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ABAP Editor Cherries!

September 2, 2014 | 94 Views |
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I stumbled across some handy features in the new ABAP editor which may come helpful to a busy ABAP Programmer. Check them out.

Bookmarks

Have you found yourself spending a long time scrolling up or down to that particular block of code, (maybe a declaration or function definition), you always need to refer to, in the long program that you have written? Some resort to the find feature on the toolbar to do this.  But here is much quicker method. Set a bookmark on frequently referred lines of code.

In the indicator margin, right click and set bookmark. A blue flag will appear to denote the bookmark.

 

  

To navigate to a book mark, right click on indicator margin and select ‘Go to Bookmark’.

You can set upto 10 bookmarks in a program.

Window Splitter


Even better – Do you want to work on/ view different parts of the code simultaneously? Double click the button at the right top corner on the vertical scroll bar.

 

Toggling Caps Lock and Number Lock.

Double click on the marked area in the right bottom corner to toggle the Caps Lock or Num Lock on the keys.

 

Change the default font and color coding .


Click on the editor options at the right bottom corner of the window.

You can provide your own color coding to different sections of code or change the font type and size to increase readability. The default option would be most preferred, but you do have a choice if you want a change!

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31 Comments

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  2. Sharmila Subramanian

    Hi Susmitha,

    This is really helpful. Though I’ve seen the Bookmark option so may times when I right click to set breakpoints I never cared to know its functionality. This bookmarking will save a lot of time compared to ‘Find’.

    And, thanks for the other tips like Window Splitter and Color coding.

    Great Job!

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  3. Sijin Chandran

    Thanks for this informative document.

    For the first time I Right Clicked on the left side pane of ABAP editor. Earlier I used to Left Click only for setting Session Breakpoints.

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  5. Rama Sudhakar

    Hi,

    regarding the Bookmark in program watch that so many times but not used,

    in the name of your information start using the bookmark concept

    Thanks

    Sudhakar

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  6. Jörg Wulf

    Hi Susmitha,

    great blog.

    Only draw back: in my opinion too much praise for bookmarks.

    When i first came across bookmarks, it thought “what a great feature” but to my dismay i discovered its limitations all too soon. Bookmarks only live while you stay whithin the same source.

    Programmers, who stick with monolithic code monsters are getting the most of it.

    Whereas those who use includes or ,gods beware, even global classes, will gain next to nothing.

    Everytime you switch the source, which is in fact quite often when using classes, all your previously set bookmarks are gone.

    That’s why i nearly gave up using them. It’s hardly worth the effort.

    Only on rare occasions, when i have to do some repairing on some inherited single source code monsters, i might find them usefull – if i remembered their existence.

    @SAP: there’s some room for improvement!

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    1. Susmitha Susan Thomas Post author

      Thanks Jorg!

      Yep you are right. I had also noticed that you cannot save those book marks. Once you exit the program or close the window they are gone.

      But the book marks are not lost if you navigate to other includes or classes from your current source code. You cannot access these bookmarks from there, but the bookmarks will be remain and you can access them once you navigate back to your current source code.

      But regarding saving bookmarks, once you exit the program, yes there is still room for improvement for SAP. 🙂

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      1. Jörg Wulf

        Hi Susmitha,

        yes you’re right, as long as you use forward navigation by doubleclicking and back arrows.

        Obviously, the bookmarks are memorized in the stack.

        Thanks for pointing that out. I hadn’t realized.

        So your bookmarks stay available, at least whithin one session.

        But they disappear instantaneously, when you switch source in the repository browser, using the navigation tree. 🙁

        BR – Jörg

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          1. Thomas Fiedler

            Hi,

            maybe you have a short look on the Bookmarks view in Eclipse:

            /wp-content/uploads/2014/09/bm_553282.png

            The number of bookmarks is unlimited. You can define a description for every bookmark on your own. The bookmarks can be defined for every development object incl. DDIC objects and the list is cross-system. That means you have an overview on all your book marks in your whole landscape. 

            Regards,

            Thomas.

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  10. Tobias Steuder

    I love you for showing me the bookmarking function.

    I sometimes got realy angry scrolling hundreds of lines again and again.

    Maybe also ver useful for everyone liking the split screen function is the Split Screen Editor (SE39). Very useful for copying and comparing abap code!

    Thanks Sushitha and kind regards.

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    1. Thomas Fiedler

      Hi Tobias,

      you should definitely have a look on the compare Function in ABAP in Eclipse.

      Cross-System comparison between several versions and releases was never that easy.

      Give it a try.

      Regards.

      Thomas.

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  26. Phillip Morgan

    Great info!
    Personally, I cannot live without the splitter.
    As for the bookmarks, if you want a more convenient way to use them, use the CONTROL key.
    CTRL-0, CTRL-1, etc…

     

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