Web Dynpro (WD) is a proprietary web application technology developed by SAP SE that focuses on the development of server-side business applications. One of its main design features is that the user interface is defined in an entirely declarative manner. Web Dynpro applications can be developed using either a Java (Web Dynpro for Java, WDJ or WD4J) or ABAP (Web Dynpro ABAP, WDA or WD4A) flavor.
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The earliest version of Web Dynpro appeared in 2003 and was based on Java. This variant was released approximately 18 months before the ABAP variant.
The Java variant of Web Dynpro experienced limited commercial success, and as of 2010, has been placed in maintenance. This means that the existing product is supported to the extent that any bugs are fixed; however, no new functionality will be added. SAP's development effort is now focused on the ABAP variant of Web Dynpro.
WD follows a design architecture based on an interpretation of the MVC design pattern and uses a model driven development approach ("minimize coding, maximize design").
The Web Dynpro Framework is a server-side runtime environment into which many dedicated "hook methods" are available. The developer then places their own custom coding within these hook methods in order to implement the desired business functionality. These hook methods belong to one of the broad categories of either "life-cycle" and "round-trip"; that is, those methods that are concerned with the life-cycle of a software component (i.e. processing that takes place at start up and shut down etc.), and those methods that are concerned with processing the fixed sequence of events that take place during a client-initiated round trip to the server.
Webdyn Pro is aimed at the development of business applications that follow standardized UI principles, applications that connect to backend systems and which are scalable.