OpenUI5 – Javascript UI Library from SAP

This article is a brief introduction to a front end development framework OpenUI5. OpenUI5 is an open source frontend framework that enables developers to build enterprise-ready web applications which are responsive to all devices & run on almost any browser of your choice. It’s based on JavaScript, using jQuery as its foundation along with many other popular UI libraries. It eases your development with a client-side HTML5 rendering library which has more than 200 controls and supports data binding to different data models (JSON, XML and OData). You can

click here

to have a look at running live sample applications developed using OpenUI5. OpenUI5 has a responsive design with a client-side HTML5 rendering library and works on MVC architecture. It is an open sourced counterpart of the famous SAPUI5 framework and is released under the Apache License, Version 2.0. Thus it is free to be used for commercial usage as well. OpenUI5, being an enterprise grade framework, provides following additional features as compared to any other UI framework in the market. 1.

Internationalization and RTL support

: Internationalization enables the users to view the app in their own language and RTL (Right-to-Left) support makes sure that apps work correctly even when opened in languages in which text is read & written from right to left, for example, Arabic, Persian, Urdu etc. 2.

Accessibility

: This feature makes sure that the apps developed in OpenUI5 can be used by people with special needs such as blind users who depend on screen reader and visually impaired users who use the app in high contrast mode. 3.

Extensibility

: Apps developed using OpenUI5 are extensible. They can be extended to add additional features on top of an existing app. 4.

Theming

: It is very easy to change the theming of apps developed using OpenUI5. It is as simple as changing the value of a few variables. This is possible because OpenUI5 uses LESS files for theming. In addition to the above benefits, OpenUI5 encapsulates a lot of powerful latest web development concepts that provides solid foundation to build a modern web application. Overall, it lets developer focus on the customer’s requirement by managing many crucial but trivial aspects of web application development automatically behind the scenes. It has built-in support for architectural concepts like two-way data binding, MVC and routing. The controls library of 200+ controls ranges from the basic controls such as Input and select controls to complex controls such as charts and timeline controls. All controls come with predefined event handlers for each event which can be implemented in controllers. UI controls are responsive i.e. you don’t need to worry about different devices. UI controls automatically adapt themselves to each device size. OpenUI5 is a flexible framework for developers. Developer can choose between different view formats like XML, HTML, JavaScript or JSON. Different types of bindings are supported such as OData, XML, JSON etc. For each control that OpenUI5 offers, examples and their sample code is provided by SAP

here

. SAP also has an excellent set of design guidelines named as

Fiori Design Guidelines

which helps developers and designers with the best practices and design principles to be used while making great applications. SAP won the Red Dot Award 2015, which is the most prestigious and widely recognized symbol of design excellence for SAPUI5/OpenUI5. Below video is will give you more insights about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJiyBF3xF9c

So, what are you waiting for? You should start hacking your way into OpenUI5 from here right now and start build exciting next-gen web apps. References 1.

Sample Applications

2.

Getting Started Guide

3.

Fiori Design Guidelines

4.

Explore Controls