Configuring in the Browser, Really!
Tim Geisler and Heribert Schütz,
CWG European Conference Prague 2015, SAP Configuration Workgroup,
2015-04-28
Abstract
We present an approach for tackling common problems in configuration
frameworks:
- It is often difficult to map a conceptual model of a configurable
product into the restricted capabilities of configuration engines.
For the end user this leads to suboptimal UIs.
- The communication between a custom UI front-end and the configuration
engine is cumbersome to implement. For the end user the need for
round-trips between the UI and the configuration server can cause a
sluggish user experience.
With HTML5 and JavaScript-based UI frameworks such as React.js browsers
have advanced into a powerful application platform. This allows to run
not only the UI but also the configuration logic in the browser.
This benefits the work of various stakeholders:
- Modelers are provided with powerful data structures and the ability to
define their own concepts.
- Gradually extending the standard UI with custom features becomes easy
and is based on standard technologies.
- End users will enjoy the user experience of modern web applications.
- End users can even use configurators in offline mode, without access
to a server.
- There is no need to run and maintain a server-side configuration
engine.
We demonstrate this approach with concrete products and discuss the
integration with an SAP back end.
Slides