All in-app extensions are technically implemented inside the core of SAP S/4HANA. As a result, no remote communication between the extension and the extended app is required. The figure shows all in-app adaptation options.
SAP S/4HANA offers the following in-app extension options, depending on the version.
- User Interface Adaptation
- Key users may change the layout of tables and forms directly in the running user interface. A special graphical user interface adaptation mode provides the mechanisms to:
- Hide fields in existing forms, tables, or filters.
- Rename labels.
- Add fields to the user interface from the field repository.
- Move fields or entire blocks to other sections of the screen.
- Custom Fields
- In the Custom Fields and Logic, SAP Fiori, application, you can add and edit custom fields to extend SAP database tables, CDS views, and OData APIs. It also helps to define how custom fields are used in user interfaces, reports, or forms. Furthermore, you can use custom fields along with predefined business scenarios so that all involved business objects are extended, and values are passed along automatically.
- Custom CDS Views, Analytics, and Forms
- The Custom CDS View application enables customers to create new views based on an existing view model supporting features like associations, joins, transformations, field relabeling, selections, and so on. With OData APIs on top of these views, customers may, in addition, expose the data for consumption outside the SAP S/4HANA core.
- Business Logic
- Many SAP S/4HANA applications have enhancement spots, also called Business Add-Ins (BAdIs). With the ABAP web editor, customers may create custom logic for the BAdIs. Typically, customers implement additional checks, set default values, or create mappings in combination with custom fields.
- Custom Business Objects
- As well as custom views, you can create completely new business objects using the Custom Business Objects application. This application helps define the business object structure in the form of business object nodes, which automatically create the required database tables.
- Custom User Interfaces
- You can use a web-based Integrated Development Environment (IDE) like SAP Business Application Studio (BAS) or SAP Web IDE to create your own SAP Fiori user interfaces either from scratch or based on templates. The SAP Fiori user interfaces consume SAP S/4HANA's RESTful OData interfaces.