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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 christiaanedward.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 thomasalexander.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 ashwanikr.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 thomasfiedler.

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 thomasfiedler.

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 🙂

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