This article describes how to display messages to the user such as errors, warnings, success messages, confirmation, and information. You can choose from various controls to display different types of messages.

Messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes), precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution. Always help your user to recognize, diagnose, and resolve messages. Good messages are important, but a careful design that prevents a problem from occurring in the first place is even better.

Types of Messages

The following message categories are available:

• Error
• Warning
• Success
• Information
• Confirmation

Handling for State Messages

State messages are related to a field on the UI (such as an input field), and are displayed within the message popover (sap.m.MessagePopover).

• The message is displayed next to input field that uses form field validation and inside the message popover.
• If a message long text is available in the back-end system, the user can drill into the second page of the message popover.

Lifecycle

The messages are retained until a validation is triggered (for example, when the user leaves the field), and the issue has since been resolved by the system or user.

Handling for Transient Messages

Transient messages are related to an action and are displayed in the following way.

• To display one transient message, use the message box.
• To display multiple transient messages, use a dialog with an embedded message view.

Lifecycle

As soon as the user closes the dialog, the messages in the message box or dialog are removed from the technical message manager, and are no longer valid.

Components

Form Field Validation

Error, warnings and success messages on form fields are shown directly on the form by setting the status of the field (valueState) and by providing a meaning full text to the user. For more information, see form field validation.

Controls

The following controls can be used to display inline error, warning, and success messages. Consequently, the application can set the status of a control error, warning, or success state.

• sap.m.ComboBox
• sap.m.DatePicker
• sap.m.DateTimeInput
• sap.m.DateRangeSelection
• sap.m.MultiComboBox
• sap.m.MultiInput
• sap.m.Input
• sap.m.TextArea

Message Popover

The message popover (sap.m.MessagePopover) control can communicate automatically with a message manager. With a message popover, the application can easily display multiple messages that occur after a UI interaction. For more information, see message popover.

Message Box

The message box (sap.m.MessageBox) displays a message that interrupts the user in the course of an action. We recommend that you use the message box carefully because of its disruptive behavior. For more information, see message box.

Message Toast

This is a standard message component for success messages. For more information, see message toast.

Message Strip

The message strip is used to display general information or inform about a status of an object. It can be placed within the detail area of a page. For more information, see message strip.

Behavior and Interaction

Highlight the Fields

Change the Value State

Messages are intended to help the user to rectify a problem which is generally field-related. As such, it’s very important that you highlight all relevant fields to which the message relates. This section gives an overview of the changes that should appear on the UI after a validation.

If a value is incorrect:

• Highlight the relevant field and add a useful message to the value state.
• Display a button for the message popover on the left side of the footer toolbar.
• If the user is still allowed to continue the action, the message no longer needs to be displayed.

As SAP Fiori is role-based, there may also be situations in which the application cannot establish a relation to a field, such as issues concerning configuration, data needing to be changed in a different system, and so on. In this case, you can still display a message box that interrupts the user in the course of an action. For more information, see message box.

Guidelines

Messaging Overview

• No messages to display?
  If there are no messages to display, do not show a messages button in the toolbar.
• Highlight the fields
  If possible, first highlight the relevant field(s) and change its value state according to the message type, such as error, warning, or success.
• Message popover
  In addition highlighting the fields, a button appears in the toolbar displaying an icon and the number of messages that occurred. This number matches the number of fields that have been highlighted. If multiple messages occurred, they should be displayed in the message popover, which can be triggered via a button on the left side, inside the footer toolbar.
• Display single messages in a message box
  There may also be messages that have to interrupt the user. At present, we are only aware of technical issues such as network errors and connection issues.

Resources

Want to dive deeper? Follow the links below to find out more about related controls, the SAPUI5 implementation, and the visual design.