Introduction to Smart Templates (SAP Fiori Elements)

Intro

Smart templates provide a framework for generating UIs at runtime based on metadata annotations and predefined templates for the most used application patterns. The goals are to ensure design consistency, keep apps up to date with evolving design guidelines, and reduce the amount of frontend code for building SAP Fiori apps.

The term “smart” refers to the annotations that add semantics and structures to the provided data, and the way in which the templates understand these semantics.

Smart templates are part of the SAPUI5 delivery.

Currently Available

The following floorplans are currently available with smart templates (in full screen):

Where applicable, smart templates also provide draft handling, non-draft, and global edit flow functionalities, as well as message handling.

Smart templates – The production line for UIs

Information

The design can also include aspects that are not yet available. The app development team can prepare the service and annotations, and as soon as the new feature becomes available, it will automatically be shown (depending on the SAPUI5 version used in the corresponding system).

Development Process

Development steps in creating a smart template SAP Fiori app

Responsiveness

The responsiveness of the smart templates depends on the responsiveness of the controls used.

The templates generally use priority annotation on fields and actions to control responsiveness. This annotation supports the values high, medium, and low. Annotating actions with a priority level helps to control the overflow behavior of the toolbar. In the responsive table, the priorities also define the pop-in behavior of columns.

Behavior and Interaction

The behavior and interaction generally follows the guidelines for the respective floorplan or concept. If the guideline offers choices, the templates implement the most generic option or, where possible, provide different options to choose from. Deviations from the guidelines are sometimes necessary due to current technical limitations, which are listed on the respective pages.

The templates contain a certain amount of default text, which can be overridden by the app development team if necessary. One such example is standard message texts.

The only breakout scenario that the templates currently offer is to add, remove, or replace entire pages. Currently, it is not possible to override or replace specific parts of a page.