Creating a New Agentry Application Project

Prerequisites
The following items must be addressed prior to performing this procedure:
  • The Eclipse environment including the Agentry Editor must be installed.
  • The Agentry Perspective must be open within Eclipse.
  • The Eclipse workspace to which the new Agentry application project will be added must be open.
  • It is recommended, though not required, that the Agentry Development Server is installed to which development publishes will be made.
Task

The following procedure provides instructions on creating a new Agentry application project. Perform this procedure when a new project is needed and that contains no existing business logic. If creating a new project within the current Eclipse workspace based on an existing Agentry application project, export file, or published version residing on an Agentry Server, see the information on importing Agentry application projects.

  1. Start the New Application Wizard for Agentry application projects by selecting the menu item File | New | Project...

    This displays the Eclipse new project dialog where the type of project to create is selected:

  2. Select the item Agentry Project | New Agentry Project in the tree control displayed. Click the [Next >] button.

    The first screen of the New Agentry Project wizard is displayed:

  3. In this screen enter the name for the mobile application, the name of the project by which it will be identified in the Eclipse workspace, and optionally the location of the Agentry Development Server that will be used in the development of the project.

    The new project is created and displayed in the Agentry Perspective. The following prompt is displayed next:

  4. All mobile application projects require at least one system connection, and therefore this prompt is displayed as a part of creating a new project. Click the [Yes] button to create a new system connection.

    The will display the Add System Connection Wizard, where the type of system connection is selected:

  5. Select the System Type based on the type of back end system with which the mobile application will synchronize data. If the mobile application will synchronize with multiple systems, it will be possible to define additional system connections and the first one should be selected here. Click the [Next >] button to proceed.

    The second screen of the Add System Connection Wizard is displayed. The specific attributes will vary on this screen based on the System Type selected:

  6. The example system connection type is a Java Virtual Machine. Note the Name field, which includes a read-only field containing a numeric value. Regardless of system connection type, this value is displayed in the wizard, as well as in the definition’s Properties View page in the Editor. This value is used for configuration purposes. Make note of this value and the system connection to which it pertains. Enter a name and description. For a Java connection it is also necessary to specify which version of the Agentry Java API will be used. All new development should use the latest release of this API, version 5. Once this is selected, click the [Finish >] button.

    This creates the new system connection definition and adds it to the application. The following prompt is displayed to allow for the creation of another system connection:

  7. If the application will synchronize data with multiple back end systems the system connections for those additional systems can be defined by clicking [Yes]. When all needed system connections have been defined, click [No] to this prompt to proceed.

    The next prompt displayed concerns adding a module to the application. All mobile applications have at least one module:

  8. To add a module to the new application project, click the [Yes] button.

    This displays the first screen of the Add Module Wizard:

  9. In this wizard set the Name, Display Name, and Preserve Objects attributes. The Image can not be set at this point, as this is a new application project and as such has no image definitions. Once these attributes are set, click the [Next >] button.

    Displayed now is the next screen of the Add Module Wizard, where the module’s primary object is created:

  10. Enter the name of the module’s primary object, and the name for the collection property in which instances of this object will be stored at run time. This collection is added as a property to the module MainObject definition. Click the [Finish] button.

    This completes the new application project process. The project is now displayed in the Agentry Perspective:

The new application project has been created and stored in the Eclipse workspace. Depending on the selections made during this process, the following definitions will now exist within this project:
  • Application
  • One or more system connections
  • A set of default transmit configurations:
    • Dialin
    • Network
    • WirelessLan
    • WirelessWAN
  • A module definition
  • The primary object for the module.
  • The module MainObject, which includes a collection property child definition to store instances of the module’s primary object.
  • The module main screen set, defined to display the MainObject
  • The module main fetch, defined to target the collection property within the MainObject.
  • An action named Transmit that includes a single action step of type Transmit.
Next
With the completion of this process the mobile application project is created and development work can begin. In addition, and likely before the development work, additional configuration may be needed of the overall development environment. This can include the following, depending on the nature of the project:
  • Configuration of the Eclipse environment related to file associations and file encoding.
  • If synchronization with a Java Virtual Machine system connection is a part of the mobile application’s behavior, create and configure a Java project and include the Agentry Java API packages, and other packages related to the back end system.
  • Configuration of the Agentry Development Server to be used in the development process. This can include system connection configuration, logging behaviors, and other similar items.
  • When the development project is ready for its initial publish, configuration of the Agentry Development Server will begin with the publish, and will then be completed through the SAP Control Center and possibly through modifications to the Server’s configuration files.
Parent topic: Agentry Application Projects: Creating, Managing, and Publishing