Introduction

21

Structure of the Book

24

Chapter 1: Integrated Development Environment

25

Chapter 2: abapGit

25

Chapter 3: New Language Features in ABAP

25

Chapter 4: Exception Classes and Design by Contract

26

Chapter 5: ABAP Unit and Test-Driven Development

26

Chapter 6: Database Programming with SAP HANA

26

Chapter 7: Business Object Processing Framework

26

Chapter 8: Business Logic Using the ABAP RESTful Application Programming Model

27

Chapter 9: Service Layer

27

Chapter 10: ALV SALV Reporting Framework

27

Chapter 11: ABAP2XLSX and Beyond

27

Chapter 12: Web Dynpro ABAP and Floorplan Manager

27

Chapter 13: SAPUI5

28

Chapter 14: ABAP Channels

28

The Example Application

28

Baron Frankenstein's Business Model

29

SAP Developments Required to Support the Business Model

29

1 Integrated Development Environment

31

1.1 Installation

33

1.1.1 Installing Eclipse

33

1.1.2 Installing SAP-Specific Add-Ons

36

1.1.3 Connecting Eclipse to a Backend SAP System

37

1.1.4 Upgrading Eclipse

39

1.2 ABAP-Specific Features

39

1.2.1 Initial Tour and Basic Tasks

40

1.2.2 Working on Multiple Objects at the Same Time

44

1.2.3 Creating a Method from the Calling Code

45

1.2.4 Extracting a Method

49

1.2.5 Refactoring: Moving Methods and Attributes

54

1.2.6 Deleting Unused Variables

54

1.2.7 Creating Instance Attributes and Method Parameters

56

1.2.8 Quick Fixes for Classes

56

1.2.9 Extracting Conditional Logic

57

1.2.10 Seeing Message Details

59

1.2.11 Renaming Repository Objects

59

1.2.12 Magic Numbers

61

1.2.13 ABAP 7.5+ Features

61

1.3 Eclipse-Specific Features

65

1.3.1 Neon (2016)

66

1.3.2 Oxygen (2017)

67

1.3.3 Photon (2018)

68

1.3.4 Eclipse 2020-03

68

1.4 Testing and Troubleshooting

70

1.4.1 Unit Testing

70

1.4.2 Debugging

71

1.4.3 Dynamic Log Points

74

1.4.4 Runtime Analysis

76

1.5 Customization Options with User-Defined Plug-Ins

77

1.5.1 Favorites List

78

1.5.2 Continuous Integration

80

1.5.3 Code Insight

83

1.5.4 Custom Quick Fixes

83

1.5.5 Custom Quick Fixes for ABAP Test Cockpit

85

1.6 The Future of IDEs for ABAP Development

85

1.6.1 SAP Web IDE

85

1.6.2 SAP Business Application Studio

86

1.6.3 Visual Studio Code

89

1.7 Summary

96

2 abapGit

99

2.1 Theory

100

2.2 Installation

101

2.2.1 Installing the abapGit Repository in Your SAP System

101

2.2.2 Keeping Your abapGit Version Up to Date

107

2.2.3 Watching the abapGit Repository

109

2.3 Storing and Moving Objects

110

2.3.1 abapGit versus SAPlink

111

2.3.2 Using Online Repositories

111

2.3.3 Using Offline Repositories

117

2.4 Dependency Management

122

2.4.1 APACK: Theory

122

2.4.2 APACK: Installation

123

2.4.3 APACK: Example

124

2.5 Branching

125

2.5.1 Project Collaboration: Sharing Solutions

126

2.5.2 Production Support

133

2.5.3 Utopian Dream

141

2.6 abapGit for Customizing

141

2.7 Summary

142

3 New Language Features in ABAP

145

3.1 Declaring and Creating Variables

147

3.1.1 Omitting Data Type Declarations

147

3.1.2 Creating Objects Using NEW

148

3.1.3 Filling Structures and Internal Tables while Creating Them Using VALUE

148

3.1.4 Filling Internal Tables from Other Tables Using FOR

150

3.1.5 Creating Short-Lived Variables Using LET

151

3.1.6 Enumerations

152

3.1.7 New Mathematical Operators

155

3.2 String Processing

155

3.3 Calling Functions

156

3.3.1 Avoiding Type Mismatch Dumps when Calling Functions

156

3.3.2 Using Constructor Operators to Convert Strings

158

3.3.3 Functions Expecting TYPE REF TO DATA

159

3.4 Conditional Logic

160

3.4.1 Omitting ABAP_TRUE

161

3.4.2 Using XSDBOOL as a Workaround for BOOLC

162

3.4.3 The SWITCH Statement as a Replacement for CASE

164

3.4.4 The COND Statement as a Replacement for IF/ELSE

165

3.5 Internal Tables

167

3.5.1 Table Work Areas

167

3.5.2 Reading from a Table

169

3.5.3 CORRESPONDING for Normal Internal Tables

170

3.5.4 MOVE-CORRESPONDING for Internal Tables with Deep Structures

172

3.5.5 Dynamic MOVE-CORRESPONDING

175

3.5.6 New Functions for Common Internal Table Tasks

177

3.5.7 Internal Table Queries with REDUCE

179

3.5.8 Grouping Internal Tables

181

3.5.9 Extracting One Table from Another

185

3.5.10 Virtual Sorting of Internal Tables

187

3.6 Object-Oriented Programming

188

3.6.1 Upcasting/Downcasting with CAST

189

3.6.2 Finding the Subclass of an Object Instance

189

3.6.3 CHANGING and EXPORTING Parameters

191

3.6.4 Changes to Interfaces

192

3.7 Search Helps

193

3.7.1 Predictive Search Helps

193

3.7.2 Search Help in SE80

194

3.8 Assorted

195

3.8.1 Unicode

195

3.8.2 ABAP Language Versions

195

3.8.3 Deprecation Concept

196

3.8.4 Clean ABAP

197

3.9 Summary

198

4 Exception Classes and Design by Contract

199

4.1 Types of Exception Classes

201

4.1.1 Static Check: Local or Nearby Handling

201

4.1.2 Dynamic Check: Local or Nearby Handling

203

4.1.3 No Check: Remote Handling

204

4.1.4 Deciding Which Type of Exception Class to Use

206

4.2 Designing Exception Classes

207

4.2.1 Creating the Exception

207

4.2.2 Declaring the Exception

212

4.2.3 Raising the Exception

213

4.2.4 Cleaning Up after the Exception Is Raised

218

4.2.5 Error Handling with RETRY and RESUME

220

4.3 Design by Contract

224

4.3.1 Preconditions and Postconditions

226

4.3.2 Class Invariants

228

4.3.3 Handling Violations

230

4.4 Summary

232

5 ABAP Unit and Test-Driven Development

233

5.1 Eliminating Dependencies

235

5.1.1 Identifying Dependencies

236

5.1.2 Breaking Up Dependencies Using Test Seams

238

5.1.3 Breaking Up Dependencies Properly

240

5.2 Implementing Test Doubles

242

5.2.1 Test Injection for Test Seams

243

5.2.2 Creating Test Doubles

243

5.2.3 Injection: Good Method

246

5.2.4 Injection: Better Method

248

5.3 Writing and Implementing Unit Tests

251

5.3.1 Test-Driven Development

252

5.3.2 Defining Test Classes

254

5.3.3 Implementing Test Classes

260

5.4 Optimizing the Test Process

269

5.4.1 Eclipse Support for the Unit Test Process

269

5.4.2 ABAP Support for the Unit Test Process

271

5.4.3 Test Double Framework

274

5.4.4 ABAP Unit Authority Check

279

5.4.5 Unit Tests with Massive Amounts of Data

284

5.4.6 Combinatorial Test Design

287

5.5 Summary

289

6 Database Programming with SAP HANA

291

6.1 The Three Faces of Code Pushdown

292

6.2 ABAP SQL

293

6.2.1 New Commands in ABAP SQL

294

6.2.2 Creating while Reading

307

6.2.3 Buffering Improvements

308

6.2.4 INNER JOIN Improvements

310

6.2.5 UNION

311

6.2.6 Code Completion in SELECT Statements

312

6.2.7 Filling a Database Table with Summarized Data

313

6.2.8 Common Table Expressions

314

6.2.9 IS INITIAL in SELECT Statements

315

6.2.10 Stricter Syntax Check

316

6.2.11 The Death of FOR ALL ENTRIES

316

6.2.12 Unit Testing ABAP SQL Statements

320

6.3 CDS Views and CDS Entities

323

6.3.1 Creating a CDS Entity in Eclipse

325

6.3.2 Choosing an Entity Type

328

6.3.3 Coding Annotations in the CDS Entity

334

6.3.4 Adding Authority Checks to a CDS Entity

337

6.3.5 Reading a CDS Entity from an ABAP Program

339

6.3.6 Creating Special Types of CDS Entities

340

6.3.7 Using Special CDS Entity Features

342

6.3.8 Unit Testing CDS Entities

347

6.4 ABAP Managed Database Procedures

350

6.4.1 Defining an AMDP in Eclipse

350

6.4.2 Implementing AMDP in Eclipse

351

6.4.3 Calling AMDP from an ABAP Program

355

6.4.4 Calling AMDP from inside a CDS Entity

356

6.5 Locating and Pushing Down Code

359

6.5.1 Finding Custom Code that Needs to Be Pushed Down

359

6.5.2 Which Technique to Use to Push Code Down

360

6.5.3 Example

363

6.6 Summary

369

7 Business Object Processing Framework

371

7.1 Manually Defining a Business Object

373

7.1.1 Creating the Object

374

7.1.2 Creating the Header (Root) Node

375

7.1.3 Creating an Item Node

378

7.2 Automatically Defining a Business Object Based on a CDS View

379

7.3 Using BOPF to Write a Dynpro-Style Program

383

7.3.1 Creating a Model Class

384

7.3.2 Queries: Checking Object Existence

387

7.3.3 Locking Objects

399

7.3.4 Performing Authority Checks

400

7.3.5 Determinations: Deriving Values from Other Values

402

7.3.6 Validations: Checking Data Integrity

414

7.3.7 Actions: Responding to User Input

421

7.3.8 Saving to the Database

432

7.3.9 Tracking Changes in BOPF Objects

438

7.4 Unit Testing BOPF Objects with BUnit

446

7.5 Using a Custom Interface (Wrapper)

449

7.6 Summary

450

8 Business Logic Using the ABAP RESTful Application Programming Model

453

8.1 ABAP RESTful Application Programming Model versus BOPF

453

8.1.1 Business Definition Language

454

8.1.2 Business Objects as First-Class Citizens

455

8.2 Coding Business Object CDS Entities

455

8.2.1 Coding Data Definitions

456

8.2.2 Coding CDS Projections

460

8.2.3 Coding Metadata Extensions

463

8.3 Coding Behavior Definitions and Projections

469

8.4 Coding Behavior Implementations

474

8.4.1 Creating a Behavior Class

474

8.4.2 Creating or Changing Objects

480

8.4.3 Locking Objects

497

8.4.4 Performing Authority Checks

501

8.4.5 Determinations: Deriving Values from Other Values

504

8.4.6 Validations: Checking Data Integrity

507

8.4.7 Actions: Responding to User Input

510

8.4.8 Feature Control

513

8.4.9 Saving the Changed Business Objects

516

8.4.10 Tracking Changes in ABAP RESTful Application Programming Model Objects

518

8.5 Calling CRUD Operations from ABAP

519

8.6 Summary

520

9 Service Layer

521

9.1 What Is SAP Gateway?

521

9.2 Transaction SEGW Service Layer: Manual Creation

522

9.2.1 Configuration

522

9.2.2 Coding

536

9.3 Transaction SEGW Service Layer: Automatic Creation

549

9.3.1 Creating an SAP Gateway Service by Pulling from a CDS View

550

9.3.2 Creating an SAP Gateway Service by Pushing from a CDS View

552

9.4 ABAP RESTful Application Programming Model Service Layer: Manual Creation

554

9.4.1 Creating a Service Definition

555

9.4.2 Creating a Service Binding

556

9.4.3 Creating Automated Unit Tests for the OData Service

559

9.5 ABAP RESTful Application Programming Model Service Layer: Automatic Creation

561

9.5.1 Making Sure the RAP Generator Is Available in Your System

561

9.5.2 Creating a JSON Configuration File

562

9.5.3 Pressing a Big, Red Button

564

9.6 Summary

565

10 ALV SALV Reporting Framework

567

10.1 Getting Started

569

10.1.1 Defining an SALV-Specific (Concrete) Class

570

10.1.2 Coding a Program to Call a Report

571

10.2 Designing a Report Interface

574

10.2.1 Report Flow Step 1: Creating a Container (Generic/Optional)

576

10.2.2 Report Flow Step 2: Initializing a Report (Generic)

577

10.2.3 Report Flow Step 3: Making Application-Specific Changes (Specific)

584

10.2.4 Report Flow Step 4: Displaying the Report (Generic)

596

10.3 Adding Custom Command Icons with Programming

601

10.3.1 Creating a Method to Automatically Create a Container

603

10.3.2 Changing ZCL_BC_VIEW_SALV_TABLE to Fill the Container

604

10.3.3 Changing the INITIALIZE Method

605

10.3.4 Adding the Custom Commands to the Toolbar

606

10.3.5 Sending User Commands from the Calling Program

607

10.3.6 Adding Separators

607

10.4 Editing Data

609

10.4.1 Creating a Custom Class to Hold the Standard SALV Model Class

610

10.4.2 Changing the Initialization Method of ZCL_BC_VIEW_SALV_TABLE

610

10.4.3 Adding a Method to Retrieve the Underlying Grid Object

614

10.4.4 Changing the Calling Program

617

10.4.5 Coding User Command Handling

617

10.5 Handling Large Amounts of Data with CL_SALV_GUI_TABLE_IDA

621

10.5.1 Basic Example

621

10.5.2 Complex Example

624

10.6 Open-Source Fast ALV Grid Object

628

10.7 Making SAP GUI Look Like SAP Fiori

629

10.8 Summary

630

11 ABAP2XLSX and Beyond

631

11.1 The Basics

633

11.1.1 How XLSX Files Are Stored

633

11.1.2 Downloading ABAP2XLSX

635

11.1.3 Creating XLSX Files Using ABAP

635

11.2 Enhancing Custom Reports with ABAP2XLSX

639

11.2.1 Converting an ALV to an Excel Object

639

11.2.2 Changing Number and Text Formats

641

11.2.3 Establishing Printer Settings

644

11.2.4 Using Conditional Formatting

646

11.2.5 Creating Spreadsheets with Multiple Worksheets

655

11.2.6 Using Graphs and Pie Charts

656

11.2.7 Embedding Macros

660

11.2.8 Emailing the Result

665

11.2.9 Adding Hyperlinks to SAP Transactions

668

11.3 Tips and Tricks

673

11.3.1 Using the Enhancement Framework for Your Own Fixes

673

11.3.2 Creating a Reusable Custom Framework

676

11.4 Beyond Spreadsheets: Microsoft Word Documents

676

11.4.1 Installing the Tool

677

11.4.2 Creating a Template

678

11.4.3 Filling Out the Template Programmatically

681

11.5 Summary

688

12 Web Dynpro ABAP and Floorplan Manager

689

12.1 The Model-View-Controller Concept

690

12.1.1 Model

691

12.1.2 View

693

12.1.3 Controller

695

12.2 Building the WDA Application

696

12.2.1 Creating a Web Dynpro Component

697

12.2.2 Declaring Data Structures for the Controller

699

12.2.3 Establishing View Settings

701

12.2.4 Defining the Windows

710

12.2.5 Navigating between Views inside the Window

711

12.2.6 Enabling the Application to be Called

714

12.3 Coding the WDA Application

715

12.3.1 Linking the Controller to the Model

715

12.3.2 Selecting Monster Records

715

12.3.3 Navigating to the Single-Record View

721

12.4 Using Floorplan Manager to Create WDA Applications

724

12.4.1 Creating an WDA Application using FPM Manually

726

12.4.2 Creating a WDA Application Using FPM via BOPF Integration

738

12.5 Unit Testing WDA Applications

744

12.6 Making WDA Look Like SAP Fiori

747

12.6.1 Enabling SAP Fiori in WDA via Classic Configuration

747

12.6.2 Enabling SAP Fiori in WDA via New Customizing UI

748

12.7 Touch Enablement of WDA Applications

752

12.8 Summary

753

13 SAPUI5

755

13.1 Basics

757

13.1.1 What Is SAPUI5?

757

13.1.2 SAPUI5 versus SAP Fiori

758

13.2 Modern IDEs

759

13.2.1 VS Code

759

13.2.2 SAP Business Application Studio

761

13.3 Creating an SAPUI5 Application Manually

763

13.3.1 VS Code

764

13.3.2 SAP Business Application Studio

787

13.4 Creating an SAPUI5 Application Automatically

792

13.4.1 VS Code

793

13.4.2 SAP Business Application Studio

798

13.5 Extension Tools

804

13.5.1 Guided Development

805

13.5.2 Adding Elements with OpenUI5

809

13.6 Importing SAPUI5 Applications into SAP ERP

813

13.6.1 Storing the Application inside SAP

814

13.6.2 Testing the SAPUI5 Application from within SAP ERP

816

13.7 Unit Testing SAPUI5 Applications

818

13.7.1 ESLint

818

13.7.2 QUnit

819

13.7.3 OPA

820

13.7.4 Gherkin

821

13.7.5 UIVeri5 and the Test Recorder

822

13.8 Summary

824

14 ABAP Channels

827

14.1 General Concepts

828

14.1.1 ABAP Messaging Channels

829

14.1.2 ABAP Push Channels

830

14.1.3 ABAP Daemons

831

14.2 ABAP Messaging Channels: SAP GUI Example

833

14.2.1 Coding the Sending Application

835

14.2.2 Coding the Receiving Application

840

14.2.3 Watching the Applications Communicate

844

14.3 ABAP Push Channels: SAPUI5 Example

847

14.3.1 Coding the Receiving (Backend) Components

848

14.3.2 Coding the Sending (Frontend) Application

856

14.4 Internet of Things Relevance

857

14.5 Summary

859