ADR: Registry Discovery Strategy (REG-EVAL)

Property	Value
Decision	Keep registry strategy as-is in discovery-factory.ts -- sap.ui.core.Element.registry offers no significant advantage
Status	DECIDED
Date	2026-02-23

Context

Praman's control discovery mechanism locates UI5 controls in the browser by evaluating JavaScript in the page context. The current implementation in discovery-factory.ts uses the established sap.ui.getCore().byId() approach to find controls by their ID.

SAP UI5 1.67+ introduced sap.ui.core.Element.registry as a newer API surface for accessing the same underlying element registry. The evaluation question is whether migrating to Element.registry would provide advantages in reliability, performance, or API stability.

API Comparison

Aspect	sap.ui.getCore().byId(id)	sap.ui.core.Element.registry
Available since	UI5 1.0	UI5 1.67
Underlying store	Internal element registry (Map)	Same internal element registry (Map)
Lookup by ID	byId(id) returns Element or undefined	get(id) returns Element or undefined
Enumerate all	Not directly (requires byFieldGroupId)	forEach(callback), filter(callback)
Deprecation status	sap.ui.getCore() deprecated in UI5 1.118	Current, not deprecated
Minimum UI5 version	Any	1.67+

Key Finding

Both APIs access the same underlying internal registry. The Element.registry API is a modern facade over the same data structure. There is no performance difference, no data difference, and no reliability difference between the two.

Decision

Keep the current registry strategy in discovery-factory.ts using sap.ui.getCore().byId(). The sap.ui.core.Element.registry API does not provide a significant advantage that justifies the migration effort.

However, acknowledge that sap.ui.getCore() is deprecated as of UI5 1.118. The discovery factory should be prepared for a future migration when Praman drops support for UI5 versions below 1.67.

Rationale

• Same underlying registry: Both APIs read from and write to the same internal Map. Switching APIs does not change behavior, performance, or reliability.
• Broader compatibility: sap.ui.getCore().byId() works with all UI5 versions. The registry API requires UI5 1.67+. While 1.67 is old (released 2019), some enterprise SAP systems run even older versions.
• Discovery factory abstracts the API: The factory pattern in discovery-factory.ts already isolates the registry access behind an abstraction. Swapping the implementation later is a one-line change, not a refactor.
• No enumeration need: Praman's primary discovery pattern is lookup-by-ID and lookup-by-type-and-properties, not enumeration. The forEach/filter methods on Element.registry are not needed for current use cases.
• Deprecation is not removal: sap.ui.getCore() is deprecated in UI5 1.118 but still functional. SAP maintains backward compatibility for deprecated APIs across many versions.

Consequences

Positive

• No migration effort required -- no code changes, no test updates, no risk of regressions
• Maintains compatibility with the broadest range of UI5 versions
• Discovery factory abstraction already provides the right seam for future migration
• Development time saved can be invested in higher-value features

Negative

• Static analysis tools (UI5 linter) may flag sap.ui.getCore() usage as deprecated when targeting UI5 1.118+
• If SAP removes sap.ui.getCore() in a future major version, migration will become mandatory

Mitigations

• Add a TODO comment in discovery-factory.ts referencing this ADR for the future migration path
• When Praman's minimum supported UI5 version reaches 1.67, revisit this decision
• The migration path is well-defined: replace sap.ui.getCore().byId(id) with sap.ui.require('sap/ui/core/Element').registry.get(id) inside the factory function
• Track SAP's UI5 deprecation timeline in the project's compatibility matrix