Responsive and Accessible: Apps are automatically optimized for multiple devices and comply with accessibility standards.
- Integration with OData Services: Fiori Elements apps rely on OData services, allowing seamless integration with SAP backend systems.
SAP Fiori Elements offers several ready-to-use templates, each designed for specific application scenarios:
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List Report
- Displays lists of business objects.
- Supports filtering, sorting, grouping, and inline editing.
- Commonly used for overview pages like purchase orders or sales documents.
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Object Page
- Displays detailed information about a single business object.
- Includes sections and subsections for grouped data.
- Often used in conjunction with List Reports.
-
Overview Page
- Presents key information from various sources in tiles and cards.
- Provides a dashboard-like view for quick insights.
-
Worklist
- Displays a list of tasks or items requiring user action.
- Supports quick processing and navigation.
-
Analytical List Page
- Combines analytical charts and list reports.
- Enables users to explore data visually and perform detailed analysis.
The magic behind SAP Fiori Elements lies in metadata-driven UI generation:
- Developers annotate OData services and data models using Core Data Services (CDS) annotations or UI annotations.
- These annotations describe UI elements like fields, tables, actions, and navigation without manually coding the UI.
- The Fiori Elements framework interprets these annotations to dynamically generate the UI at runtime.
- This approach separates UI from business logic, enabling flexibility and reuse.
SAP Fiori Elements applications can be developed using:
- SAP Business Application Studio (BAS): A cloud-based IDE with templates and wizards for generating Fiori Elements apps.
- SAP Web IDE (Legacy): Previously used for app development with templates.
- ABAP Development Tools (ADT) in Eclipse: For developing OData services and CDS views with annotations.
SAP Fiori Elements is ideal for applications that:
- Follow common enterprise patterns (list reports, object pages)
- Require rapid development and deployment
- Need to comply with SAP Fiori design guidelines consistently
- Have OData services with well-defined metadata
For highly customized or unique UI requirements, a freestyle SAPUI5 app might still be preferred.
SAP Fiori Elements represent a powerful way to accelerate SAP Fiori app development by combining metadata-driven UI generation with SAP’s proven design principles. By adopting Fiori Elements, organizations can deliver consistent, scalable, and maintainable applications faster and with less effort.
For SAP developers and architects, mastering SAP Fiori Elements is an essential skill that unlocks the potential to rapidly build enterprise-grade apps while ensuring an exceptional user experience.