Setting Up the Development Environment

Follow the additional steps to set up your AppBuilder environment.

Setup Proxy

If you install AppBuilder on a machine that uses web proxy to connect to the Internet and consume OData services, you need to modify the ide.json file.
  1. Open the ide.json file in <AppBuilder_Home>\ares-project\
  2. Set the proxy host. For example:
    "httpProxy": {
    "host":"proxy.sin.sap.corp",
    "port":8080,
    "upBase64":"",
    "user":"",
    "password":",
}
  3. Save ide.json and exit.

Developing with Cordova

AppBuilder enables you to create an Apache Cordova project from your AppBuilder project. You can also add Kapsel plugins to your Cordova project. Kapsel, a component of SAP® Mobile Platform SDK, leverages the Cordova application container and provides SAP plugins to make the Cordova container enterprise-grade, allowing it to more seamlessly integrate with SAP Mobile Platform Server. The Kapsel plugins provide capabilities like application life cycle management, implementation of a common logon manager and single sign-on (SSO), integration with SAP Mobile Platform Server-based push notifications, and so on.

Prior to deploying your AppBuilder applications to Kapsel on SAP Mobile Platform, the following prerequisites must be met:

For information about installing and setting up SAP Mobile Platform Server and SAP Mobile Platform SDK, see specific documentation for SAP Mobile Platform Server and SAP Mobile Platform SDK.

To install the Apache Cordova Command Line Interface:
  1. Install Git according to the instructions found here: http://git-scm.com/book/en/Getting-Started-Installing-Git.
    Note: If you are using a proxy server, you must configure git At the command prompt enter:

    For Windows:

    git config --global http.proxy <proxy server:port>
git config --global https.proxy <proxy server:port>

    For Mac:

    sudo git config --global http.proxy <proxy server:port>
sudo git config --global https.proxy <proxy server:port>
  2. Install the Cordova CLI:
    1. Open a command prompt and enter.

      On Windows: npm install -g cordova@<latest_supported_version>

      On Mac:sudo npm install -g cordova@<latest_supported_version>

      -g indicates that Apache Cordova should be installed globally.

      Note: If you are installing on Mac and you see a warning message that you are installing globally into a root-only directory, run this command to change the owner of the command line interface installation foler:
      sudo chown -R user_name /usr/local/lib/node_modules/cordova
      You can copy the command text from the error message and paste it at the command prompt at the bottom of the terminal window.
    2. On Mac, when prompted, enter your root user password.
    3. Verify the Cordova installation. At the command prompt enter: 
      cordova -v

To install the Kapsel CLI:

You must have SAP Mobile Platform SDK with the Kapsel SDK installed locally to install the Kapsel CLI. Follow these steps for installation:
  1. Open a command prompt or Terminal and enter.

    On Windows: npm install -g C:\<SAPMobileSDK_Home>\MobileSDK3\Kapsel\CLI

    On Mac:sudo npm install -g C:\<SAPMobileSDK_Home>\MobileSDK3\Kapsel\CLI

    Note: If you are installing on Mac and you see a warning message that you are installing globally into a root-only directory, run this command to change the owner of the command line interface installation foler:
    sudo chown -R user_name /usr/local/lib/node_modules/cordova
    You can copy the command text from the error message and paste it at the command prompt at the bottom of the terminal window.
  2. Verify the Kapsel CLI installation. At the command prompt enter: 
    kapsel package

Setting Up the Mac Environment

If you are developing on Mac, you must install the following software (if not already installed).
  • Xcode and Xcode Command Line Tools installed (to deploy to iOS platform)
  • ios-sim (to allow the Cordova command line to start the iOS simulator on Mac)
Note: On Mac, the latest OS X is supported.

Install Xcode Command Line Tools

To install the Xcode Command Line Tools on Mac:

  1. Start Xcode.
  2. Navigate to Xcode > Preferences.
  3. Select Downloads.
  4. Click Install next to Command Line Tools if it is not already installed.

Install ios-sim

To install ios-sim on Mac:
  1. Download the ios-sim tool files from https://github.com/phonegap/ios-sim.
  2. Open Terminal and enter: sudo npm install -g ios-sim
  3. When prompted, enter your root user password.
  4. Verify the ios-sim installation by entering this command in the terminal window: ios-sim --version. The output displays the ios-sim version installed.

Developing for the Android Platform

If you would like to the Android Platform, there is additional software that must be included in your development environment:
  • Download and extract Apache ANT (current version), and add it to the system variable path: PATH=%PATH%; C:\apache-ant-<version>\bin. See http://ant.apache.org for more information.
  • Android SDK 4.1.2 or later
  • Google USB Driver - download from http://developer.android.com/sdk/win-usb.html. Google USB Driver is an optional Android SDK component that you need only if you are developing on Windows and want to connect a Google Android-powered device to your development environment over USB.

Install Android SDK

To install the Android SDK:
  1. Confirm that your system meets the requirements at http://developer.android.com/sdk/requirements.html.
  2. Download and install the supported version of the Android SDK starter package.
  3. Add the Android SDK to your PATH environment variable:

    On Windows, add <Android SDK Location>\tools to the PATH environment variable.

    On Mac, open a terminal window and enter export PATH=$PATH:<path to Android SDK>/tools.

  4. Launch the Android SDK Manager and install the Android tools (SDK Tools and SDK Platform-tools) and the Android API.
  5. Launch the Android Virtual Device Manager, and create an Android virtual device to use as your emulator.