7/6/2020 Controller

Controller
Definition

Controllers are the active parts of a Web Dynpro application. They determine how the user can interact with the Web Dynpro
application. The data that a controller can access is defined in the corresponding context . Different instances of controllers and
contexts exist within a Web Dynpro application. In addition to view controllers, which control the behavior of an individual view, there
are also global controllers that offer more general services for all the views of a component .

Use

View Controller

Each view has exactly one View Controller , which processes the actions performed by the user in the view. A view also has exactly
one view context, which contains the data required for the view.

A view controller and the corresponding context exist at least as long as lthe view is visible in the browser. If the view is replaced by
a successive view, the local data are also no longer available. However, the lifetime can also be connected to the lifetime of the
surrounding component.

Caution
A view may be visible in the technical sense as part of a view set (Web Dynpro Java), although its content on the screen may be,
for example, a hidden tab in the background. In this case the view data is still available as before, and the view exists.

Global Controllers

Each Web Dynpro component contains at least one global controller that is visible within the component for all other controllers.
Once the data for this component controller have been created the first time they are accessed, the lifetime extends to cover the
whole period during which the component is in use.

You can add additional global controllers in the form of custom controllers. These also last as long as the component and the data
they contain are available to all views of the component.

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Every time there is a Web Dynpro window, a further global controller (the Window controller) is added to the component.

Interface Controller

Each Web Dynpro component contains exactly one interface controller . This controller is a global controller that is visible also
outside the component. It is thus part of the interface of a Web Dynpro component .

Communication from one controller to the next is achieved by calling methods from a different controller, or by triggering an event on
which other controllers are already registered. You define these controller uses when you create a controller.

Source Code

Each controller contains program areas in which you can insert your own source code. Therefore, an application programming
interface (API) exists for the processing of context nodes and their attributes and data. The necessary initialization of nodes can also
be executed using this API. There are further APIs available, for example, the server abstraction layer for accessing the system
environment, and the APIs for message handling and dynamic programming.

Controllers can contain their own source code in the following areas:

Event Handler
Event handlers are executed when a view is initialized, ended, or entered, when a user interface element of a view triggers an
action, or when other controllers trigger a registered event.
Methods
Methods can be called by other controllers.
Supply functions
Supply functions are executed when necessary to initialize elements in the context.

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