Customizing Defect Creation in Focused Build

In Focused Build, the test suite of SAP Solution Manager is extended by additional applications and functions. Today, We will focus on My Test Executions and before we start our discussion I would like to draw your attention to the high-level process of integrated defect creation below. It will be noteworthy to mention that the Defects are created from the My Test Execution Application.

In the ‘My Test Executions’ application, you can document your test cases and report defects for the test cases. In the existing Defect creation dialog(before SP08), you can input all the related information and assign the processor, the steps to reproduce, and also attach screenshots for quick analysis of the defect. You can later find and further specify the defect in the My Defects application. Defects are used to notify developers of errors that have been identified during testing. If required, a defect correction for the defect can be created in My Defects and later be processed in My Defect Corrections.

However, in the My Test Execution Application – During the testing Process not all the fields are relevant and you would like more control on the properties of the fields in the defect creation dialog. With this as the basis, we have tried to provide more flexibility and options to re-define how the Defect creation dialog can be used and improved the options available.

In this blog post, we will discuss how the Defect creation dialog has been improved for better control and flexibility. The follow-up blog will discuss how the default values for the Defect Creation dialog can be influenced. The Following improvements are delivered as part of SP08 for the defect creation dialog and this blog post will discuss the first feature

1. Customizing of the Defect Creation dialog
2. BAdi for Default values in the defect creation dialog

• Customizing of the Defect Creation dialog

Now, it is possible to define in the customizing different properties for the fields in the defect creation dialog. These properties are

• • Visibility (Hidden)

• • Enablement (Read-only)

• • Obligation (Mandatory, Optional)
  • Defaulting

The properties for Visibility, enablement, and obligation can be defined for the fields – System, Component, Category, Message Processor, Support Team, and Multilevel Categorization. Note the fields, Priority, Title, and Description are always available and cannot be customized as they serve as the basis for any defect.

System / Client 

• Visible = true (customizable from SP08 onward) 
• Enabled = true (customizable from SP08 onward), Client field never enabled 
• Mandatory = true (customizable from SP08 onward) 
• Defaulting from backend possible based on executable
• Frontend defaulting: if sytem list only contains one entry
• Overwriting defaulting using BaDI 

Priority 

• Visible = true (not customizable) 
• Enabled = true (not customizable) 
• Mandatory = true (not customizable) 
• Overwriting defaulting using BaDI 

Component 

• Visible = true (customizable since SPxx) 
• Enabled = true (customizable since SPxx) 
• Mandatory = false (customizable since SPxx) 
• Defaulting from the backend is possible based on executable 
• Overwriting defaulting using BaDI 

Title  

• Visible = true (not customizable) 
• Enabled = true (not customizable) 
• Mandatory = true (not customizable) 
• Defaulting from backend possible using BaDI 

Defect Category (from SP08 onward) 

• Visible = false (customizable from SP08 onward) 
• Enabled = false (customizable from SP08 onward) 
• Mandatory = false (customizable from SP08 onward) 
• Defaulting from backend possible using BaDI 

Message Processor 

• Visible = true (customizable since SPxx) 
• Enabled = true (customizable since SPxx) 
• Mandatory = true (customizable since SPxx)  

Support Team 

• Visible = false (customizable since SPxx) 
• Enabled = false (customizable since SPxx) 
• Mandatory = false (customizable since SPxx)  

Description 

• Visible = true (not customizable) 
• Enabled = true (not customizable) 
• Mandatory = true (not customizable) 
•  Overwriting/extending defaulting using BaDI 

Multi-Level-Categorization (Category 1 … n) 

• Visible if MLC defined for transaction type and customizing not ‘Hidden’ 
• Dynamic generation of fields based on depth (levels) of assigned MLC  

Example of Customizing Defect Creation Dialog

Before Customizing :

Customizing Possibilities :

For illustration, We can set the Message Processor and Defect Category as Hidden. Similar options can be tried out for different fields based on the usage.

After Customizing:

Now let us see how the Defect Creation Dialog would look like.

Notice the fields Message Processor and Defect Category do not appear anymore.

Key Take-Aways :

1. From Focused Build SP08, The defect Creation dialog is customizable and provide several options to control the field behaviour
2. It is further possible to control the default values for fields and will be discussed in a different blog post.

Important Links and Resources :

• Usage Rights :
• SP08 delta presentation to get an overview of the changes and read the highlights blog
• Read how SAP Activate and Focused Build with SAP Solution Manager is working together