tutorials

Step 3: Automatic Data Type Detection

You can download the solution for this step here: 📥 Download step 3.

You can download the solution for this step here: 📥 Download step 3.

In this step, we use the automatic data type detection of the OData V4 model to parse, validate, and format user entries. The service metadata contains type information for the properties of each entity.

The OData V4 Model utilizes this information to compute the corresponding SAPUI5 type, including constraints, and sets this type to the SAPUI5 property binding for the entity property. For example, for <Input value={Age}/> the SAPUI5 type Int64 is used, which corresponds to the OData type Edm.Int64.

Preview

Input does not match the underlying data type

Coding

You can view this step live: 🔗 Live Preview of Step 3.

webapp/manifest.?son

{
  "_version": "2.8.0",
  "sap.app": {...
  },
  "sap.ui": {
    "technology": "UI5",
    "deviceTypes": {

    }
  },
  "sap.ui5": {
    "rootView": {
    ...
    },
    "dependencies": {
      ...
      }
    },
    "contentDensities": {
      ...
    },
    "handleValidation": true,

    "models": {
      ...
    }
  },
  ...
}

In the manifest.json descriptor file, we add the "handleValidation": true setting. This makes sure that any validation errors that are detected by the SAPUI5 types are shown on the UI using the message manager.

We now run the app using the index.html file and enter values that don’t match the type and constraints given in the metadata file. For example, enter the string value Young at Heart in field Age, which requires an integer input (SAPUI5 type sap.ui.model.odata.type.Int64, corresponding to OData type Edm.Int64), or remove an entry from the User Name or First Name fields, which are mandatory. Fields with incorrect entries are highlighted and an error message is displayed.

:note: If you explicitly define a type in the binding info of a control, the automatic type detection for that binding will be turned off. For example, if you change the Input for Age in the view to <Input value="{path:'Age', type:'sap.ui.model.type.String'}/>, the String type will be used, not the Int64 type from the service metadata.

localService/metadata.xml

<EntityType Name="Person">
  <Key>
    <PropertyRef Name="UserName"/>
  </Key>
  <Property Name="UserName" Type="Edm.String" Nullable="false" />
  <Property Name="FirstName" Type="Edm.String" />
  <Property Name="LastName" Type="Edm.String"/>
  <Property Name="MiddleName" Type="Edm.String"/>
  <Property Name="Gender" Type="Microsoft.OData.Service.Sample.TrippinInMemory.Models.PersonGender"
        Nullable="false"/>
  <Property Name="Age" Type="Edm.Int64" />

To make the User Name optional, we remove the parameter Nullable="false" from the UserName property. You can play around with the settings for the other properties, for example, change the type of property Age to Type="Edm.String" to allow free text.

:tip: To see the metadata of an OData service, you append the $metadata variable to the URL of the service. You can try this, for example, with http://services.odata.org/TripPinRESTierService/ and http://services.odata.org/TripPinRESTierService/$metadata

Related Information

[Type Determination](../04_Essentials/type-determination-53cdd55.md “”)

API Reference: sap.ui.model.odata.type

Sample for sap.ui.core.mvc.XMLView: XML Templating: UI5 OData types

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Next: Step 4: Filtering, Sorting, and Counting

Previous: Step 2: Data Access and Client-Server Communication

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