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SAPUI5 vs JQuery Mobile / JQuery Mobile UI

rich_rendle
Discoverer
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Could somebody please help me understand the advantages of leveraging SAP UI5 for developing mobile web front-ends vs. simply going with JQuery Mobile and JQuery Mobile UI? 

I am not concerned with odata services, gateway etc just interested in what SAPUI5 brings in the context of code operating within a mobile browser.

Thanks for your response!

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Answers (2)

Answers (2)

Former Member
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I fully agree with Wouter. Also I would not use the jQuery Mobile framework itself. jQuery Mobile adds a lot of elements to the dom structure which really can slow down the application. And because jQuery Mobile changes the dom structure while rendering it's difficult for example to dynamically add something on the screen and databinding isn't possible.

I have worked with AngularJS and I would really recomend it if you are going to make an application with a custom design and if your application will be handling data. With AngularJS you can add a good structure to your project and the data binding possibilities it offers is really good and time saving.

If you want to know the difference between SAPUI5 and custom web development:

- SAPUI5: you have a 'library' with a lot of element in it, you use those as building blocks to create your web app. You don't need a lot of web development skills to create a SAPUI5 app. It goes relatively fast. On the down side, you are stuck to the layout of the theme and can't really customize the look and feel of the application. The browser support is already handled by SAPUI5 itself. So you have to see which browsers are supported by SAPUI5. If you need to develop an app that also has to support other browsers that the ones supported by SAPUI5, SAPUI5 will be of no good use because you have no influence on browser support.

- custom design: You have all the freedom you want/need. You can create any design you want so you can really create a unique application. You can 'brand' the app. But to make a custom webapp you do need someone with good web development skills. Beside that it's also good if you have someone who can make great designs and knows about usability. It's not because you have good knowledge about HTML/CSS3 that you can make a beautiful app. It takes more time than a SAPUI5 app and also the developer has to make sure that the app works on the browsers it needs to work on. Don't underestimate the browser support, that really takes a lot of testing and depending on the browsers you want to support it can also take a lot of extra development time and can be a real pain.

Former Member
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Hi Wouter/Stephanie,

Thank you for the explanation. Is it possible to find out what is the version of jquery in which SAPUI5 is built on?

Say the latest SAPUI5 1.22.14, can we tell what is the underlying jquery version?

Regards

Former Member
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Hi Senthil,

Go to Chrome -> developer tools (F12) -> Network tab.

Then load your SAPUI5 application. In the network log, look for the file sap-ui-core.js. If you scroll down a bit there you can see which jquery version is used.

In the screenshot below I show an example of the SAPUI5 Explored app:

Former Member
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Thank you Stephanie, I'm able to find it.

WouterLemaire
Active Contributor
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Hi,

Very good question! SAPUI5 is a framework based on jQuery. You could just use jQuery instead of SAPUI5 but then you have much more developments. SAPUI5 has lots of different components which you can reuse for building your own application. When using jQuery mobile or UI, you would have to create everything from scratch.

When you want a web application with lots of specific lay-out requirements, then you should prefer to use jQuery.

When your web application has to be as standard as possible and has not much client specific requirements I would advice to use SAPUI5. It has already lots of complex components which you can easly reuse. There is also a new theme which looks like Fiori and is responsive! This saves you a lot of time!

Kind regards,

Wouter

rich_rendle
Discoverer
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Thanks for the response!

You mention I should use JQuery if I have specific lay-out requirements or if my app has a large number of client specific requirements.

Could you help me understand what exactly you refer to when you say client-specific requirements?

All of the applications I could see us building would likely have specific layout requirements and many client-specific requirements.

Thanks

Rich

WouterLemaire
Active Contributor
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If you have a design, you should look in the SAPUI5 SDK and search for the components that you need. https://sapui5.hana.ondemand.com/sdk/#content/Controls/index.html

If you can't find the required components or your design looks totally different then the SAP theme. Then I would advice you to use another jQuery based framework such as AngularJS or knockoutJS and write your own html with css. This would give you more freedom but would take more time.

Kind regards,

Wouter