How to create and use your own ATC check variant in ABAP Development Tools for Eclipse

Now it is possible to maintain ABAP Test Cockpit (ATC) check variants in ABAP development tools for Eclipse.

Display an ATC check variant 

You can choose an ATC check variant from the existing check variants by clicking the Browse button (or using Content Assist: Ctrl + Space shortcut):

You can display an ATC check variant using the Open ABAP Development Object (Ctrl + Shift + A) to see which checks are contained in it:

Just select the ATC check variant and it gets displayed in the editor in a tree-like view as you know it from the SAP GUI Code Inspector. You can open a check category (e.g., “Syntax Check”) to see which checks are chosen there. On the bottom of the view, you can switch between parameters of the selected check (“Parameters”) and its details (“Documentation”):

But surely, you may want to create your own ATC check variants to bundle ATC checks as it is suitable for your own development use case.

If you want to create your own ATC check variant, you can either create it from scratch or copy and change an existing ATC check variant delivered by SAP.

Create an ATC check variant from scratch

To create an ATC check variant just create a new ABAP Repository object (New->ABAP Repository Object or “Ctrl + Shift + N”) “Check Variant” under the “ABAP Test Cockpit” category:

After clicking the Next button enter the Name and the Description of your new ATC check variant and choose Finish:

This is how the new ABAP development tools for Eclipse editor for an ATC check variant looks like. The checks are grouped by categories as you know it from the Code Inspector. Now you can select the checks which you want to use in your variant by clicking on the respective check boxes:

For each ATC check you can change its parameters or description and switch on the bottom between the Parameters and Documentation views to see the details:

After you have selected and adjusted (if necessary) the required ATC checks save and activate your new ATC check variant. It is ready to use.

If you now execute ABAP Test Cockpit (context menu Run As ->ABAP Test Cockpit with….) your newly created ATC check variant will appear under the selection of available check variants and you can choose it:

The ATC run analyzes your source code using your new ATC check variant and you can see the results in the ATC Problem View as usual:

Create an ATC check variant by copying and changing an SAP ATC check variant

Open an existing SAP ATC check variant, which you want to adapt to your needs, e.g., the default ATC check variant for developments in the SAP BTP ABAP Environment ABAP_CLOUD_DEVELOPMENT_DEFAULT (“Open ABAP Development Object (Ctrl + Shift + A)”):

Create a copy of it by using the “Duplicate” context menu in the Project Explorer:

and copying it, for example, into your local package:

Now you can modify this ATC check variant: add or remove some checks, add your own checks, or change parameters of a check. In the example below, some Cloud Readiness checks are added:

By the way: your newly created ATC check variant can be now also selected in the ATC Configurator app if you want to use it within your ATC configuration:

You can use your new ATC check variant to check your custom development in SAP BTP ABAP Environment or if you want to run remote ATC checks in your on-premise SAP system.