SAP GUI Family

SAP GUI is SAP's universal client for accessing SAP functionality in SAP applications such as - SAP ERP, SAP Business Suite (SAP CRM, SAP SCM and SAP PLM), SAP Business Intelligence and so on. SAP GUI functions like a browser. It gets information from the SAP server like what, where, when and how to display contents in its window. All members of the SAP GUI family have unique attributes that make them especially suited for different user environments. SAP GUI comes in the following three different flavors:

SAP GUI for Windows

SAP GUI for Windows is an implementation especially designed for the Windows operating system, providing a Windows-like user experience and integration with other applications, based on OLE interfaces or ActiveX controls.

SAP GUI for the Java Environment

SAP GUI for the Java environment is a unified SAP frontend for multiple platforms. It is based on a platform-independent architecture and Java implementation. As a major benefit, it provides access to SAP applications that are based on Control-Enabling and therefore used to be reserved for Windows users in the past. Please, note that SAP GUI for Java is also available on Windows. 

SAP GUI for HTML

SAP GUI for HTML automatically maps the screen elements in SAP transactions to HTML using HTML Business functions available within the SAP Internet Transaction Server. A web browser is sufficient to access almost all transactions. Please note: Since SAP GUI for HTML is an application running on the ITS, you find corresponding information on the ITS Wiki page. The SAP Screen Personas 3.0 editor is run in the SAP GUI for HTML after you install the SAP Screen Personas add-on.

You find information on the supported platforms in the Support Matrix for SAP GUI for Windows, the Support Matrix for SAP GUI for Java or in SAP GUI section of the Product Availability Matrix (PAM).

UI-specific information

Under the following links, you find the online help for the members of the SAP GUI family with all available guides (end user, administration, configuration, development etc.):

• SAP GUI for Windows Documentation
• SAP GUI for Java Documentation
• SAP GUI for HTML
• End User Guide
• Development and Administration Guide

General Information

• Frontend Network Requirements (SAP Support Portal Login required!)
  Distributed landscapes today lead to the fact that an increasing number of users connect to a central system from dispersed sites with varying degrees of available bandwidth. As a consequence, user access is through local area network (LAN) and wide area network WAN (dial-up, frame relay, Internet, etc.). This paper contains a description of SAP's frontend characteristics from both a LAN and a WAN perspective.
  Please note that this paper does not discuss server-to-server traffic or printing.

• Google ALV Integration
• Export of ALV Grid Data to Google Sheets: This document shows you how to implement and configure the export of ALV grid data directly to Google Drive and display exported data automatically in Google Sheets.
  If you have questions concerning this functionality, you can ask your question here in the SAP Community. Please, use ABAP Development as primary tag and choose alv as additional user tag. You find an overview of all ALV questions under: https://answers.sap.com/topics/alv.html.
• Sample Code on GitHub
  To help you create the necessary classes and interfaces in the ABAP Workbench, sample code has been made available under this GitHub link.

Update on the SAP GUI Family

This presentation explains the different types of SAP GUI (for Windows, for Java, for HTML) and when to use them.

For download and maintenance information, click on one of the following links (SAP Support Portal Login is required. In case of download problems, check SAP note 1037574):

* Note: You need the SAP GUI Screenreader Extensions on your client PC to use the accessibility mode in SAP GUI for Windows (with Screenreaders).

• SAP GUI Scripting
  SAP GUI Scripting offers an automation interface to SAP GUI that can be used for macro recording and playback, development of test tools and application integration.
• SAP Console
  As part of SAP's ongoing effort to build on SAP systems core business logic and offer it for non-standard display environments, SAPConsole has been developed to support different types of output devices. SAP Console supports character-cell terminals, including radio frequency (RF) devices, as well as web-equipped devices.
• SAP Screen Personas
  SAP Screen Personas provides a simple, drag and drop approach to simplify many common SAP screens to make them more usable as well as more visually appealing. IT departments and authorized end-users can modify screens using their own unique knowledge of which information they need on the screen to optimize usability and productivity. SAP Screen Personas works with ECC (starting with NetWeaver 7.00 SP25 or higher) through SAP S/4HANA.
• GuiXT
  GuiXT allows you to simplify transactions without having to modify them. You can hide screen elements that you do not need, or add elements such as checkboxes, pushbuttons, graphics, and documentation.

You find information on the expected release dates for SAP GUI patches/revisions in the following notes (SAP Support Portal login required!):

• SAP GUI for Windows: Note 1053737
• SAP GUI for Java: Note 1229666

To stay up to date with the patches and in order to get a trigger (e-mail) once a new patch has been delivered, subscribe to the corresponding note. How one can subscribe to a note is described here.

You find information on the function scope of a release in the following release notes:

• SAP GUI for Windows: 7.70, 8.00
• SAP GUI for Java: 7.70, 7.80