UWL Substitution: Customer Messages --> Bad Usability

[Lukas_Weigelt]

Hi guys,

System Info:

NW AS 7.03 ABAP Stack 731 Level 11, ECC 606 (EHP 6) with SAP_HR 604 Level 73 and EA_HR 607 (HR-Renewal 1) Level 24

NW AS 7.02 JAVA Stack 702 Level 13

Background:

We are currently implementing the Substitution Function of the Universal Worklist in our DEV environment. Among other sub-implementations, I have implemented Enhancementspot / BADI WF_SUBSTITUTE Method IF_EX_WF_SUBSTITUTE~MAINTAIN_SUBSTITUTE to restrict the creation of substitution rules according to the substitutor's R/3-Roles. This works out technically/functionally.

In Before: We do NOT have or use NWDS/NWDI, i.e. no modifications on WDJ Sources are possible for us.

Problem:

When cancelling a rule creation via the Method, because the substitutor is not authorized to be a substitutor for the chosen substitution profile, I pass an error message and RC=8 as exporting parameter:

. . .

IF lv_lea_found EQ lc_true.
         " do nothing
       ELSE. " Vertreter hat nicht die R/3-Rolle zum Genehmigen von Abwesenheitsanträgen
         ls_message-msgid = lc_uwl_msd_id.
         ls_message-msgty = 'E'.
         ls_message-msgno = '000'.
         APPEND ls_message TO msg.
         RETURN_CODE = 8.
       ENDIF.

. . .

This does work, but the usability is a catastrophy in my opinion (I am a lot more tolerant than the endusers who will use the substitution function).

What I expected was a plain WD-Message with a red exclamation, the MSG-ID's Shorttext and a Hyperlink to the Longtext (the way I know it from WDA). But here's what happens instead. First I get a generic Warning message, telling me the rule creation failed and a Link labeled "Substitutionstatus":

If I was an enduser, I wouldn't necessarily click on the link at all, because its label doesn't invoke the expecation to find out more about the error that occured by doing so. If I click on it nevertheless, I get internal Message string with my custom message's shorttext intertwined in it (marked in red in the following screenshot).

My Question:

Is there any way to display the custom messages more elegantly and with better usability than this WITHOUT going for modification with NWDS/NWDI?

Cheers, Lukas

[siddharthrajora · Accepted solution]

1851579 - UWL Substitution Status error message has technical details http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw70/helpdata/en/d6/7bd981916f4c4aabd5231723 efa8e8/content.htm

[Lukas_Weigelt · Accepted solution]

'Aight, I seem to be getting old in terms of searching for stuff , thanks for pointing me to that note.

"FunctionModuleActionHandler" eh? Would never have searched for that term, though, thanks for pointing me to that link as well.

I'm gonna ask my basis team to implement the note and I'll adapt my XML-Config Files according to the help-doc. Gonna give you feedback after that's been done.

Thanks a lot so far, Siddharth!

Cheers, Lukas

[Lukas_Weigelt · Accepted solution]

Hi Siddharth,

I can finally write you back, as our upgrade cycle in DEV is complete. We are now on:

• NW AS 7.03 ABAP Stack 731 Level 13, ECC 606 (EHP 6) with SAP_HR 604 Level 78 and EA_HR 607 (HR-Renewal 1) Level 29
• NW AS 7.02 JAVA Stack 702 Level 16

I.e., a lot of corrections (including 1851579 you pointed out) for UWLJWF have been implemented. The error handling is now slightly more usable:

The initial Warning message is still the same ;-/, but at least the technical information from the java stack is excluded now.

Still, I'm still longing for an error handling similar to WebDynpro ABAP, i.e. an error message directly shown in a message area (without the need to navigate over a misleading link-to-action) with a nice read exclamation mark and a link to the longtext of my error message. Would that somehow be achievable or at least near-achievable without NWDS/NWDI with what the standard provides at the moment?

Another problem is the apparently hardcoded english phrase "Error returned from Provider". I'm already hearing the criticism "Herr Weigelt, officialese in this company is German!" 😕

Last but not least, can I somehow exclude the AdHocSystem from the Message or Log-Handling? Because it always fails, which doesn't matter at all, technically, though there's nothing the end user can do with that information.

Cheers, Lukas

P.S. After all I do not really understand how the FunctionModuleActionHandler is going to be helpful concerning the Substitution function of the UWL. Can you elaborate? Or what is just a general Information?

[Lukas_Weigelt · Accepted solution]

BUMP.

The substitution function has recently been rejected by our special department due to the bad usability (as expected). Is nobody else having similar trouble?