App Descriptor (manifest.json)

The app descriptor groups its attributes into namespaces, each owned by a different consumer:

A root-level _version states which manifest schema the file follows. The sap.app ID must match the component namespace in Component.js, may not exceed 70 characters and must be unique in the system. The app descriptor is therefore the single place where an app's identity, data connections and navigation contract are declared.

The launchpad cares mainly about sap.app → crossNavigation:

• Inbounds declare the intents the app accepts: a semantic object and an action, an optional tile title and icon, the device types, a parameter signature with required and default values, and a rule for additional parameters (allowed, ignored or not allowed).
• Outbounds declare the intents the app itself fires when it navigates to other apps.

What happens next depends on the platform:

1. SAP BTP and SAP Build Work Zone: the app is deployed with its descriptor, for example to the HTML5 application repository, and the site uses the inbounds as its target mappings.
2. ABAP launchpad (SAP S/4HANA on-premise and Private Edition): the target mapping in a technical catalog, created with the launchpad app manager (/UI2/FLPAM), references the app's sap.app ID. The SAPUI5 application index, built by /UI5/APP_INDEX_CALCULATE, reads the descriptors of deployed apps.
3. SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition: SAP-delivered apps carry descriptors like any SAPUI5 app; custom apps are deployed to the SAPUI5 ABAP repository of the development tenant with their tile defined in the app, and an administrator grants access through a business role.

Alder Manufacturing's app alder.mm.supplierrating, with an illustrative inbound Supplier-rate, opens only if a tile fires exactly that intent. The app descriptor publishes the navigation contract; launchpad content decides who can use it.

The manifest schema evolves with SAPUI5. Each schema version is understood by a matching SAPUI5 release, and the SAPUI5 SDK publishes the mapping, for example schema 1.60.0 for SAPUI5 1.120 and later.

Starting with SAPUI5 1.136, a new major manifest version 2 is available. It follows current best practices and removes features that earlier versions had only deprecated, so moving to it is a migration, not a number change. The SDK lists the required changes, and the UI5 linter reports deprecated manifest configurations.

Two related settings are often confused:

• _version describes the schema the file is written in.
• sap.ui5 → dependencies → minUI5Version states the lowest SAPUI5 release the app needs.

Decision criterion: set minUI5Version to the lowest SAPUI5 release among the systems the app will run on, and choose a schema version that release understands. A mismatch between the app descriptor's schema and the runtime is a common source of features that silently do nothing.

• SAP Fiori elements: the descriptor selects the floorplan for each page through its routing targets and carries page settings such as initial loading, variant management or table type. Annotations describe the data; the descriptor describes the app.
• App variants: an adaptation project does not edit the original file. It creates a variant with its own descriptor change file (manifest.appdescr_variant), where sap.app ID is the variant's ID and sap.ui5 → componentName points to the base app. The original app stays untouched and keeps receiving SAP updates.
• Key user adaptation: flexEnabled signals that the app is enabled for SAPUI5 flexibility, which runtime UI adaptation relies on.

SAP describes the descriptor as read-only after delivery, which is why changes to SAP-delivered apps go through variants and flexibility changes instead. The app descriptor is the anchor that extensions reference, not a file to patch.

Work through these checks when an app does not start or navigate as expected:

1. ID mismatch. The sap.app ID differs from the Component.js namespace, so the component cannot be found.
2. Duplicate or long ID. Consistency checks of the SAPUI5 application index flag duplicate IDs and IDs over 70 characters.
3. Inbound does not match the tile. The semantic object, action or parameter signature differs from the intent the tile fires; a "not allowed" rule for additional parameters rejects extra parameters. On the ABAP launchpad, /UI2/FLIA shows how the intent was resolved.
4. Device type switched off. The inbound or sap.ui excludes phones, so the app works on desktop only.
5. Wrong data source. The dataSources URI points to a service path that does not exist in the target system or is not routed to it.
6. Stale index. A changed app is not yet known to the SAPUI5 application index. Deployment from SAP Business Application Studio updates it automatically; SAP Notes, support packages, upgrades and some transport imports need /UI5/APP_INDEX_CALCULATE.

Most app descriptor problems are contract mismatches between the file, the launchpad content and the backend, not syntax errors.