The SAP Fiori launchpad enables you to specify that the same application is launched indifferent views or modes depending on the end user's role. To allow this, navigation betweenlaunchpad applications is based on abstract representations (intents) that are resolved toconcrete navigation targets.
Each application within the launchpad has a resource locator (URL) by which it can beloaded. Instead of directly encoding the (technical) name of the target application intothe URL hash, the launchpad performs an indirection by so-called intents.
An intent is a mechanism that allows users to perform actions on semantic objects(such as navigating to a sales order or displaying a fact sheet), without worrying aboutthe UI technology or technical implementation of the navigation target.
Intent-based navigation is necessary in the following cases:
- Depending on the user’s role, a different application or view of an applicationshould be displayed.
- To extend and customize Fiori scenarios, you can change a target withoutmodifying the Fiori application code.
- Different Fiori apps have different life cycles. An app cannot assume thatanother app exists in a productive environment since it might not have beendeployed.
Intents are comprised of the following parts:
| Semantic object | Represents a business entity such as a customer, a sales order,or a product. Using semantic objects, you can bundle applicationsthat reflect a specific scenario. They allow you to refer to objectsin a standardized way, abstracting from concrete implementations ofthese objects. You can either use semantic objects shipped by SAP,or create new semantic objects. |
| Action | Describes which operation (such as display orapprovePurchaseOrders) is intended to be performed on a semanticobject (such as Purchase Order or Product). |
| Semantic object parameters | Define the instance of the semantic object (e.g. by specifyingthe employee ID). |
Intents have the following pattern:
#<semantic object>-<action>?<semantic objectparameter>=<value1>
Example:
The intent #SalesOrder-displayFactSheet?SalesOrder=27 specifiesthat a fact sheet for the sales order no.27 is launched.
The intent-based fragment identifier#SalesOrder-displayFactSheet?SalesOrder=27 may be resolved tothe following URL:
https://<server>:<port>/sap/bc/ui5_ui5/ShowEmployeeSalesOrders.html?id=27
However, the URL of the launchpad hides the actual URL under an intent-based URL.
For example:
https://<server>:<port>/sap/bc/ui5_ui5/ui2/ushell/shells/abap/FioriLaunchpad.html#SalesOrder-displayFactSheet?SalesOrder=27
The same intent can be resolved differently based on the role of the user that triggersthe navigation. For example, you may want to define that a manager can display adifferent version of an employee fact sheet than regular employees. Thus, for managersthe intent #factsheet-display should resolve to view1 of yourapplication, while for regular employees it should resolve to view2.
The intent is resolved to the concrete navigation target by the launchpad target resolutionservice. The concrete application targets have to be configured by the administrator. Inthis configuration (called target mapping), admins map the combination of a semanticobject and an action (both defined in the app launcher tile) to the navigation target byspecifying launchpad role and instance as well as application alias or ID. This allowsany link specifying an intent-based URL to trigger the correct application assigned tothe user. Since target mappings are assigned to users as part of a catalog, they can beassigned to PFCG roles, while an intent isindependent of a role and can therefore be resolved differently based on the role of theuser that triggers the navigation.
Navigation Flow
- An administrator has set up navigation using the launchpad designer and transactionsPFCG andLPD_CUST.
- The user logs on to the SAP Fiori launchpad and sees the assigned tiles in the homepage.
- When the user selects a tile, the system checks if an intent with the semanticobject/action pair exists in the PFCGpermissions of the user.
- If yes, the system resolves the navigation target using the information storedin the LPD_CUST configuration andnavigates the user to the target application.
