Create a Customer Record in an MDK App

In this step, you will create the Customers_Create.page as a Form Cell Page. This type of page allows for form input style changes. The page will provide only a subset of items available on the Customer Detail page. You will add the fields that will be editable by the end-user.

1. Right-click the Pages folder | MDK: New Page | Form Cell Page | Next.

   

   A Form Cell Page is suitable for pages that generate new objects or modify existing objects. It includes a form cell container by default. You can add form sections, multiple containers or action controls to this page. Under each container section, you can add various container items.

   You can find more details about Form Cell page.

2. Enter the Page Name Customers_Create and click Next and the Finish on the Confirmation step.

   

3. In the Properties pane, set the Caption to Create Customer.

   

   Now, you will add the fields (like first name, last name, phone, email address & date of birth) for creating a new customer record by the end-user.

4. In the Layout Editor, expand the Controls section, drag and drop a Simple Property onto the Page area.

   

   You can find more details about available controls in Form Cell page.

5. Drag and drop three additional Simple Property controls onto the page so you have four total controls.

   

6. Select the first Simple Property control and provide the below information:

   Property	Value
   Name	FCCreateFirstName
   Caption	First Name
   PlaceHolder	Enter Value

   

7. Select the second Simple Property control and provide the below information:

   Property	Value
   Name	FCCreateLastName
   Caption	Last Name
   PlaceHolder	Enter Value

   

8. Select the third Simple Property control and provide the below information:

   Property	Value
   Name	FCCreatePhone
   Caption	Phone
   PlaceHolder	Enter Value

   

9. Select the last Simple Property control and provide the below information:

   Property	Value
   Name	FCCreateEmail
   Caption	Email
   KeyboardType	Email
   PlaceHolder	Enter Value

   

   KeyboardType streamlines the data entry. When entering an email address, it would display the email address keyboard in mobile clients.

10. Drag and drop a Date Picker control onto the page area for date of birth parameter.

    

    Provide the below information:

    Property	Value
    Name	FCCreateDOB
    Caption	DOB

Now, you will add a button on the Create Customer page and set it’s onPress to CloseModalPage_Cancel.action.

1. Drag and drop an Action Bar Item to the upper left corner of the action bar.

   Action Bar Item is a button that users can use to fire actions when pressed. You can add an Action Bar Item only to the Action Bar (at the top of the page).

   

2. In the Properties pane, click the link icon to open the Object Browser for the System Item property. Double click the Cancel type and click OK.

   

   System Item are predefined system-supplied icon or text. Overwrites Text and Icon if specified.

3. Now, you will set the onPress event to CloseModalPage_Cancel.action.

   In Events tab, click the 3 dots icon for the OnPress property to open the object browser. Double click the CloseModalPage_Cancel.action and click OK to set it as the OnPress Action.

   

Now, create a navigation action that will open the Customers_Create.page when executed.

1. Right-click the Actions folder | MDK: New Action | choose MDK UI Actions in Category | click Navigation Action | Next.

   

2. Provide the below information:

   Property	Value
   Action Name	NavToCustomers_Create
   PageToOpen	Select Customers_Create.page from the dropdown
   ModalPage	Select true from the dropdown

   

3. Click Next and then Finish on the confirmation step.

You will add a button to the Customers_List.page called Add. You will link this button to the navigation action you just created. This event will open the NavToCustomers_Create.action when the Add button is pressed by the end-user.

1. In Customers_List.page, drag and drop an Action Bar Item to the upper right of the action bar.

   

2. Click the link icon to open the object browser for the SystemItem property. Double click the Add type and click OK.

   

3. In the Properties pane, click the Events tab, click the 3 dots icon for the OnPress property to open the Object Browser. Double click the NavToCustomers_Create.action action and click OK to set it as the OnPress Action.

   

The next step is to store newly created record locally for an offline application or send the new record directly back to the backed for online applications. You will now create an action to map the changes received from the Customers_Create.page to the corresponding field in the OData service. You will also show a failure message if the create action fails to save the changes.

1. Right-click the Actions folder | MDK: New Action | choose MDK Message Actions in Category | click Message Action | Next.

   

   Provide the below information:

   Property	Value
   Action Name	CreateCustomerEntityFailureMessage
   Type	Select Message from the dropdown
   Message	Failed to Create Customer record
   Title	Create Customer
   OKCaption	OK
   OnOK	--None--
   CancelCaption	leave it blank
   OnCancel	--None--

   

   Click Next and then Finish on the Confirmation step.

2. Next, you will create the OData Create action to update entity action that will map the changes to the correct entities in the OData service and save the changes.

   You can find more details about Create Entity Action.

   Right-click the Actions folder | MDK: New Action | choose MDK Data Actions in Category | click OData Action | Next.

   

   Provide the below information:

   Property	Value
   Action Name	Customers_CreateEntity
   Type	Select CreateEntity from the dropdown
   Service	Select SampleServiceV2.service from the dropdown
   EntitySet	Select Customers from the dropdown

   

   Click Next.

   In Property and Create Links step, uncheck City.

   Since in Customer_Create.page, you defined five properties (First Name, Last Name, Phone, Email & date of birth) to be added, now in this step, you will bind them to respective UI Controls.

   Check the DateOfBirth property and click the link icon to open the object browser.

   Change the drop down in the object browser to Controls & ClientData, click the Current Page radio button.

   In the search box start typing the control name FCCreateDOB. The list will filter down to show the matching values. Double click the Value (Value) entry under the FCCreateDOB field and click OK to set binding.

   

   Repeat the above step for remaining properties: EmailAddress, FirstName, LastName and PhoneNumber.

   
   

   Click Next and Finish on the confirmation screen. The action editor will open with the Customers_CreateEntity.action loaded.

3. Next, define Success and Failure actions for Customers_CreateEntity.action.

   In the action editor for the new action, expand the Common Action Properties and provide the below information:

   Property	Value
   Success Action	Click the link icon and bind it to CloseModalPage_Complete.action
   Failure Action	Click the link icon and bind it to CreateCustomerEntityFailureMessage.action

   

   When Customers_CreateEntity.action gets executed successfully then CloseModalPage_Complete.action will be triggered or if Customers_CreateEntity.action fails then CreateCustomerEntityFailureMessage.action will be triggered.

4. Next, you will set the OnPress event of the Save button.

   Now, that the Create action is created, you will need to call the Create action when the end-user presses the Save button. You will add a Save button on the Customers_Create.page and link it to the Customers_CreateEntity.action.

   In Customers_Create.page, drag and drop an Action Bar Item to the upper right corner of the action bar.

   

   Click the link icon to open the object browser for the System Item property.

   Double click the Save type and click OK.

   

   In the Events tab, click the 3 dots icon for the OnPress property to open the Object Browser, bind it to Customers_CreateEntity.action.

   

Deploy the updated application to your MDK client.

1. Right-click Application.app and select MDK: Deploy.

   

2. Select deploy target as Mobile & Cloud.

   

   You should see success message for both deployments.

   

   Alternatively, you can select MDK: Redeploy in the command palette (View menu>Find Command OR press Command+Shift+p on Mac OR press Ctrl+Shift+P on Windows machine), it will perform the last deployment.

   

Make sure you are choosing the right device platform tab above.

You can cross verify if a record has been updated in the backend.

Backend URL can be found in Mobile Services Cockpit.

Mobile Applications | Native/Hybrid | click the MDK App com.sap.mdk.demo | Mobile Connectivity | click Launch in Browser icon

It will open the URL in a new tab, remove ?auth=uaa and add /Customers at the end of the URL.