Getting Started with Design Studio book now available (coupon code in post!)

Getting Started with SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio is available for order right now! If you haven’t picked it up at the SAP Press book stand at SAP TechEd Las Vegas or Amsterdam you can get your copy now at SAP-Press.com. Make sure you use coupon code QR7N5G when finishing your order, which will give you a nice $10 discount. This offer is valid until December 31st, for any book format you choose (hardcover print or ebook).

So what can you expect from this title?

SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio is one of the youngest and most promising new toolsets in the SAP BusinessObjects product portfolio. It is being positioned by SAP as the primary tool for creating interactive analytical applications for the web and mobile devices. This book will help you to learn not only the technical ins and outs of this new tool, but also provide you with the required contextual knowledge to position Design Studio in your existing SAP BI landscape. By the way, don’t worry about the technical stuff. No pre-existing knowledge is required as we will walk you through every aspect of Design Studio in a step-by-step way, using a lot of screenshots.

The book starts with a broad overview of Design Studio. In the first chapters we introduce you to the product, compare it with other SAP (BI) products and discuss several use case scenarios.

Next we follow this by going through every detail of the application. First we walk you step-by-step through the installation procedure. Then we describe the application environment and the general process of building an application. Next we describe every available component and its properties in detail.

Once you have mastered the basics, we go into more depth about how you can enhance an application. We describe how you add interactivity and give you a set of guidelines for creating applications. We then walk you through the creation of two complex applications. The source files and code for these applications are available as a download.

I put the table of contents in the Read More section below this post so you can check the contents and structure in more detail. So have fun reading our book and let us know what you think. Also don’t forget to use the coupon code QR7N5G when ordering!

Getting Started with SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio – Xavier Hacking and Jeroen van der A – SAP Press – ISBN: 978-1-59229-895-2

Getting Started with SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio – Table of Contents

• … Foreword … 15
• … Introduction … 17
• … Acknowledgments … 21
• 1 … Introduction to SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio … 23
• 1.1 … What Is Design Studio? … 24
• 1.1.1 … Development Environment … 26
• 1.1.2 … Components … 26
• 1.1.3 … Data Sources and Platforms … 26
• 1.1.4 … Scripting … 27
• 1.1.5 … CSS … 27
• 1.1.6 … Templates and Themes … 28
• 1.1.7 … Application Execution … 29
• 1.2 … Design Studio and Existing SAP BusinessObjects BI Environments … 30
• 1.2.1 … SAP BI Tool Categories … 32
• 1.2.2 … Content Creation and Consumption … 37
• 1.3 … Summary … 40
• 2 … SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio vs. SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards vs. BEx Web Application Designer … 41
• 2.1 … SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards … 41
• 2.1.1 … Setting Up a Dashboard … 43
• 2.1.2 … Components … 45
• 2.1.3 … Data Connectivity … 48
• 2.1.4 … Publishing … 49
• 2.1.5 … Software Development Kit (SDK) … 50
• 2.2 … BEX Web Application Designer … 51
• 2.2.1 … Setting Up a Web Application Template … 52
• 2.2.2 … Web Items … 55
• 2.2.3 … Publishing … 57
• 2.3 … Key Differences … 58
• 2.4 … Summary … 61
• 3 … Usage Scenarios … 63
• 3.1 … Customer Relationship Management … 63
• 3.1.1 … Main Screen … 64
• 3.1.2 … Helping Out New Customers … 65
• 3.1.3 … Workout Evaluation … 67
• 3.2 … Employee Management … 68
• 3.2.1 … Main Screen … 69
• 3.2.2 … Analyzing Calls by Volume … 69
• 3.2.3 … Analyzing Calls by Subject … 71
• 3.2.4 … Planning … 72
• 3.2.5 … Employee Assessment … 72
• 3.3 … Field Sales … 73
• 3.3.1 … Main Screen … 74
• 3.3.2 … Customer Information … 75
• 3.3.3 … Neighborhood Information … 76
• 3.4 … Financial Reporting … 77
• 3.4.1 … Main Screen … 78
• 3.4.2 … Financial Highlights … 78
• 3.4.3 … Letter to the Shareholders … 79
• 3.5 … Sales Analytics … 81
• 3.5.1 … Main Screen … 82
• 3.5.2 … Product Segment … 84
• 3.5.3 … Customer Segment … 86
• 3.6 … Business Balanced Scorecards … 86
• 3.6.1 … Main Screen … 87
• 3.6.2 … KPI: Amount in Stock of Finished Goods … 88
• 3.6.3 … KPI: Value of Stock at the Customer … 90
• 3.7 … Summary … 91
• 4 … Installation and Configuration … 93
• 4.1 … Architecture, Components, and Prerequisites … 93
• 4.1.1 … SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform … 96
• 4.1.2 … SAP NetWeaver BW … 96
• 4.1.3 … SAP NetWeaver Portal … 97
• 4.1.4 … Design Studio Client Tool … 97
• 4.1.5 … Browsers … 97
• 4.2 … Preparing for Installation … 98
• 4.2.1 … Accessing Document Guides … 98
• 4.2.2 … Downloading Software Components … 99
• 4.2.3 … Helpful SAP Notes … 101
• 4.2.4 … Extracting Installation Files … 102
• 4.3 … Installing the SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform Add-On … 104
• 4.4 … Configuring the SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform … 111
• 4.4.1 … Initializing the Analysis Application Service … 112
• 4.4.2 … Setting the Number of Client Sessions … 116
• 4.4.3 … Assigning User Authorizations … 117
• 4.4.4 … Creating a Mobile Category … 120
• 4.4.5 … Creating an SAP NetWeaver BW OLAP Connection … 122
• 4.4.6 … Creating an SAP HANA OLAP Connection … 125
• 4.5 … Configuring SAP NetWeaver Portal and SAP NetWeaver BW … 127
• 4.6 … Installing the Design Studio Client Tool … 132
• 4.7 … Logging In … 135
• 4.8 … Summary … 137
• 5 … The Integrated Development Environment … 139
• 5.1 … Menu … 140
• 5.1.1 … Application … 140
• 5.1.2 … Edit … 151
• 5.1.3 … Layout … 152
• 5.1.4 … Search … 153
• 5.1.5 … View … 155
• 5.1.6 … Tools … 157
• 5.1.7 … Help … 165
• 5.2 … Toolbar … 167
• 5.3 … Layout Editor … 169
• 5.3.1 … Components View … 170
• 5.3.2 … Outline View … 171
• 5.3.3 … Properties View … 176
• 5.3.4 … Additional Properties View … 179
• 5.3.5 … Error Log View … 180
• 5.3.6 … Script Problems View … 181
• 5.4 … Summary … 181
• 6 … The Application Design Process … 183
• 6.1 … Setting Up the User Interface and Visualizations … 184
• 6.2 … Adding the Data … 188
• 6.3 … Making It Interactive … 192
• 6.4 … Formatting and Fine-Tuning … 197
• 6.5 … Executing the Application … 201
• 6.6 … Summary … 202
• 7 … Components and Properties … 205
• 7.1 … Application Component Properties … 205
• 7.1.1 … Custom CSS … 208
• 7.1.2 … Global Script Variables and On Startup … 211
• 7.2 … Data Source Alias Component Properties … 213
• 7.3 … Visual Component Properties … 214
• 7.3.1 … Common Properties … 214
• 7.3.2 … Analytic Component Properties … 216
• 7.3.3 … Basic Component Properties … 229
• 7.3.4 … Container Component Properties … 243
• 7.4 … Working with Components and Properties … 253
• 7.4.1 … Create Application Templates … 253
• 7.4.2 … Using Container Components … 257
• 7.4.3 … Using a Naming Convention for Your Components … 259
• 7.5 … Summary … 262
• 8 … Scripting for Interactivity … 263
• 8.1 … BI Action Language … 263
• 8.1.1 … Syntax … 264
• 8.1.2 … Expressions … 267
• 8.1.3 … Script Variables … 269
• 8.1.4 … Calling the Event Handler … 270
• 8.2 … Creating a Script … 271
• 8.2.1 … Using the Content Assistance Screen … 272
• 8.2.2 … Creating Predefined Statement Templates … 276
• 8.2.3 … Finding Script Errors … 280
• 8.3 … Methods … 281
• 8.3.1 … Convert Component … 281
• 8.3.2 … Data Source Alias Component … 282
• 8.3.3 … Application Component … 285
• 8.3.4 … Visual Components … 286
• 8.4 … Examples: Building Navigation Items … 295
• 8.4.1 … Menu Navigation … 296
• 8.4.2 … Popup Navigation … 298
• 8.4.3 … Navigating between Applications … 301
• 8.5 … Examples: Manipulating Data Output … 303
• 8.5.1 … Adding a Filter … 303
• 8.5.2 … Adding a Cascading Filter and Drilling Down to a More Detailed Level … 305
• 8.5.3 … Moving Dimensions and Measures … 307
• 8.5.4 … Changing Data Sources … 311
• 8.6 … Example: Building a Scorecard … 312
• 8.7 … Example: Building a Calculator … 316
• 8.7.1 … Setting up the Layout … 317
• 8.7.2 … Adding the Interactivity … 318
• 8.8 … Summary … 325
• 9 … Design Principles and Visualization Options … 327
• 9.1 … General Design Principles … 327
• 9.1.1 … Don’t Make Users Think … 327
• 9.1.2 … Don’t Make Users Wait … 328
• 9.1.3 … Manage User Focus … 328
• 9.1.4 … Emphasize the Features … 329
• 9.1.5 … Keep It Simple … 329
• 9.1.6 … Use Conventions … 330
• 9.1.7 … Get the Most out of the Room on the Screen … 330
• 9.2 … Choosing a Visualization Method … 332
• 9.2.1 … Single Number … 332
• 9.2.2 … Line Chart … 333
• 9.2.3 … Bar Chart … 334
• 9.2.4 … Column Chart … 337
• 9.2.5 … Area Chart … 339
• 9.2.6 … Crosstab … 340
• 9.2.7 … Bubble Chart … 341
• 9.2.8 … Waterfall Chart … 341
• 9.2.9 … Pie Chart … 343
• 9.2.10 … Radar Chart … 345
• 9.2.11 … Scatter Chart … 346
• 9.2.12 … Chart Comparison … 347
• 9.3 … Summary … 348
• 10 … Building a DuPont Analysis Application … 349
• 10.1 … Application Overview … 350
• 10.1.1 … Inputting Numbers Manually … 351
• 10.1.2 … Inputting Numbers from an OLAP Connection … 352
• 10.1.3 … Calling Numbers from Outside the Application … 354
• 10.1.4 … Comparing the Results … 354
• 10.2 … Building the Application … 355
• 10.2.1 … Setting Up the Layout … 355
• 10.2.2 … Defining Global Variables … 366
• 10.2.3 … Setting Up the Data Sources … 367
• 10.2.4 … Scripting for the On Startup Handler … 368
• 10.2.5 … Writing Data to the Backend System … 369
• 10.2.6 … Scripting for Manual Input … 372
• 10.2.7 … Scripting for OLAP Input … 375
• 10.2.8 … Scripting for Numbers from Outside the Application … 377
• 10.2.9 … Scripting for Comparing the Results … 379
• 10.3 … Summary … 379
• 11 … Building a Sales Dashboard Application … 381
• 11.1 … Application Overview … 381
• 11.2 … Building the Application … 387
• 11.2.1 … Setting Up the Layout … 387
• 11.2.2 … Setting Up the Filters and Countries … 397
• 11.2.3 … Setting the Top 10 Countries … 400
• 11.2.4 … Creating a Top N Query … 402
• 11.3 … Summary … 405
• 12 … Outlook for SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio … 407
• 12.1 … Software Development Kit (SDK) … 409
• 12.2 … Integrated Planning and Planning Application Kit Support … 410
• 12.3 … Universes and OData … 411
• 12.4 … Mobilize, Visualize, and Unify … 412
• 12.5 … Summary … 414
• … Appendices … 415
• A … Using CSS … 417
• A.1 … The Structure of a CSS File … 418
• A.2 … Tips for Building CSS Files … 419
• A.3 … Changing the Inner Style of Components with CSS … 421
• B … Tips for Using SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio and SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, Edition for Microsoft Office … 425
• B.1 … Creating a Design Studio Application … 426
• B.2 … Smart Copying Data Sources … 428
• C … SAP BusinessObjects Mobile and SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio … 431
• C.1 … Supported Platforms … 432
• C.2 … Connectivity … 432
• C.3 … Using Content … 433
• D … Comprehensive List of Methods and Parameters … 439
• D.1 … Application Component … 439
• D.2 … Button Component … 440
• D.3 … Chart Component … 441
• D.4 … Checkbox Component … 442
• D.5 … Convert Component … 443
• D.6 … Crosstab Component … 443
• D.7 … Data Source Alias Component … 444
• D.8 … Date Field Component … 449
• D.9 … Dimension Filter and Filter Panel Components … 450
• D.10 … Image Component … 450
• D.11 … Input Field Component … 451
• D.12 … Pagebook Component … 452
• D.13 … Panel Component … 452
• D.14 … Popup Component … 452
• D.15 … Selection Components … 453
• D.16 … Tabstrip Component … 454
• D.17 … Text Component … 454
• D.18 … Visual Components: Common Methods … 454
• E … The Authors … 457
• … Index … 459

HackingSAP.com - Nov 14, 2013 | Books, Featured, SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio
Tagged | Dashboard, Design Studio, SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio, SAP Press