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Add Styling to an MDK App

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Add Styling to an MDK App
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Add Styling to an MDK App

Jitendra Kansal
Jitendra Kansal
September 10, 2020
Created by
jitendrakansal
September 27, 2019
Intermediate
25 min.
mobile development kit client, SAP Cloud Platform, Mobile, Tutorial, iOS, SAP Business Application Studio, Intermediate, Android, SAP Cloud Platform Mobile Services
Customize an MDK app to display styling to its controls.

You will learn

  • How to change color of action bar and tool bar
  • How to change font color and background color of SDK control properties in a section page

Prerequisites

You may clone an existing project from GitHub repository and start directly with step 4 in this tutorial.

MDK Template supports Style LESS file for styling for NativeScript, Android SDK & iOS SDK controls.

MDK
Step 1: Create a new MDK project in SAP Business Application Studio

This step includes creating the mobile development kit project in the editor.

  1. Launch the Dev space in SAP Business Application Studio.

  2. If you do not see the Welcome page, navigate to View menu → Find Command → search with Welcome to launch the Welcome page.

    MDK

  3. In Welcome page, click New project from template .

    MDK

  4. Select MDK Project and click Next.

    MDK

  5. In Basic Information step, select or provide the below information and click Next:

    Field Value
    MDK Template Type Select CRUD from the dropdown
    Your Project Name MDK_Styling
    Your Project Name <default name is same as Project name, you can provide any name of your choice>
    MDK

    The CRUD template creates the offline or online actions, rules, messages, List Detail Pages with editable options.

    More details on MDK template is available in help documentation.

  6. In SAP Cloud Platform Connection step, you will see your Cloud Foundry Organization and Space information. If you are not logged on yet, provide required credentials to retrieve your details. Click Next.

    MDK

  7. In Service Configuration step, provide or select the below information and click Next:

    Field Value
    Service File Name <You can continue with default name or provide any name of your choice>
    OData Source Select Mobile Services from the dropdown
    Application Id Select com.sap.mdk.demo from the dropdown
    Destination Select com.sap.edm.sampleservice.v2 from the dropdown
    Enable Offline Choose Yes

    For Offline OData capability only OData V2 is supported. OData V2 and V4 are supported for Online OData.

    MDK

    In this tutorial, server-side configuration for this MDK app were already done.

    Regardless of whether you are creating an online or offline application, this step is needed app to connect to an OData service. When building an Mobile Development Kit application, it assumes the OData service created and the destination that points to this service is setup in Mobile Services.

    Since you will create an offline based app, hence Enable Offline option is selected.

  8. In OData Collections step, select Customers (if not selected as default). Click Next to finish the project creation.

    MDK

  9. After clicking Next, the wizard will generate your MDK Application based on your selections. You should now see the MDK_Styling project in the project explorer. As you have already opened the workspace, there is no need to open the generated project in new workspace or to add it to workspace. Ignore the pop-up or click the cross icon to hide the window.

    MDK
Done
Log on to answer question
Step 2: Add style metadata in LESS file
View Full Instructions

The LESS stylesheet provides the ability to define styling styles that can be used to style the UI in the MDK app.

You can find more details about styling in MDK.

  1. In MDK_Styling project, expand the Styles folder and open the Styles.less file.

    MDK

  2. Copy and paste the following code.

    @mdkYellow1: #ffbb33;
@mdkRed1: #ff0000;

//// This style applies to all the ActionBars in the application
ActionBar {
    color: white;
    background-color: red;
}

//// This style applies to all the ToolBars in the application
ToolBar {
    color: white;
    background-color: blue;
}

//// LogoutToolbarItem is tool bar item for Logout in Main.page
#LogoutToolbarItem  {
    color: brown;
}

//// UploadToolbarItem is tool bar item for Sync in Main.page
#UploadToolbarItem  {
    color: green;
}

//// By-Class style: These style classes can be referenced from rules and set using ClientAPI setStyle function
//// below snippet is to style Customers button on Main.page
.MyCustomerButton{
  font-color: @mdkRed1;
  background-color: black;
}

//// below snippet is to style Title property of an Object Table control in Customers_List.page
.ObjectTableTitle {
  font-color: @mdkYellow1;
  background-color: @mdkRed1;
}

//// below snippet is to style Object Header control in Customers_Detail.page

.objectHeaderBodyText {
  font-color: red;
}

.objectHeaderDescription {
  font-color: blue;
}

.objectHeaderFootNote {
  font-color: green;
}

.objectHeaderHeadline {
  font-color: #ff00ff;
}

.objectHeaderBackground {
background-color: #DC143C;
}

.objectHeaderStatus {
  background-color: #cccccc;
  font-color: red;
  font-name: italicSystem;
  font-style: italic;
  font-size: 18;
}

.objectHeaderSubhead {
  font-color: yellow;
}

.objectHeaderSubStatus {
  background-color: #cccccc;
  font-color: blue;
  font-name: italicSystem;
  font-style: italic;
  font-size: 18;
}

    By default there is a tint overlay overlay on the toolbar. If you want a solid color toolbar that matches the action bar you need to use the bartintcolor property in the style instead of the background color (or in addition to). bartintcolor: blue;

  3. Save your changes to the Styles.less file.

    Styles.less is already bound to Styles properties in Application.app file.

    MDK
If you want to style 2 toolbar items with the same color, which syntax is correct?
×
Step 3: Set the styling for SDK controls

In this step, you will bind style classes:

  • MyCustomerButton to Customers section button control on Main.page
  • ObjectTableTitle to Title property of Object Table in Customers_List.page
  • objectHeaderBodyText to BodyText property of Object Header in Customers_Detail.page
  • objectHeaderDescription to Description property of Object Header in Customers_Detail.page
  • objectHeaderFootNote to Footnote property of Object Header in Customers_Detail.page
  • objectHeaderHeadline to HeadlineText property of Object Header in Customers_Detail.page
  • objectHeaderBackground to ObjectHeader property of Object Header in Customers_Detail.page
  • objectHeaderStatus to StatusText property of Object Header in Customers_Detail.page
  • objectHeaderSubhead to Subhead property of Object Header in Customers_Detail.page
  • objectHeaderSubStatus to SubstatusText property of Object Header in Customers_Detail.page

  1. Double click Main.page, select Customers section button, click link icon next to Style property.

    In Object browser, double click MyCustomerButton class to bind style property and click OK.

    MDK

  2. Navigate to Pages | Customers, double-click Customers_List.page, select Object Table control, scroll-down to Style section.

    Click link icon next to Title property.

    In Object browser, select SDK Style Classes from dropdown, double-click ObjectTableTitle class to bind style property and click OK.

    MDK

  3. Navigate to Pages | Customers, double-click Customers_Detail.page, select Object Header control, scroll-down to Style section and bind control properties to style properties.

    MDK
Which language extension for CSS is used by the Mobile Development Kit for styling applications?
×
Step 4: Deploy and activate the application

So far, you have learned how to build an MDK application in the SAP Business Application Studio editor. Now, we deploy this application definition to Mobile Services.

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

MDK

You should see Deploy Succeeded message.

MDK
Done
Log on to answer question
Step 5: Populate the QR code for app onboarding

SAP Business Application Studio has a feature to generate QR code for app onboarding.

Double-click the Application.app to open it in MDK Application Editor and click Application QR Code icon to populate the QR code.

MDKMDK
Done
Log on to answer question
Step 6: Run the app in MDK client

Make sure you are choosing the right device platform tab above. Once you have scanned and onboarded using the onboarding URL, it will be remembered. When you Log out and onboard again, you will be asked either to continue to use current application or to scan new QR code.

  1. Follow these steps to on-board the MDK client.

    Once you accept app update, you will see the Main page (with LOGOUT and SYNC options at bottom of the page) and CUSTOMERS entity set to navigate to List-Detail page. In Main page, you will notice styling on action bar, tool bar, items (Logout & Sync) available on tool bar, CUSTOMERS button.

    MDK

  2. Tap on CUSTOMERS to navigate to Customer List. You will see that Title property has been styled.

    MDK

  3. Tap on any record to navigate to Customer Detail page. You will see that Object Header control has been styled.

    MDK

  1. Follow these steps to on-board the MDK client.

    Once you accept app update, you will see the Main page (with Logout and Sync options at bottom of the page) and Customers entity set to navigate to List-Detail page. In Main page, you will notice styling on action bar, tool bar, items (Logout & Sync) available on tool bar, Customers button.

    MDK

  2. Tap on Customers to navigate to Customer List. You will see that Title property has been styled.

    MDK

  3. Tap on any record to navigate to Customer Detail page. You will see that Object Header control has been styled.

    MDK

Once you have scanned and onboarded using the onboarding URL, it will be remembered. When you Log out and onboard again, you will be asked either to continue to use current application or to scan new QR code.

Congratulations! You have successfully styled your MDK app and you are now all set to Implement Deep Linking to Another App from an MDK App.

What is a main advantage of using Leaner Style Sheets (LESS) for styling apps?
×

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