SAP Business Client FAQ

SAP Business Client is a user interface (UI) that presents a single entry point to different SAP business applications and technologies. It is a high-fidelity shell that integrates various UI technologies and design generations aimed at a more efficient, intuitive, and complete user experience over different UI technologies, such as Web Dynpro ABAP/FPM, SAP GUI transactions, and SAP Fiori apps.

The current release SAP Business Client 8.00 is available since January 27.

8.00: Expected Releases

For restrictions within 8.00 see: SAP Business Client 8.00: Prerequisites and Known Issues

SAP Business Client supports Microsoft operating systems which are listed within the SAP PAM (Product Availability Matrix).

Newer versions like 8.00 also do not support MAC and there are no plans for that.

NWBC uses HTTP to contact the ABAP system, which then sends back a MYSAPSS02 or a SAP_SESSIONID cookie (assertion ticket). Value 3 is the default parameter in the kernel as of NetWeaver 7.40 to enable the AS ABAP to issue authentication assertion tickets and no logon tickets. We recommend you use this value.

This is then used to talk to the ABAP system. This should be in the documentation – See SAP Lbrary : Authentication

Caution:

It is the responsibility of the customers to make whatever security settings are necessary in the browser. Pay particular attention to your proxy settings. NWBC uses the security settings from the Internet Explorer. NWBC does not store or persistently keep any authentication data in any form.

Recommendation:

To make data access both simple and secure we recommend combining SAP Business Client with SAP Single Sign-On.

As of release SAP Single Sign-On 2.0, SAP Single Sign-On offers support for SPNEGO for ABAP.

Leveraging this Kerberos-based single sign-on technology, you can implement an SAP Single Sign-On solution for your SAP Business Client quickly and easily, and without the need for a Java stack.

See how in the following blog by Sandra Thimme:

NWBC meets Single Sign-On: Simplify Secure Data Access (Part 1)

Once SNC/SSO is configured for a user you have to create an alias to logon without SNC. Use transaction SICF to create an alias. See how in the following blog by Sandra Thimme:

NWBC and SSO: Logon with/without SNC (Secure Network Communication)

NWBC for HTML is a browser-based shell for which a desktop installation is not needed. NWBC for HTML runs as a program on the AS ABAP generating HTML code; it is therefore related to the AS for ABAP server on which it is running. NWBC for HTML version 3.5 is available on AS ABAP with NWBC Server Version 3.5, NWBC for HTML version 3.6 is available with the server runtime for SAP NetWeaver user interface services as of SAP User Interface Add-On 1.0 SPS 04 for SAP NetWeaver and SAP NetWeaver 7.4 SPS 03.

Note: You have to activate the correct SICF node for your version of NWBC for HTML. 

See Product Availability Matrix (PAM)

SAP Business Client 8.00 for Desktop supports Microsoft Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge, see:

https://blogs.sap.com/2021/12/21/counting-on-microsoft-edge/

You could place a reverse proxy in front of your application servers to spread the load, and allow you to
later dynamically consider additional servers. Or start SAP Business Client for Desktop via the message server to
automatically lock onto the least busy application server.

This is described in detail in the documentation. SAP Help Portal: Using SAP Business Client with a Load Balancer

SAP Business Client for Desktop: It accesses the server only once during startup to authenticate the user and then to
verify that the navigation tree in its cache is still valid. In the usual case, two HTTP requests are all that are
needed once a day for SAP Business Client for Desktop (extra features, such as searching for transactions, does add
additional requests to the server, but these should be the norm on a shop floor).

NWBC for HTML: The server renders the shell. Each interaction with the shell, for example starting a new
application, results in a small amount of network overhead to get a new shell rendered from the ABAP
server, plus of course the ABAP session.

ABAP runtime: The client fires a set of HTTP requests to the server. For the desktop client, it is the
sequence of requests to validate its cache. For the HTML shell it is the series of requests to trigger the
navigation. The ABAP runtime becomes stateful (keeps the ABAP session) for 15-30 seconds, before the
session is cleared again. As such, the overhead is very little on ABAP. (Keep in mind that the desktop client
only calls once on startup.)

No.

The message on the Index page can be replaced by a different text, even with parameters.

Use parameter WELCOME_MESSAGE in the backend configuration table NWBC_CFG. See also

Definition of Configuration Parameters with Table NWBC_CFG

All changes stored locally on a user’s PC (for example reordering of work centers / icons for work centers /
hide some work centers / font changes/ etc) do not work on another PC.

All changes within canvas applications are stored on the server and would work on another computer.

Personalization: Options are stored locally and are Windows-user specific. The sequence of the work centers
and the icons are even stored per connection and per user accessing the connection.

We have  summarized answers to these questions in the following blog post:

Why and When ....?

NWBC.exe – That is what gets executed when you click on the icon on the desktop.

NWBCCore.exe – This is the main process to run NWBC.

NWBCSAPlets. Exe – This is an SAP widget engine for SAPLets (not productized)

NWBCURLHandler. Exe – This is a small launcher to react to a URL like: „sap-nwbc://“. It is used to start
NWBC against a specific server. The customer can create “sap-nwbc://xxx” link Web page and by click user
would start NWBC. NwbcUrlHandler.exe offers no parameter documentation. Facing any issues with NwbcUrlHandler.exe you have to open a ticket.

sapAcfDummy. Html – Acf specific (Active Component Framework). Used for JGannt/JNett, Microsoft
Office integration

SAPAcfEolasPatch.js

Before you maintain the roles you have to clearly define the business processes. You can then derive the
business roles from these and then turn them fairly quickly into PFCG roles. Creating the menus should
then be straightforward.

In our experience most customers need to spend more time defining their business processes. This leads to
concrete, time-consuming but crucial preliminary questions of the form: “Is Mr. X allowed to do Y or only
Z?” and “To what extent do we want to restrict our employees’ working environment?”

See the following blog post:

SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA – Understanding SAP Business Roles

Yes, with the following limitations:

• Scripting works reliably only for ONE instance of NWBC. This is because, for each SapGuiProcess, there is a “SAPGUISERVER”-running object table entry (“ROT entry). If you try to fetch the scripting object (GetObject(“SAPGUISERVER”) , and if you have several instances open, pointing to different systems, it may not be clear to the system which instance is the right one
• There may be limitations with remote connection handling.
• There is a problem if the script points to SAP Easy Access: Currently, in SAP GUI standalone, if you keep hitting Back (F3), you end up in SMEN. You can then navigate somewhere else. In NWBC, if you keep hitting F3, you end up, finally , with a closed tab.

The side panel in SAP Business Client is not only a additional UI area located on the side of the content area but also an infrastructure to enhance existing SAP GUI transactions from older releases without modifications.

Tags are the basis for the extraction process (extracted via SAP GUI scripting). They define which screen properties are to be extracted from an application running in the content area, and with which name the extracted properties are passed to the side panel application . All tags are stored in the tag table. For more information, see 6.7.2 Creating Tags in the Tag Table .

Here, we have to distinguish between SAP Business Client for desktop and NWBC for HTML.

Desktop client : you can find out about NWBC using the menu options Help -> About Business
Client and then you can find out even more by clicking System Information. You can also click on the SAP
icon right at the bottom of the SAP Business Client to access system information.

But that does not tell you whether you are in a QM system etc.

In new versions if SAP Business Client for Desktop such as 4.0 or in the HTML Add-On our developers are working on
theming. For example, you could display the shell in a different color depending on whether the system is
a production system, a QM system or a development system.

With the HTML version you can specify a Welcome message. This message appears at the top of NWBC.

You could mention the system type (eg QM) in this Welcome message.

Here is the technical background:

***

WELCOME_MESSAGE

At runtime, the system selects the welcome message in the logon language.

If no matching language entry is found, LANG=’ ‘ or LANG=’*’ is used as a fallback.

The welcome message is displayed in NWBC for HTML next to the Log Off pushbutton.

The VALUE field contains the text. You can use the following placeholders:

&NAME&: first name

&SURNAME&: last name

&FULL_NAME&: full name

&USER&: user name

&CLIENT&: client

&SYSTEM&: system ID

***

So far there is no limitation from the SAP Business Client side, except a memory limit. It is possible to open 100
windows, but be careful; some servers limit the number of open sessions. For example, by default, SAP
J2EE limits the number of open Web Dynpro JAVA applications to 20.There is a limit of 16 on the number of SAP GUI sessions.The default number is 6. Note: Each and every side panel is using an extra session. So the number of six might in any case not be enough.

ABAP Language (Enhanced) (BC-ABA-LA) (Further Changes).

For more information, see rdisp/max_alt_modes:
User Context

Yes, Testing@SAP” contains a SAP Business Client installation.

SAP Business Client for Desktop works on Windows platforms, also on Citrix. NWBC for HTML is browser-based (see
SAP’s browser PAM); it also runs in Citrix environments.

Yes:

First, you need to set up a connection and trusted relationship between the two systems:

Trust Relationships between SAP Systems

Then, you need to follow the documentation:

https://help.sap.com/viewer/f526c7c14c074e7b9d18c4fd0c88c593/7.0.7/en-US/4c5bdd2a97817511e10000000a42189b.html?q=integrate%20crm

In general, you can integrate any third-party content that can be accessed by URL.

It’s possible to run/launch 3rd party application from Business Client by defining a new entry in
PFCG with “Web address/file URL” type (like Web Dynpro/Transaction/other types).

You call SAP TM using SAP Business Client that is connected to an ABAP client.

More information: SAP Transportation Management (SAP TM) – Introductory Information and https://community.sap.com/topics/transportation-management

Related blogs:

TM Search Provider within SAP Business Client Quick Launch:

https://blogs.sap.com/2015/03/02/wks-how-to-use-nwbc-in-tm-search-providers/

TM Quick Search:

https://blogs.sap.com/2015/12/23/activate-the-tm-quicksearch/

https://blogs.sap.com/2016/02/10/integrate-the-tm-quicksearch-into-an-pfcg-role/