Object List Item

The object list item is the list item variant used most frequently in SAP Fiori applications. Consisting of a title, key figure, attributes, and a status, it contains the most important information about an object.

The space available for the attributes and status is limited as it should only show crucial information that allows the user to decide which items should be dealt with first.

All essential information about an object is usually provided when the user navigates to the item details.

For more information, see object list item.

Standard List Item

The standard list item is used for less complex entries, such as when the user selects an item in a dialog. This list item contains an optional image, a title, description, and a single info text (which can contain semantic information).

For more information, see standard list item.

Display List Item

The display list item is the simplest form of a list item and is only capable of showing a label and values. It is seldom used.

For more information, see display list item.

Action List Item

The action list item allows various actions to be triggered in a dialog. The action list item is not used in the content area.

For more information, see action list item.

Feed List Item

The feed list item is mainly used in feeds and notes.

For more information, see feed list item.

Input List Item

The input list item allows the user to enter data in a list item. It is seldom used in SAP Fiori apps as forms are usually the preferable method for entering data.

For more information, see input list item.

Header

The header text contains the title of the list. It is usually only used when the list is in the content area.

Footer

The footer text is the last entry in the list, and as such, it scrolls away with the content. Therefore, this property is also seldom used.

Lazy Loading

Like the table, the list also allows lazy loading. The “growing” list property is used for this purpose.

Empty List

Avoid empty lists. If necessary, provide instructions on how to fill the list with data (sap.m.List/ sap.m.ListBase, properties: noDataText, showNoData).

Examples:

• If a list is initially empty, provide at least a basic text:
  No items available.
  Overwrite this whenever a hint can be provided on how to fill the list with data.
• If a list is used together with a filter bar (as in the list report), and is initially empty, use the following text:
  No filters set. To start, enter your search and filter settings and run the search.
• If a list is used together with a filter bar and the filter does not return results, use the following text:
  No items found. Check the search and filter settings.

Adapt the texts above if:

• The standard text is not precise enough for your use case (for example, no search is offered, only the search is offered).
• You are using the live search (no Go button in the filter bar). In this case, leave out “run the search”.
• The standard text is misleading (for example, if the data is filled based on a list-detail pattern instead of search and filter settings).

Count

List items can have a count, which is located on the far right of a row. You can use the count in simple lists, such as those that contain standard list items, to indicate how many subitems the user can expect when navigating to the item.

Read/Unread

You can set an indicator to highlight unread items, making it easier for the user to discover them (property: showUnread = true). If you set this indicator, all texts for the unread items are shown in bold font.

By default, this indicator is switched off, and all list items are displayed in normal font.

Highlight Items

To show that an item needs attention, a highlight indicator can be shown in front of the item. The highlight indicator can be used to indicate:

• A semantic state, such as red or orange for an error or warning. In this case, use semantic colors.
• Additional information, such as blue to highlight newly added items. In this case, use semantic colors.
• Industry-specific or process-specific states, such as “out of stock” or “excess of inventory”. In this case, use indication colors.

Be aware that the highlight is just an indication. It does not tell users exactly what is wrong. Make sure that you provide this information within the table row, ideally in the same color.

For details on the use of highlight colors, see How To Use Semantic Colors / Industry-Specific Colors.

(sap.m.ListItemBase, property: highlight)

Scroll

The height of the list is defined by the number of items it contains. It does not have its own scroll container, but is scrolled together with the app.

If the list works in a “growing” mode, it only loads a few items at first. Additional items are only loaded (and rendered) on request. The “request” can either be triggered by scrolling (preferred), or by clicking the More button.

When the user scrolls, the title and the filter infobar can stick to the top of the surrounding layout container (sap.m.List, property: sticky).

Mode

The list can have several modes. The respective property (Mode) allows the following selection methods:

• None
• SingleSelectMaster (used to pick one item with no additional indicator, as in the list-detail scenario with the flexible column layout)
• SingleSelectLeft (used to pick one item using a radio button on the far left)
• MultiSelect (used to pick several items from the list using checkboxes on the far left). The Shift key can be used to select a range.
• Users can (de)select all items using CTRL+A. Select All (de)selects all items that the user can reach by scrolling.
• Delete (used to delete items from the list using a delete indicator on the far right)

Grouping

List items can be grouped. The group header is a visually separate line at the top of the items it groups. It does not currently provide an interaction of its own.

Line Item Level

Type

The list item type defines the interaction of the list item, which is accompanied by a visual cue.

The items can be one of the following:

• Active (click event; cursor changes to indicate that)
• Inactive (no click event; cursor does not change)
• Navigation (a small arrow appears on the far right, indicating that clicking would navigate)
• Detail (a pencil appears on the far right, indicating that something can be changed. The user can only click the pencil.)
• Detail and active (same as “detail”, but the item itself is also clickable)

The example shows how all these types are visualized.

Indicate Navigated Item

When multi-selection is used in a list-detail scenario, it is not clear which item was last opened (for example, which item is currently shown in the second column of a flexible column layout). In this case only (multi-selection list with navigable items), you can display a “navigated” indicator to mark the item that is currently open (sap.m.ListItemBase, property: navigated).

Swipe

You can provide a swipe feature (sap.m.List, properties: swipeDirection, swipeContent) for approving or deleting items quickly without having to look at the details. Swiping is possible in both directions (left to right / right to left). You can provide different actions for each direction. Because swiping is only available on touch devices, only offer it as an additional feature. Swiping should never be the only way to perform the action.

Context Menu

The context menu can be triggered for the list or per item.

It gives users an alternative way of modifying the focused elements by giving access to context-specific functions.

Context menus are opened by right-clicking (desktop), long press (mobile), the CONTEXT MENU KEY, or Shift+F10.

Be aware that using the context menu overrides the browser context menu, which can no longer be opened.

Drag and Drop

One or several items can be repositioned within a list or moved to other UI elements using drag and drop operations (sap.m.ListBase, aggregation: dragDropConfig). While being dragged, the items are shown as ghost elements on the mouse cursor.

Drop targets can be on items, between items, or both (sap.ui.core.dnd.DropPosition). On a drop target, the mouse cursor changes to either a “copy”, “link”, “move”, or “none” cursor. “None” indicates that the dragged item cannot be dropped in the current position (sap.ui.core.dnd.DropEffect).

Drag and drop is only available on supporting browsers.

The property Show Separators (All, Inner, None) allows only the outer lines (Inner) or all the lines (None) to be hidden when the list is used as a more structural element within a content area.

Text Length

When you use the list in the first column of the flexible column layout, keep the texts as short as possible and only as long as necessary. If you expect large numbers, use formatting instead.

Design for Performance

To optimize performance, we recommend showing no more than 200 items at once in the list. For larger datasets (up to 1,000 items), use the “growing” mechanism to limit the number of displayed items, and make sure that users can filter the data.

Custom List Items

If none of the list items provided suits the requirements of your app, you can also create a custom list. If you choose this option, ensure that your custom list item is responsive when resized.

When creating custom list items, take the following guidelines into account, as needed:

• Action Placement
• Flag and Favorite
• Formatting
• UI Element States

Radio Button

Only use radio buttons if they are absolutely necessary. One example would be if you want to distinguish single selection from navigation. This is a rare case in which visible radio buttons for single selection are allowed.

Errors and Warnings

To indicate that the list contains items with errors or warnings, show a message strip above the list. On the message strip, provide information about errors or warnings. When issues are solved or when new issues appear, update the message strip accordingly.

For details on displaying errors, warnings, and other messages, see Message Handling.

Actions

To trigger actions on single items, show the actions on a toolbar above the list. Do not offer actions on multiple items if the list is expected to have fewer than 10 items in most cases.

The following actions on single items must always be inline:

• Delete: Use “Delete” mode (sap.m.Tree / sap.m.ListBase, property: mode, value: sap.m.ListMode.Delete). This places a Delete  button at the end of each item.
• Navigation: Use the “Navigation” item type (sap.m.StandardTreeItem / sap.m.ListItemBase, property: type, value: sap.m.ListType.Navigation). This places a navigation indicator at the end of the corresponding items. Use this to navigate to a new page containing item details.
• Edit: Use the “Detail” item type (sap.m.TreeItem / sap.m.ListItemBase, property: type, value: sap.m.ListType.Detail). This places an Edit   icon at the end of the corresponding items.

You can combine delete and edit actions, or delete and navigation actions. However, edit and navigation actions cannot be combined.

To trigger actions that are independent of the selection, show the actions on a toolbar above the list. For example: Add, Collapse All, Expand All, … .

To trigger a default action on the entire item, use the “Active” or “DetailAndActive” item type (sap.m.TreeItem / sap.m.ListItemBase, property: type, value: sap.m.ListType.Active). When clicked, active items trigger an event that can be handled by the app (for example, to open a dialog). Selection of items and expanding/collapsing a node do not trigger the event, and are handled by the tree. Do not use the active item type for navigation, to switch the line item to an edit state, or to delete the item.

Active can be combined with edit and delete, but not with navigation. Do not combine active with the single selection master.

Add Items

For adding items, place an Add or Create text button on the toolbar.

• Use Create if the button adds a brand new item that doesn’t yet exist on the database.
• Use Add if the item already exists and is merely added or assigned to the current object.

Show new items as the first item of the list, with a visual highlight at the beginning of the row.

Enable the shortcut Ctrl+Enter (and ideally Enter in addition) to trigger the Add or Create button.

There are three options for adding an item. In order of priority, these are:

• Add the item inline. Create an empty, editable item as the first item of the list. Show the Save button on the toolbar of the list. This option is recommended for simple scenarios where just a few input fields have to be filled.
• Open a dialog for items with up to 8 input fields. Save the new item at dialog level.
• Navigate to a new page. Only use this behavior for very complex scenarios that cannot be handled by a dialog (for example, creating complex objects). When the user presses Save in the footer toolbar of the create page, navigate back to the list.

Depending on the flow, an item can be in one of three different states:

• New: The item was just created inline and is in edit mode (for example, after pressing the Create button). It is highlighted with a visual indicator (information state).
• Recent: The item was just created and is in read-only mode (for example, if Create leads to a dialog, and Save was triggered within the dialog). In this case, keep the item highlighted and display it as the first item of the list. Ignore current sort, filter and grouping criteria to keep the item visible.
• Added: The item has been fully added. It follows the sort, filter, and grouping settings and also loses the visual highlight. This state is used after:
  • Inline creation: After Save was triggered on the toolbar or at page level
  • Create with dialog: A list showing one or several items with the state “Recent” gets updated (for example, after sorting, filtering, or grouping, or when the browser is refreshed).

In the context of draft handling new items are not saved on list level, but rather with the entire draft.

Enabling/Disabling Actions

To indicate if an action can be applied to the current selection:

• Enable the action if it always works, regardless of whether or not items are selected.
• Enable the action if it can be applied to all selected items.
• Enable the action if it can be applied to some of the selected items. If the action is triggered, show a message that informs the user how many items will be affected. Let users choose whether to apply the action anyway or cancel the action.
• Only disable the action if:
  • The action can’t be applied to any of the selected items.
  • The number of selected items doesn’t match the action. For example, disable Compare if only one item is selected.

For more details, see UI Element – States.

If the action was applied and the items are still available, keep them selected.

Context Menu

Use the context menu only to give users a quick way of accessing functions that are already available elsewhere (for example, as buttons in the toolbar).

Don’t just offer actions in the context menu itself, as users might not realize that these actions are available at all.

Drag and Drop

Drag and drop is “invisible” on the UI: users can’t see where dragging is available and where it isn’t. In addition there is no generic keyboard interaction. Drag and drop is also not available on all browsers. For these reasons, provide it only in addition to existing (and visible) UI elements that fulfill the same purpose and provide the corresponding keyboard support. For example, offer (toolbar) buttons for moving or for copying and pasting items. These are keyboard operable and available for all browsers.

If you offer drag and drop for rearranging items within the list, use drop targets that are between items (sap.ui.core.dnd.DropPosition.Between). This provides better feedback on where the item will be inserted. Show the “move” mouse cursor (sap.ui.core.dnd.DropEffect.Move).

Do not combine rearranging items and sorting. If you really need to do so, make sure that there is a dedicated sort criterion for the user-defined sort order, and only offer options for rearranging items if this sort order is set.

When combining rearranging items with grouping, be aware that moving items to another group also means that a value of the dropped item changes: because grouping is based on values, the dropped item needs to take on the corresponding value of the target group. If this is not wanted, do not allow users to rearrange items in grouped lists.

Example:

A list is grouped by availability. An item is moved from the group “Not Available” to the group “In Stock”. In this case, the moved item needs to change its availability to “In Stock” to match the target group. If changing the value doesn’t make sense, only allow users to rearrange the items within the same group, or don’t allow rearranging at all.

View Settings

• Provide individual buttons for each of the following settings on the toolbar of the list: sort, filter, group.
• Clicking one of these buttons opens the view settings dialog or P13nDialog dialog with just the relevant page inside.
• When closed, apply the settings to the list accordingly.

Keep the following in mind:

• Do not offer any of these features if the list is expected to have only a small number of entries (up to 20 in most cases).
• If filtering is a main use case, do not offer filtering on the toolbar of the list. Use the filter bar instead.
• Only use the view settings which are really needed. For example, do not offer grouping if it does not support your use case well.
• Keep the view settings consistent. When a user reopens the app, show the list with the same sort, filter, and group settings as last defined by this user.

Sort

• For the default sort setting, sort by the item title, which is usually the identifier of an item.
• If you offer sorting, offer it for each data point available in the item. Allow sorting in both directions, ascending and descending. The descending sort order must always be the exact reverse of the ascending sort order.
• For each data point, provide a meaningful sort order. For example:
  • Sort text alphabetically
  • Sort numbers by their value
  • Sort status information by the severity of the status:
    • Ascending: Sort status information from positive to negative, with neutral last.
    • Descending: Sort status information from negative to positive, with neutral first.
    • Ascending with different values per severity level: Sort status information from positive to negative, with neutral last. Sort different values within a severity level (semantic color) alphabetically.
    • Descending with different values per severity level: Sort status information from negative to positive, with neutral first. Sort different values within a severity level (semantic color) alphabetically.

Filter

• To display the current filter state, use the infobar below the title. Clicking the infobar opens the filter page of the corresponding dialog.
• Show the infobar only if the filter settings are not shown somewhere else. For example, do not show the infobar for settings located in the filter bar or in a select control placed in the toolbar of the list.
• If the infobar is shown, provide an option to reset all corresponding filters on the infobar.
• Keep the infobar sticky (sap.m.List, property: sticky).

Export to Spreadsheet

Apps can provide a menu button for exporting list data to a spreadsheet (for example, on the relevant toolbar). For the export, use the export to spreadsheet function.