Based on practical experiences with implementing, optimizing, and maintaining small and large SAP installations, this unique new book teaches developers, IT managers, and project leaders how to significantly improve the efficiency and quality of ABAP development in their own organizations. Take advantage of expert insights on the do's and don'ts of programming with ABAP, using easy-to-follow examples. Plus, learn to accelerate critical development projects using the exclusive tips and detailed techniques provided for correctness, testing, error handling, fault tracing, as well as best practices for documentation, and much more.

About the Author(s)

Wouter Heuvelmans works for Ctac - a leading SAP Service Partner, the largest SAP reseller in the Netherlands and Special Expertise Partner for SAP-Enterprise Portals - as an expert in the field of the ABAP Development Workbench. From 1989 onwards he collected 15 years of experience in this field. He joined Ctac in 1996 where, besides working in implementation and optimization projects, he also specializes in auditing ABAP developments. Furthermore, he is an established ABAP trainer for his colleagues and customers.

Albert Krouwels works for Ctac as a specialist in the field of Logistics and Production Planning. He has extensive experience in the design of ABAP developments since 1991, working with most SAP releases form R/2 to R/3 Enterprise. He is experienced in all phases of the software life-cycle: implementation, optimization and maintenance. Albert joined Ctac in 1995.

Ben Meijs is Product Manager Application Development at Ctac. Like Wouter, he is an expert in the field of the ABAP Development Workbench. Since 1989 he collected his extensive knowledge in SAP implementations, optimizations, upgrades and application management. Since 1997, Ben has performed several audits on the quality of customized ABAP software, helping customers to improve technical quality issues raised in this book. Ben joined Ctac in 1995.

Ron Sommen is Product Manager Integration Technology at Ctac. As a consultant, he has been developing applications in SAP R/3 with a focus on accessibility of R/3 for other systems and users. He specializes in EAI, XI, Web Applications, Web services etc. Ron joined Ctac in 1997. His knowledge of integration techniques and ABAP Objects has been an essential condition for making the book complete and up-to-date.

Table of Contents

Preface ... 11

1. Introduction ... 13
1.1 The Technical Quality of ABAP Software ... 16
1.2 ABAP Objects and Unicode-Enabling ... 19
1.3 The Structure of This Book ... 32

2. Quality of the Development Organization ... 37
2.1 Introduction ... 37
2.2 The Impact of Using ERP Functionality ... 39
2.3 The Impact of a Multi-System SAP Landscape ... 52
2.4 The Impact of a Multi-Application Landscape ... 65
2.5 The Impact of Several SAP R/3 Production Systems ... 67
2.6 Summary ... 71

3. Correctness ... 73
3.1 Typical Correctness Categories ... 73
3.2 Selecting Data ... 74
3.3 Processing Data ... 91
3.4 Managing Data in Memory ... 109
3.5 Inconsistencies in Database Updates ... 128
3.6 Checking the Unicity of Interface Data ... 140

4. Stability ... 145
4.1 Stability Problems ... 145
4.2 Programming Errors That Promote Instability ... 147
4.3 Risks of Dynamic Programming ... 165
4.4 Changes in an ABAP Program’s Environment ... 189
4.5 Using an ABAP Program Incorrectly ... 195

5. Exceptions and Error Handling ... 219
5.1 The Importance of Exception Handling ... 219
5.2 Implementation of Exception Handling ... 221
5.3 Class-Based Exception Handling ... 231
5.4 Conclusions ... 243

6. User-Friendliness ... 245
6.1 The Importance of Standardization ... 245
6.2 Guidelines for The Look-and-Feel and Behavior of Your Programs ... 247
6.3 Guidelines for Navigation and Support ... 260
6.4 Conclusion ... 265

7. Performance ... 267
7.1 Introduction ... 267
7.2 Optimizing Processing on the Database Server: Using Indexes ... 269
7.3 Minimizing Data Traffic Between the Database Server and the Application Server ... 293
7.4 Optimizing Processing on the Application Server ... 308
7.5 Minimizing Data Traffic Between the Application Server and a Client ... 327
7.6 Summary ... 329

8. Maintainability ... 331
8.1 Maintainability of Standard SAP Software ... 332
8.2 Maintainability of Customized ABAP Software ... 336
8.3 Enhancing Maintainability with ABAP Objects ... 365
8.4 Summary ... 377

9. Checking Robustness and Troubleshooting ... 379
9.1 Changes and New Developments ... 379
9.2 Troubleshooting Incidents ... 439
9.3 Summary ... 455

Appendix ... 457
A. A Proposal for Naming Standards ... 457
B. Example of an Exception Handling Class ... 461
C. Template for an ALV Report ... 473
D. Bibliography ... 493
E. Author Portraits ... 497

Index ... 499