ABAP Cloud - Program
What happens next with the ABAP report and which migration strategies are available to you for ABAP Cloud? Let's take a look at the objects here.
Table of contents
The classic report has been with us developers for many years in the ABAP environment and is an indispensable part of today's systems. In this article we will once again look at the successor strategy for ABAP Cloud and how it might work without the report.
Introduction
ABAP Cloud uses Fiori as the frontend and thus makes the ABAP program in the system superfluous. This also includes basic concepts such as ALV, GUI programming, PBO/PAI, transactions and dynpros. At the same time, this creates a lot of space for new things such as Core Data Services, RAP and Fiori. When we speak to young developers today, they are usually looking forward to the newer and prettier front ends. Likewise, GUI programming is slowly disappearing from the training plan and the focus is on the new things that we will be using more and more in the coming years.
ABAP Program
The program is the basis for working with the system. It is started via transaction SE38 or a separate transaction. You need the SAP GUI to access the system. The report maps all functions in the system:
- Display as a frontend and interaction with the user
- Scheduling as a job in the background
- Creation of spools or forms for printing
The report in the system therefore covers all requirements that the end user, the admin and the developer need.
The path
So what happens after the program? There will be two main concepts here, the Fiori app and the application job. Each of the two objects follows its own concept and thus decouples the task. Let's take a look at the following graphic:
The graphic is divided into three different parts:
- Classic ABAP - Here you can find the classic report, which is only TIER-3 under ABAP Cloud. This covers all the functionality in the system.
- ABAP Cloud - The Fiori app is the frontend for the end user, allowing them to filter and directly edit data. Below this is the application job, which is used when tasks are to be carried out in the background. In principle, a job can also be scheduled from a Fiori application.
- Released APIs - These are the released objects that we as developers need for our work. The different services are used for the various scenarios in development and can be used by jobs and Fiori apps.
Learning
What happens next? This is up to you as a developer. Learning the new concepts and APIs takes a lot of time, which you also need to get into the new world. Switching to ABAP Cloud means a lot of trying, learning and understanding. Without the opportunity to learn, the migration project could fail.
To have a basis for the path, there is extensive information on the topic of ABAP Cloud on YouTube, Learning or in the Community. We would also like to give you a few overviews, concepts and tutorials from our side to make learning easier for you.
- Report to job - A simple step-by-step example of migrating an ABAP program to an application job.
- Report to Fiori - An example of migrating a display program with additional functionality to a Fiori application based on RAP.
- Understanding RAP - Structure of a simple RAP application and the various functions within the ABAP RESTful Programming Model.
- ABAP Cloud Concepts - On the overview page in the ABAP Cloud area you will find everything about the most important concepts, APIs and basics. The area is not yet final and will continue to grow over the near future.
Challenge
Many of the concepts shown are easy to implement and therefore it is possible to achieve initial success quickly. However, complex scenarios such as cockpits or large Dynpro applications (trees, various controls, drag'n drop) will be more difficult to implement. RAP with Fiori Elements will reach its limits at some point, then you will quickly be back to freestyle development and will have to deal with complex front ends. However, this should not make up the majority of the work, but rather a small part of your development work. However, such scenarios will also show how fit the new ABAP cloud world already is today.
Conclusion
The ABAP program is now slowly reaching its zenith and new exciting technologies are waiting on the horizon or are even already in use. We think that the moment is an exciting time and there are many new topics for developers.