ABAP - One IDE or any IDE?

Table of contents

• Introduction
• Selection
• SE80
• ADT
• BAS
• VS Code
• Challenge
• Features
• Future
• Provision
• Features
• Enablement
• Plugins
• Integration
• Summary
• Own opinion
• Conclusion

What is the current state of the development environment for ABAP developers? What's new, and what should we consider in the coming years? We'll take a look at that in this article.

 

Introduction

At SAP TechEd, support for VS Code was officially announced for the development of modern ABAP applications. The initial focus will be on the ABAP Cloud Stack and RAP development. The modeling and development within the context of the ABAP RESTful Application Programming Model forms the basis and will be expanded in terms of features later, so that theoretically older releases can also be supported.

 

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Selection

There has always been a selection of tools and possibilities in recent years. Let's take a closer look at the possibilities, as well as potential strengths and weaknesses.

 

SE80

SE38/SE80 is the oldest IDE and is directly integrated into the SAP GUI. You can open the system and enjoy all the features, such as development and debugging, directly integrated. You don't need any additional software for developing ABAP programs. The IDE is always up-to-date, and updates haven't been an issue so far. However, extensions and plugins are still quite difficult to implement and usually require modifications. This meant that changes and templates were only present locally in the system and not across all of the developer's systems.

 

ADT

The ABAP Development Tools, or ADT for short, have been available for over 13 years and are still hotly debated as to whether they are truly better than the SAP GUI and SE80. The foundation is Eclipse, an IDE written in Java and widely used, especially in the Java community. The ADT plugin extends Eclipse to enable ABAP development. Eclipse supports many standard tools, and extensions can also be written in Java, eliminating the need for modifications. In principle, the IDE offers many advantages over SE80, as you have access to very good refactoring tools and the ABAP Cleaner, which is actually the top argument for the environment. Currently, ADT is the standard for any modern development, as Core Data Service, RAP, and ABAP Cloud only work here.

 

BAS

If there's one thing you can't do with ADT, it's SAP Fiori development. Once your RAP Services are finished, you have to switch IDEs if you're not using the Tool Bridge. Business Application Studio, or BAS for short, is now a version of VS Code that runs in a container and is accessed via the browser. Various versions of BAS with plugins are also available. Most users will primarily use it for generating and developing Fiori applications, which they will then deploy to BTP or an ABAP system. The IDE updates in the background, ensuring you always have access to the latest version. A drawback mentioned by the community is the long startup time and occasional performance issues.

 

VS Code

If you want to develop Fiori locally, VS Code is also available. The IDE is based on Electron and Node.js, allowing it to run very well in the browser. Developers typically handle updates and the installation of plugins themselves, making this the IDE's greatest flexibility. VS Code boasts a very large community and is considered the current standard in the world of software development.

 

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Challenge

There is a major challenge, especially in the ABAP area. Currently, there isn't a single, universally applicable IDE for development, as was the case with Classic ABAP and the SAP GUI. In modern development with ABAP Cloud, we create a Fiori app as the application. We create the RAP-based service in Eclipse and the UI in BAS or VS Code, and then deploy it to the system. This necessitates a tool change, which is hotly debated in the community.

In addition, there is a wide range of AI features that many standard tools already support, such as chat, integrated AI features, MCP, and Agentic AI. Most plugins can be easily integrated into the VS Code environment, but it's more difficult for Eclipse.

And what about an on-premises and Private Cloud system? What about a customer who still has to maintain many classic extensions, modifications to note implementation, SPAU, and SPDD? For this, developers still need to access the SAP GUI to perform standard tasks.

 

Features

Let's first take a look at some of the features supported on the different platforms. We'll focus on just a few examples, especially in the ABAP area. We assume that the functions for VS Code will also be available later for BAS. In the overview, we use the following legend: ✔️ Available, ❓ Not known, and ⏱️ Features that will likely come later.

 

The overview above primarily concerns the initial scope of delivery for the next year. As SAP has already reported in its blog articles, it will simply take a considerable amount of time to get the code into the Language Server and implement the gap in the respective plugins.

 

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Future

So what does the future of SAP development look like? Basically, we as developers will have more freedom in choosing our IDE, and with the Language Server, SAP has the option of enabling other or even any IDE more quickly in the future. However, we should also consider a few points.

 

Provision

Deployment within companies is not always as straightforward as on a personal computer with the appropriate permissions. Companies vary greatly in this regard, and a simple software rollout is not always possible. Whether it's Eclipse or VS Code, updates to the IDE and plugins occur quite frequently. Therefore, the option of also moving the IDE to the cloud or BTP is a viable one. If ABAP is supported in BAS in the future, this would be welcomed by the community and companies, and the question "Is your IDE up to date?" would finally be eliminated in training sessions.

 

Features

Especially in the coming years, we can expect a larger feature gap. As was also mentioned at SAP TechEd, the Private Cloud is a strategic product that will remain important for SAP in the future. However, this also means that we will continue to offer classic ABAP development and maintenance. This means we still need to be reasonably proficient in the SAP GUI and SE80 for SPDD, SPAU, and SPAU_ENH. However, for problems with Core Data Services, we already have to switch to ADT, which poses challenges for some SAP Basis systems at this stage.

In the public cloud, the gap is rather small, since we as developers no longer have to deal with the upgrade and thus with the SAP GUI. Here, the different features of the individual IDEs will likely come into play. If I need the AI Agent or MCP, I might have to use VS Code; if I need to maintain an unsupported object, then I'll have to use ADT again. The features will become increasingly similar in the future; the question, of course, is how long that will take.

 

Enablement

One thing we should also consider is the issue of developer enablement. More IDE options also mean different challenges in getting developers from the traditional world to the modern world. Which tools should be taught, and which tool is used by the customer? If someone offers training and specializes in one IDE, while the customer only supports another, this creates numerous challenges for customers and partners in choosing the right development environment.

 

Plugins

Currently, there are numerous plugins in Eclipse that support ABAP developers in their daily work. To what extent will these tools be available in the future? The community will certainly strive to make the plugins available for various platforms. Ultimately, however, the question remains whether, for example, BAS will be open enough to run the plugins there.

 

Integration

If we currently look at the topic of integration into the SAP build world, then this step definitely makes sense. Creating a RAP project via Vibe coding and seamlessly editing it further? This doesn't work quite so well with the current tools, and neither does continuous Joule support. Therefore, an integrated toolchain would be beneficial to further position ABAP as a side-by-side platform with SAP Build Integration.

 

Summary

The first step is complete; SAP will support VS Code next year. The scope of features will initially be limited, and we need to assess how we can effectively utilize the new tool and identify any significant gaps. For the public cloud and ABAP cloud, things will initially look quite good and support one of the important scenarios.

If you're primarily working on-premises and in the Private Cloud, you now have three IDEs at your disposal, which doesn't make things any easier. Developers who were supposed to move away from SE80 now have another reason to wait a little longer for the transformation.

Overall, however, we would say that the SAP team is currently doing a good job integrating the IDE for the future, but they will still have to invest a lot of time and resources. Therefore, as developers, we should expect small steps for now. If you want more details about the process and insights into the topic, I recommend the three articles below.

 

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Own opinion

As a developer, I prefer to complete my tasks within a single IDE, or ideally, have well-integrated IDEs. If I have to switch between different IDEs for different tasks, I also have to learn all those environments, and whether I can then work effectively with them is another matter entirely (shortcuts, plugins, workflow). Looking at the current workflow of recent projects, there's still a significant gap in the tools available:

• Support for system upgrades via GUI tools
• Development of an app with RAP via ADT
• Creation and deployment of the Fiori app via BAS
• Extension of a standard Fiori app via the Key User Tools
• Modeling of a workflow in SAP Build Process Automation

 

As a developer, I'm in the most flexible position in this process and am currently switching between different tools, interfaces, and technologies to get my work done. I'm building extensions for an ERP system. As an experienced developer, this isn't a problem, but what about those who are still learning? One IDE that supports me would be really helpful.

 

Conclusion

Which IDE will you use in the future, or do you even have another choice internally or with clients? Generally speaking, the IDE landscape is becoming more diverse, but that doesn't necessarily make things easier for developers and companies. Regardless of whether it is provision or training, the challenges will increase in the future.

 

Further information:
SAP Community - Everything you need to Know
SAP Community - ABAP Development Tools Architecture
SAP Community - Next Era of ABAP Development