Web Site Look & Feel: SAPweb Interactivity
(What happens when the user presses a button?)

Data Validation

If user input needs to be validated, it is done on the server-side only. This is done to ensure consistent messaging.

Confirms (popup pages with buttons)

JavaScript confirms are not used in SAPweb. All functionality should be built into the web pages.

Save Changes

A Save Changes button on a top-level page never performs any navigation. It always returns to the same page with a "save confirmation" message. If the record can be edited after changes are saved, it should be displayed open for editing. If because of business logic (workflow, etc.) the user can no longer edit the page, it should be shown in display mode.

From a drill-down, a Save Changes button navigates up to the top-level page (overview), with a “save confirmation” message on the overview.

Return to ...

The Return to button always navigates the user back to the previous page. If the drilldown page is open for editing, Return to also performs a “Cancel” function by not saving any changes. Therefore, if you have a Return to button, do not also install a Cancel button.

Revert

A Revert button never takes the user off the page. Revert always performs a refresh of data last saved and returns to the current page. We never use Cancel in SAPweb because the combination of Revert and Return to takes care of all Cancel situations.

Delete

On an overview screen, Delete refreshes with the line item deleted and a "data deleted" message.

On a page with a drilldown, hitting Delete brings the user back up to the overview screen that displays a "data deleted" message and the deleted data is missing or displayed with a red strike-through line.

Edit or Change

Since Save Changes closes a display to editing, Change, or drilling down opens the data for editing. Always name the button Change, never Edit.

Search or Query Screens

Add a "reset" button to every search page that loads with default values. When in doubt, default values for date ranges are:

• For SAPweb, the current posting period (the first of the month to today)
• For a given application, the designer or client can change this

All search screens that contain default values should also have a Clear Form button that uses JavaScript to blank out all defaults.

Printing web pages:

Change Print buttons to Print this Page across the board. Print this Page always uses the browser "print" feature.
Change all SAPScript printing to [print] SAP, where [print] is the SAP printer icon.
Whenever [print] SAP is present, Print this Page must also be implemented.

Print this Page is always present for:

• Single-record display (display JV, plan details for View Your Benefits, etc).
• Inboxes
• Search Results
• Display Entire List pages
• Legal but optional for other pages

[print] SAP is only present on the following SAPweb pages:

• Single-record display (Display Requisitions, Display a JV)
• Inboxes, for "print selected" feature
• Search results, for "print selected" feature
• Not optional for other types of pages

Display Entire List

Display Entire List should be implemented in SAPweb only for:

• Inboxes
• Search Results

These pages should always have a Print this Page button.

Continue

In a wizard, a Continue button implies a save action, so there's no need for an explicit Save button. Therefore, the server must always save the content when navigating from page to page. Revert is optional.