Get ABAP Development Tools 2.7 and find out what’s new!
As of now the ABAP Development Tools 2.7 are generally available on the SAP Service Marketplace (valid S-user required): Just navigate to the SAP Software Download Center and ‘Search for Software Downloads‘ using the keywords ‘ABAP Eclipse‘. A detailed installation guide is also available as attachment of SAP Note 1856574. We are also offering a trial version of the ABAP development tools 2.7 on the new update site hosting all SAP development tools for Eclipse. For more information about this new installation option and detailed instructions please visit the SAP update site.
Now you might be interested in the new features that the ABAP Development Tools 2.7 are offering?! Therefore, we compiled a list of the most important enhancements and new features with a short description. For detailed information about a specific topic please consult the online documentation within the ABAP development tools (Help > Help Contents > ABAP Development User Guide) or read the linked SCN blogs or documents below. Please keep in mind, that several of these features rely on services provided by a specific backend release (indicated in brackets).
ABAP for SAP HANA Tools
(available as of SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP 7.4 onwards)
The SAP HANA in-memory database comes with a variety of programming options for application logic at the database level, primarily SAP HANA views and database procedures written in SQL script. Therefore, the ABAP Development Tools 2.7 offer new tools to directly consume these SAP HANA artifacts within your ABAP code. For both, SAP HANA views as well as SAP HANA database procedures, the ABAP development tools offer wizards to easily create the corresponding ABAP repository objects, i.e. external views and database procedure proxies, which are managed by the ABAP dictionary. Thus, these ABAP proxy objects represent the native SAP HANA artifacts and control the mapping of the data types. Moreover, the new HANA transport container allows you to transport SAP HANA content along with your ABAP development objects using the change and transport system (CTS). For more information please refer to the comprehensive documentation in Eclipse (Help menu > Help Contents) or read this blog by Christiaan Swanepoel.
Refactoring & Quickfixes
(available as of SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP 7.03/7.31 SP07 onwards)
There are new and useful refactoring and quick fix options you can use in the ABAP source code editor:
Extract Constant: Select a literal (number, string or character) and trigger Extract Constant from the Quickfix Menu (Ctrl-1). As result a new constant will be declared with the value of the selected literal and all occurrences of the literal in the current scope will be replaced with the new constant.
Promote Local Variable: Select a local variable and trigger Promote Local Variable from the Quickfix Menu (Ctrl-1). As result a the declaration of the local variable will be converted to an attribute declaration. The same also works for local types and local constants.
Change Visibility: Select a certain member of a class (attribute, method or whatever and trigger Make Public, Make Protected or Make Private from the Quickfix Menu (Ctrl-1). As result, the meber will be moved to the desired section of your class.
For more information please refer to the comprehensive documentation in Eclipse (Help menu > Help Contents).
ABAP Resource URL
(available as of SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP 7.03/7.31 SP04 onwards)
You know how to create hyperlinks with a URL referencing a specific resource, e.g. for opening a Web page from an email or a document. From now on you can also just send an email to your colleague that contains a link to a specific development object and the colleague can open this object directly within the ABAP development tools for Eclipse. Simply use the Copy ABAP Resource URL command in the context menu of the project explorer to store the URL in your clipboard. Here is an example for an ABAP resource URL pointing to a specific class in system NPL: adt://NPL/sap/bc/adt/oo/classes/cl_epm_oia. For more information please read this blog by Thomas Ritter.
ABAP Doc
(available as of SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP 7.4 onwards)
ABAP Doc allows you to document your ABAP source code in-place using a specific comment syntax. There are special tokens and tags for documenting specific source code elements like the parameter interface of methods or for formatting the documentation. Moreover, the ABAP development tools use the ABAP Doc comments to generate HTML-based source code documentation like the well-known Javadoc generator. This source code documentation is being displayed if you call the code element information. For more information please refer to the ABAP language help or read this ABAP Doc introduction by Michael Schneider.
Web Dynpro ABAP Tools
(available as of SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP 7.03/7.31 SP07 onwards)
Besides the well-known Web Dynpro ABAP tools integrated in the ABAP workbench, the ABAP Development Tools 2.7 now offer a native development environment for Web Dynpro ABAP applications in Eclipse. Thus, all Web Dynpro ABAP design-time artifacts are visible in the project explorer and you can easily create Web Dynpro components, windows, views and controllers without leaving ADT. Of course you can also activate, run and debug your Web Dynpro applications in Eclipse. For more information please refer to the online documentation in Eclipse (Help menu > Help Contents) or read this blog by Ashwani Kr Sharma.
Floor Plan Manager Integration
(available as of SAP NetWeaverAS ABAP 7.4 onwards)
Developers can now develop their Floor Plan Manager applications within the ABAP development tools for Eclipse. All floor plan objects are integrated in Eclipse e.g. all floor plan entities are categorized nicely and displayed in the project explorer or forward navigation to the ABAP class editor from floor plan editors inside Eclipse. Developers can also run the floor plan application to check their output. For more information please read this blog by Ashwani Kumar Sharma.
Connectivity & Integration Tools
(available as of SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP 7.4 onwards)
Now we provide native tools to develop ABAP Web services in Eclipse. Thus, all important steps like the enterprise service definition in the Enterprise Service Respository (ESR), service implementation, quick configuration and service provisioning can be done in a single IDE. Moreover, these tools also offer business scenario based configuration which is completely abstracted from the technical setup and therefore unaffected by potential changes in the underlying physical systems. For more information please consult the comprehensive documentation in Eclipse (Help menu > Help Contents) or read this blog by Krishanu Biswas.
ABAP Profiling
(available as of SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP 7.4 onwards)
With the ABAP development tools you can now directly start an ABAP trace from the project explorer in Eclipse to analyze the performance or the control flow of your ABAP application or an ABAP development object which is technically based on the classical ABAP runtime analysis (transaction SAT). Afterwards, you can switch to the ABAP profiling perspective and analyze the runtime distribution or the call tree of a specific trace. For more information about the different tracing and analysis options please refer to the comprehensive documentation in Eclipse (Help menu > Help Contents) or read this short introduction by Thomas Fiedler.
ABAP Test Cockpit for Developers
(available as of SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP 7.03/7.31 SP06 onwards)
The ABAP Test Cockpit (ATC) is THE tool for checking the quality of ABAP source code by running static code checks, ABAP unit tests and other quality checks supported by ATC. The ABAP development tools now allow ABAP developers to start and monitor ATC checks and analyze the findings within the IDE. For more information about ATC in general and best practices please refer to this ATC introduction on SCN or read this blog by Thomas Fiedler.
Software Development Kit for the ABAP Development Tools
(available as of SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP 7.4 onwards)
The ABAP development tools for SAP NetWeaver are built on the open Eclipse platform. Thus, now it’s easy to implement or integrate your own tools with the ABAP IDE using the public API of the ABAP development tools and the well-known plugin concept of Eclipse. The software development kit (SDK) contains the API documentation (Javadoc) and a how-to guide describing the fundamental concepts and initial steps to get you started. For more information download the SDK and read this blog by Michael Schneider.
Final Remark
These are the highlights of the ABAP development tools 2.7, but you’ll discover even more features and enhancements when you are using it or digging into the online documentation. We hope you enjoy our latest release 🙂
Thanks for this Post 😉
Especially the System requirements!
Good to hear about new features coming out, well done overview - thank you. I like mostly ABAP docs which I miss much. Web Dynpro already in place is also a nice surprise.
Regards 🙂
Adam
Will this functionality be back-ported via an oss note or something so that we can access the features requiring sp7? If not it could be years before we see this stuff.
Hi Jason,
we are trying to downport most of the new functions also to NW 7.31 release. WebDynpro Tools for example is already available with SP7. Other features like FPM integration or the SDK will follow in one of the next SPs. A little more difficult are the features that need kernel enhancements like ABAP Doc or the new profiling capabilitites. But I'm sure when our community likes the new stuff I can convince the kernel guys to downport these features into the 7.21 kernel.
Regards,
Thomas.
Good news - thanks Thomas.
Hi, Christopher!
I' m impressed how fast the function set of ADT continues to grow. One question, which I know is hard to answer with Yes or No (especially for a SAP guy):
As many of these features will only be provided in Eclipse, how are the SAP GUI based development tools supposed to evolve?
Will SE80 and its toolset be developed further, just bugfixed or discontinued? What about the form builders (SAPscript, Smartforms - please don' t tell me they' re obsolete; I know), the workflow builder - all the very special toolsets which are currentyl available only via SAP GUI a.s.o. Will they be ported to ADT in Eclipse?
What' s the strategic focus of SAP regarding its developer productivity tools?
Regards,
Thomas
Hi Thomas,
There is a clear commitment of moving all SAP development tools into eclipse to have a first class developer experience in our integrated environment. So it is clear that we are also spending the major effort to further enhance the ABAP tools in Eclipse. That means new tools and new features wil be only provided in the eclipse environment. The HANA development toolset with 7.4 is a good example because these tools are not available in ABAP workbench anymore. But this does not mean that we have plans to switch-off the good old ABAP workbench. And there are also no plans to port the complete ABAP workbench into eclipse. So we focus on these areas where we see the biggest chance to increase the developer experience when porting the tool to eclipse. The rest can be integrated via the SAP GUI into eclipse. Screen Painter and Menu Painter are good examples for this category of tools.
Hope this clarifies your question.
Regards,
Thomas.
Hi Thomas,
let me add some remarks in addition to what Thomas Fiedler already outlined: Obviously, it's not easy to find a good balance between porting existing tools to Eclipse versus implementing new required tools. I know, SAP GUI integration is not always the best option, but for some use cases acceptable. And of course we seriously consider the feedback of our developer community. Moreover, one of our major goals with the ABAP development tools as well as all SAP development tools for Eclipse still is to address the challenge of E2E application development spanning several technologies (SQL, ABAP, Java, JS/HTML5/CSS3, mobile SDKs, etc.), which is getting more and more important (also inside SAP).
Best regards,
Christopher
Christopher,
thank you very much for the aditioinal information. I used to work with Eclipse (or NWDS or whatever it is called now) during my Java days - and was quite happy, not to say astonished, to switch to a development environment like SE80 and its toolset when starting with ABAP.
And that was - and is - due to the fact that I have never come across such a high level of integration of development and debugging into the runtime environment.
Now, with the latest EhPs on NW AS ABAP 7.0, coding, debugging and analyzing of ABAP programs has never been that easy and comfortable as it now is - SAT, new Debugger, nearly perfect Code Completion a.s.o.
Switching to Eclipse and ADT with the next major upgrade to come means for us as an IT organization a large investment - configuring and rolling out the new development environment (in addition to the old one), training for our development staff, reduced productivity within the first time of usage.
As there are no plans to switch our database foundation, I wonder if this investment really pays off - especially if we have large customer developments on a GUI basis to maintain.
Regards,
Thomas
Hi Christopher,
thanks for the overview. Especially for the outline where 7.4 system is needed.. makes me just want to get one faster than possible 😉 Nevertheless I'm quite happy with the way ADT is evolving!
Best Regards
Hendrik
Hello Christopher,
thank you very much for the nice summary. This is a good overview, what is allready possible with eclipse. Eclipse evolves more and more to the multi purpose tool for SAP development (not only because of the ADTs).
If I am correct there is only an update site for the latest trial version. Do you plan to provide also an update site for the regular versions?
Do you know what the plans for the NWDS are? When I am correct, all the new ABAP tools are only provided as plugins for Eclipse (actually I like it this way). Will the NWDS be the "Java Development Tool" and the ABAP Tools are provided as Updates?
Maybe in future it would also be possible to provide a bunled Eclipse Version for ABAP Development (like the Eclipse Version for JEE, Plugin Development etc)?
Good Work!
Best Regards
Daniel
Dear Daniel,
I would expect that when you compare the Version that you get via the update site and from the Service Marketplace that they are exactly the same. It's just a different licensing. If you want to raise a support message for the tools then you will perhaps be asked to get the SMP version.
Best regards
Gregor
Hi Gregor,
you are right it is the same software version on the update site.
And we are also interested in feedback concering the AIE version from the updatesite 😉
Regards,
Thomas.
Hello Gregor,
it was more a question concening the ease of use. It is easier to get updates delivered by just two clicks within eclipse instead of loging on to the Marketplace, download the new version, adding a new local Updatesite ...
I am a lazy developer (concerning such things) 😉
Best Regards
Daniel
Hi Daniel,
there are on-going discussions about the future of NWDS especially about the supported eclipse releases. My hope is that we can migrate NWDS to current eclipse release and that AIE runs in the same IDE.
What we will not do is to bundle the AIE Tools together with Eclipse and put it on the SMP. From legal point of view we are not allowed to ship the eclipse product without taking complete the waranty for it.
Regards,
Thomas.
There seems to be a compatibility issue when updating the abap tools (core) from SMP (SAP ABAP IN ECLIPSE 2.7).
When installing new software in eclipse I get the error shown below ->
It seems that this version of ADT is incompatible with the UI5 team provider software.
Any ideas how to get around this - without removing the UI5 tools. It defeats the point of using eclipse if we can't have the tools installed together.
Maybe need to update the UI5 tools and team provider first but I can't see any updates on SMP.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cannot complete the install because of a conflicting dependency.
Software being installed: ABAP Core Development Tools 2.7.5 (com.sap.adt.core.feature.group 2.7.5)
Software currently installed: SAPUI5 ABAP Repository Team Provider 1.10.0 (com.sap.ide.ui5.team.feature.external.feature.group 1.10.0)
Only one of the following can be installed at once:
ADT Compatibility Plug-in 2.7.0 (com.sap.adt.compatibility 2.7.0)
ADT Compatibility Plug-in 2.0.2 (com.sap.adt.compatibility 2.0.2)
Cannot satisfy dependency:
From: ABAP Core Development Tools 2.7.5 (com.sap.adt.core.feature.group 2.7.5)
To: com.sap.adt.fwk.ci.feature.group [2.7.0]
Cannot satisfy dependency:
From: ABAP Communication Framework 2.7.0 (com.sap.adt.fwk.ci.feature.group 2.7.0)
To: com.sap.adt.compatibility [2.7.0]
Cannot satisfy dependency:
From: SAPUI5 ABAP Repository Team Provider 1.10.0 (com.sap.ide.ui5.team.feature.external.feature.group 1.10.0)
To: com.sap.ide.ui5.team.ui [1.10.0]
Cannot satisfy dependency:
From: SAPUI5 Repository Team Provider UI Plug-In 1.10.0 (com.sap.ide.ui5.team.ui 1.10.0)
To: bundle com.sap.adt.compatibility [0.20.1,2.6.0)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Jason,
I also did run into this issues and solved them the hard way and de-installed manually. But Martin Steinberg told me about a better way:
Best regards
Gregor
Thanks Gregor, but no luck. Looks like the only way is to manually remove the team provider stuff.
Hi Jason,
the procedure Gregor has described should work in general. The compatibility with ABAP in Eclipse 2.7.x is established with UI5Tools/Teamprovider Version 1.10.3 (Note 1832364), however there is already 1.12.1 available (Note 1856583).
De- and reinstalling is one possibility, but a joint update has to work. Important is to have all new packages from SMP registered as update site. If the UI5 Application Development tools are installed, they have to be updated in the same run, too.
You can either choose "Check for Updates" and select the features or use "Install new Features", select "--All Available Sites--" and flag all ABAP in Eclipse and UI5Tools features.
Best regards
Matthias
Thanks Matthias for clarification.
Regards,
Thomas.
I sorted it out. Just un-installed ui5 tools, team provider and abap tools and re-installed all the new versions and everything is fine.
This new version of ADT doesn't seem to support the transport organizer whereas the previous version did. See the message I'm getting from the transport organizer view:
"
"
Hi Jason,
Could you please let us know the back end version of your system. According we will look into and try to assist you on this.
Best Regards,
Anuj
EHP6 FOR SAP ERP 6.0
NetWeaver 7.31 sp6
Hi Jason,
The support of transport organizer for ADT 2.7 is provided from 731 SP7 version . If you want to use 7.31 SP6 system with ADT 2.7 then you need to apply the SAP Note .
SAP Note : 1795666
In case if you need any assistance please write to us.
Best Regards,
Anuj
So ADT2.7 removes support for the transport organizer that was there previously and working well...
Will check out the oss note and see if I'm *allowed* to apply it - thanks.
Hi Jason,
transport view is available since SP6 of NetWeaver 7.31.
See following blog for details:
http://scn.sap.com/community/abap/eclipse/blog/2013/02/20/adt-basics-transport-organizer
It looks like an incomaptible change in our client so that new client version does not work with SP6. Therefore the note was created for SP6. I will clarify what happened.
Regards,
Thomas.
Hi Christoper,
Very useful documents with best screen shot.
Very nice your mention system requirement.
Warm Regards,
Ragav
Hi,
Thanks for the Post. 🙂
Its really helpful and was represented nicely!! 😎
Regards,
Bharath
Hi,
I have this problem with installing 2.7 version:
Only one of the following can be installed at once:
SAP Support Tools UI 1.7.1 (com.sap.ide.support.ui 1.7.1)
SAP Support Tools UI 1.8.1 (com.sap.ide.support.ui 1.8.1)
Cannot satisfy dependency:
From: Container for shared features. Do not install. 0.0.0 (com.sap.adt.internal.product.sharedfeatures 0.0.0)
To: com.sap.ide.support.feature.feature.group [1.7.1]
Cannot satisfy dependency:
From: SAP Support Tools 1.7.1 (com.sap.ide.support.feature.feature.group 1.7.1)
To: com.sap.ide.support.ui [1.7.1]
Cannot satisfy dependency:
From: SAP Support Tools 1.8.1 (com.sap.ide.support.feature.feature.group 1.8.1)
To: com.sap.ide.support.ui [1.8.1]
I had similar issues Karel if you read the full comment stream above. Easiest fix is to simply uninstall all the SAP plugins in eclipse and then re-install the latest ones: UI5, ABAP, Team Provider. You don't lose anything in your workspace and its a pretty quick process.
Event hough the re-installation will work, I would like to figure out, why the update as described by Gregor doesn't work. Un-/re-install I would rather not call an "update procedure".
Hi Karel,
can you please provide some details about the IDE you wanted to install the tools into?
Assuming the IDE Support Tools 1.7.1 are already installed, you can just use them to collect the support information (Help=>Collect Support Information). Please send me the generated archive via mail
Regards, Felix
Thanks for the blog post, really interesting. Nice features overview
Chris, Thanks for sharing the new features in ABAP Area. It's temped me to go through all the features in eclipse and other areas.. It's was well explained..!!! Keep it up..