SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio tool is an integrated environment for developing J2EE-based, multi-tiered business applications that ties together many SAP NetWeaver development technologies. The tool is based on open-source Eclipse, providing an open and extensible development environment using Java and Web services. SAP has enhanced the standard Eclipse open-source functionality with a comprehensive set of design, construction, and maintenance tools that cover the full software life cycle.

All tool sets are represented as Eclipse perspectives. A perspective controls the editors and views displayed, allowing developers to switch quickly between perspectives to work on different tasks. SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio supports the following perspectives:

• J2EE perspective – Supports the development and deployment of Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) technologies such as JavaServer Pages (JSPs), servlets, and Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs)
• Web services perspective – Combines tools to define, discover, and test Web services
• Web Dynpro perspective – Provides a comprehensive environment for the model-driven design of user interfaces. Web Dynpro automatically generates program code out of user interface models for either Java or ABAP applications. Web Dynpro screens are client independent enabling them to run within different environments, such as the Web, rich clients, mobile devices, and others.
• Persistence perspective – Supports the creation and definition of database objects, such as tables and indexes, through the use of the Java Dictionary, editors, and standards such SQLJ or Java Data Objects
• Debugging perspective – Supports testing of Java applications by checking metrics, conventions, authorizations, and language restrictions
• Java Development Infrastructure perspective – Provides tools for organizing, tracking, and synchronizing the work of large groups of developers. The developer infrastructure manages source code, incrementally builds new versions, and deploys applications on the right server at the right time.
• Business process perspective – Provides process-level composition for process architects to create and debug executable business process models with SAP NetWeaver Business Process Management.
• Business rules perspective – Enables creation and modification of business rules in representational formats such as decision tables with SAP NetWeaver Business Rules Management.

SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio also supports development kits that contain special tools dedicated to certain components of the SAP NetWeaver platform. For example, the mobile development kit integrates all tools required to build and test mobile applications for PDA and laptops.