The properties view: an AiE feature that I've missed so far

[ceedee666]

Once in a while I stumble upon an AiE feature that after the initial discovery I can't work without any more. The last such feature was the possibility to restrict the search for ABAP development objects to certain object type (cf. A take-away "AiE feature" from our last SAP Code Jam event by martin.steinberg2). Today I discovered my new favourite feature, the properties view, through thomasfiedlers response in the thread Feature Request: Description in "Duplicate" dialog.

Before the properties view

One thing is used to do in the past was to open up an source code artefact in the SAP GUI. And  then use the context menu to open the object directory entry of the artefact (see screen shots below). As I didn't know any other way I never questioned this approach. However, I was hoping that some day there would be a simpler way of getting to the object directory imformation.

The properties view to the rescue

After reading Thomas' response this morning I gave the properties view a try. First I had to add it to my ABAP perspective using the "Show View" menu in AiE.

After adding the view I immediately saw that the function I was looking for had been available all the time. For each source code artefact the properties view show the important properties including the object directory information. Furthermore, I also allows editing certain properties like e.g. the object description or the main program of an include.

I hope this blog helps everyone who used to get to object directory information using some work around as I did. Nevertheless, I think that the AiE team should add this view to the default views open when starting the ABAP perspective. That way this feature would be easier to find for new users of AiE.

Christian