Lesson-2: Environment Setup

First of all we need to know, which software components we need for starting the Agentry development. They are listed below:

•       SMP SDK
•        SMP Server

You can live only with the server if your intention is only using an already developed Agentry application and doesn’t involve any kind of development work. Agentry server provides the platform for deploying the application and you need to have a client to access it. However, if you want to do any kind of development work you need the Agentry SDK which is a part of the SMP SDK (Software Development Kit). So as a developer you need to have both the above listed components.

Steps For Installing the Agentry Server:

You can get the Server and SDK from SAP marketplace or some other credible source. Before we start installing the Agentry server, we have to define a system DSN which will be used by the server to communicate with the back end.

Creating A Data Source Name:

DSN stands for Data Source Name. It acts as the medium through which SMP server can interact with the backend. Follow the below steps to configure a system DSN in your system:

   1.    Go to this path ‘Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Administrative Tools’

   2.    Double click on Data Sources (ODBC)

   3.    Go to System DSN

   4.    Create a new System DSN

   5.    Select the Driver applicable in you scenario. In my case it is SQL Server.

   6.    Give some relevant name e.g: SAPWMMx1 (Refer Fig.1)

   7.    Select the SQL server you want to connect from the list of available servers and       click on next. (Refer Fig.1)

   8.    For authenticating, you can select windows authentication or SQL Server             authentication (needs valid credentials of the data base), Click Next. (Refer Fig.2)

   9.    Select the default database if required. (Refer Fig.3)

  10. Click Finish and click test data Source. Once you get the message Test Completed successfully you can proceed with the SMP server installation. (Refer Fig.5)

             

                                                           

                                                        (Fig.1)

                                              

                                                        (Fig.2)

                                                          

                                                            (Fig.3)

                                                      

                                                          (Fig.4)

We will use the Agentry Server and SMP server names alternatively throughout this post as they both mean the same in our context.

Installing the SMP Server:

SMP 3.0 Service pack 14 is the latest available Agentry Server version. These steps has been performed with service pack 11.

Fig 5: Folder view of the SMP Server Installable

Fig 6 shows the components inside the SMP server installable folder. If you give a look to the address bar you can find SAPSMPRT3011_0. If you decode this you will come to know the version of the SMP server.

·         SAP stands for the name of the parent company (Systems, Applications, Products).

·         SMP stands for SAP Mobile Platform.

·         RT stands for Run Time.

·         3.0 is the SMP server version.

·         11 is the Service Pack version (SP11).

·         0 is the patch level.

You have to double click on the component highlighted in red to start installing the server. Then follow the below illustrated steps. It’s implicit to click next after each step.

                                                           (Fig.6)

                                                 

                                                        (Fig.7)

Select the path you want to use for the server.

                                                     

                                                      (Fig.8)

                                                       (Fig.9)

Select Developer Installation.

                                                          (Fig.10)

                                                          (Fig.11)

Set the key store password same as your system password.

Admin user name and Admin Password are required to access the cockpit. You can set it as you wish. Cockpit is an interface between the developer and the SMP Server. You can do all the application, user, log level configurations on this platform.

                                                  (Fig.12)

You have to create a windows account in your system with the name ‘smpServiceUser’ and use the appropriate password here.

                                                   (Fig.13)

                                                 

                                                    (Fig.14)

                                                        (Fig.15)

                                                          (Fig.16)

The server is successfully installed and you can deploy an already developed Agentry application now. You can find the server folder at C\SAP\MobilePlatform3.

Setting up the Editor:

Now as the server is ready to use, we will need the SDK to do development activity. We have to get the SMP SDK File from some valid source and it should be compatible with the server version.

                                  

                         [fig 17: Folder level view of SMP SDK 3.0 SP10]

Navigate to the path shown in figure 18. You will find the agentry plugin. Now, follow the next steps ( fig 19 and 20) to install the Agentry plugin to Eclipse Editor.

                                                  [fig.18 : Agentry Plugin] 

                                        [fig.19 : Click on the selected option]

                                [fig.20 : Navigate and select the Agentry plugin]

Restart Eclipse after installing the plugin.

Keep Learning… J

Lesson-1: What is Agentry: The basics

It’s the age of smart phones and we prefer to do most of our works through them. Mobile application development is a fast growing industry and it is a great career option undoubtedly. We will learn about enterprise mobile app development through Agentry in this blog. First of all, let’s know about mobile applications in brief. Mobile applications can be broadly divided into 4 types:

1.     Native apps: Native applications are applications that has been developed for a particular platform(android/iphone) and it can take advantage of the features provided by the particular OS(camera, GPS etc.). They offer very good experience to the user in terms of speed and reliability. You can access them from google play store. Example of native apps: Angry birds mobile app.

2.     Web Apps: A web app is the mobile version of any website. You don’t have to install a web app and you don’t need any available space on your device. It loads within your mobile browser. Web apps are limited in what they can do effectively in terms of features and they will generally always require an Internet connection to work. Example: When you connect to facebook from your mobile browser, you see a web application.

3.     Hybrid Apps: It combines best of both native and web apps. It can use the features provided by operating system of the mobile and behaves as a web app in terms of internet connectivity. It’s not as fast as native app as it depends upon the internet speed. You have to install this kind of application on your mobile. It requires knowledge of both native code and web technologies to develop hybrid apps. Example: Facebook mobile application.

4.     Agentry Apps: Agentry app is a type of enterprise mobile application(used by enterprises like: Infosys, Wipro or any utility sector) and is accessible only to a set of authenticated users. It is accessed through an agentry client. The client acts as a container to hold the application data by connecting to the server, once the application has been downloaded it can function both online and offline. So, technically you never download the actual application to your device but access it by using a client. The client is made available by an enterprise app store rather than google play store. This will be more clear as we start developing the application.

Introduction to Agentry:
Agentry is a tool used to develop enterprise mobile applications. It provides a set of inbuilt functionalities for development and can be accessed via Eclipse editor. It supports building mobile app for any platform including Win32, Window CE, Android and iOS (supports iPhone and iPad). Syclo introduced this tool which is currently owned by SAP. Agentry is now a part of SAP Mobile Platform(SMP). SMP lets you create any kind of mobile application and agentry is just one of those types. SAP has designed a standard application named: SAP Work Manager using agentry which can be used for enterprises to meet their business needs.

More About Agentry:

This tool becomes very easy once you understand the basics of it. However, there will be some complex functionalities which will need a substantial amount of brain storming. We will be building this application using Eclipse editor. All you need to do is install the agentry plugin within the Eclipse editor (You will find the detailed steps in subsequent posts).

After building the application in Eclipse we have to deploy it to the Agentry server (SMP Server). As we know for accessing any information on the server, we need a client. In this case we will need agentry client which is a native application. It is different for different platforms and has to be downloaded separately from app store for each platform. Once you have this client application on your mobile, you can connect to the application deployed on the server giving the URL of the same. Then it will fetch all the application related data from the server and backend (Backend can be any database used inside that enterprise for storing data e.g: Microsoft SQL server, SAP, IBM DB2). After all the relevant data gets downloaded, you can use it as a native application.

Let me explain the above points with the help of a simple real life scenario. Suppose, a certain utility sector wants to develop an agentry application for managing data entered by the field users. First of all they should have a back end which can store all the enterprise information. Then the development team has to deploy the agentry application on the SMP server and provide each field user with a mobile device with the agentry client installed on it. They will synchronize the client with server entering the provided URL and credentials and download all the application data into their device. This application will fetch basic information about all the work orders (work order number, start and finish dates, address details, tasks to be performed). Post receiving the work details, the field worker will enter other required details on the mobile application and perform a transmit. This transmit will connect the device to the database through the Agentry server and add/update the records based on some pre-defined logic. Thus, all the required information will be stored on the backend with ease and the user/planner can access the information 24X7. Below is a sample screen shot of Agentry client for iPhone.

Fig 1: Agentry client for iphone platform

You can download the Agentry client from the app store. Search for SAP Work Manager.