Update for ABAP Development Tools fails when using an outdated Eclipse version

[Andre_Fischer]

Updates

•  Added recommendation to use "latest" update site

 

A while ago I ran into an issue trying to update my ABAP Development Tools when working with SAP Cloud Platform ABAP Environment. Since it took me a while to figure out what the root cause was I thought that this deserves to be mentioned in a blog, just in case you encounter the same issue.

 

The issue was that the ADT client requested an update but was not able to find any update ...

The error message I got was the following:

"A request to the ABAP back-end could not be processed, because your client installation of ABAP Development Tools is out of date”. And it asked me “Do you wish to update the client installation now?”.

This message popped up when I tried to edit a Service Consumption Model in a 1908 ABAP trial system.



So far this message was not unusual and I clicked on the button "Update now" and ABAP in Eclipse began to contact the software sites configured in my Eclipse.



The problem now was that I received the information "No updates found".



 

Now I was stuck … at least I thought so

I had updated all my components but was still asked to updated my ADT installation ...

The root cause of the problem was that I had used a 2018-12 Eclipse installation for which no up-to-date ADT plug in was available.

 

The solution

if you don't want to run into any problems you should change the update sites for both Eclipse and ADT such that both always point to the latest version.

ADT	https://tools.hana.ondemand.com/latest
Eclipse	http://download.eclipse.org/releases/latest

If these settings are active you will be notified to update your Eclipse as well as the ADT versions as soon as any update is available.

 

Technical background

As described in the following blog

https://blogs.sap.com/2019/04/15/important-changes-to-the-abap-development-tools-adt-release-cycle/

the release cycles of the ABAP Development Tools client and the underlying Eclipse have changed.

For both there is a new version available every 3 months. And SAP only supports the last two Eclipse Releases.

That means, that ADT plug-ins cannot be installed on an Eclipse platform which is older than 6 months.

The problem with my outdated 2018-12 installation was thus that no ADT client update was available that was able to handle the Service Consumption Model object since this dialogue had been changed.

Since in the ABAP trial version we will see new supported objects on a regular basis I expect such deadlocks to occur more often because new objects or new functionalities require an update of the ADT client.

But as I wrote there is a solution to avoid such deadlock situations if you go always for the "latest" version.

 

 

 

[pokrakam]

Thanks for the heads up, I think I’ve run into this before. The error is a bit misleading, especially with corporate installations that tend to lag behind a bit.

[former_member284893]

Hi Andre,

I face the same problem.

I installed Eclipse 2020-06 (4.16)

However, even after changing both Eclipse and ADT update sites to point to latest versions, the problem still exists.

 

Do you know any other workaround?

Update sites

[Andre_Fischer]

Hi Prasad,

what version of ADT Tools are installed in your Eclipse?

That no update could be found is not an error as such. It could be that you just have installed the latest tools and you are good to go.

The error that I described was that I used an outdated Eclipse and was forced to use an updated version of ADT.

But this update could not be found since the latest ADT Tools were not released for my outdated Eclipse.

So check out via the menu "Help->About Eclipse IDE" and there press the button "Installation Details"

There you will find information such as

Name
ABAP Core Development Tools (Developer Edition)

Version
3.1x.1xx.20xxxxxxxxxxx

Id

com.sap.adt.core.devedition.feature.group

Provider
SAP

[former_member284893]

In a conversation, Andre mentioned that because I am using an Internal SAP System, I should download ADT from an internal system.

There is monthly, weekly and daily ADT releases.

With internal SAP systems, new ADT versions are required that are not publicly released yet.

I tried it out and works for me.

Thanks for the helpful information Andre.

[jerryjanda]

Hi, Prasad:

Your post included an internal-only link that most members can't access, so I edited to remove. If our colleagues would like to learn the link, they can reach out to us directly.

Kind regards,

--Jerry

[andres_rodriguez_guapacha]

I have a similar problem, but the other way around:

I installed eclipse and then ADT. When eclipse changes version (e.g. 2022.09 to 2022.12) something breaks the ADT modules and my views, projects, etc. break in the new version. As I can't wait for the ADT site to be updated, I have to solve the issue quickly.

What I did as a workaround was to disable eclipse's latest site and do a manual migration of projects from one version to the other. The idea is to install the new version of eclipse, in paralell with the old one, then add the ADT and then copy the projects to the new workspace.

screenshot of eclipse available software sites where the latest eclipse sites are disabled