SAP TechEd 2024 - Recap for ABAP
What's next for ABAP and what highlights will we take away from SAP TechEd 2024 this year? Find out more here.
Table of contents
In this article we will look at various sessions at SAP TechEd and what the main content was. We will focus on the topic of ABAP and ignore the other areas.
Keynote
Before we get into the details of the keynote, you can watch the keynote in its original length on YouTube or the highlights in 6 minutes.
SAP has made a number of points its mission that are very important to us as customers. The system should continue to be very versatile, customizable and expandable. An important point when it comes to implementing your own processes in the system. The second topic should be very familiar from recent times. As in the song "AI is in the Air", this year a lot revolves around the topic of artificial intelligence and how it can support us in various areas. Various new scenarios have been announced. In addition to the Vector Engine, there is now also the Knowledge Graph Engine to make better context-based decisions. The engine is an LLM that masters SAP tables, core data services and fields.
In the ABAP area, the merger of ABAP Cloud and SAP Build was announced. Basically, the SAP BTP ABAP Environment can now be found in the SAP Build product portfolio (0:10:59) and represents another integrated tool for extending (side-by-side) systems. The Joule Skills are now available as an early adopter version for Eclipse and ADT and will be available to everyone in January. We were able to gain an insight into how the Ghost-Text feature (1:23:42) in ABAP gives us suggestions for development.
Unlock SAP Build and ABAP Cloud
The overview session for Application Development and Automation was about an overview of the entire track, but also about some changes. With "Fusion Development" the different areas should move a little closer together, this is not about the collaboration between developer and business analyst, but about the different development areas, such as frontend and backend.
As already described above, the ABAP Environment will become part of the SAP Build family and will be supplemented by Joule as an AI solution. ABAP Cloud is the second Pro-Code solution alongside CAP and SAP Build Code.
Session catalog: Link
Clean Core Extensibilty
The session began with the best practices for extending the core system. As a developer, you should make sure that the application is decoupled from the standard and that you use released APIs wherever possible. You can also implement your own developments with ABAP Cloud as normal; you just have to follow the current guidelines. The following core principles have been made available for this:
The ABAP Test Cockpit is recommended for quality assurance when developing with ABAP Cloud. Here you can activate various tests that support you as a developer, but also prevent you from transporting non-ABAP Cloud-compatible source code. A new announcement was the expansion of the Class API list on GitHub. Recommended APIs for TIER-3 are listed here, which you can use without any problems for your TIER-3 development in the future.
Nothing without AI in this area either. Features for source code migration were also announced, such as an explainer for ATC findings, suggestions for source code migration, and more.
Session catalog: Link
Explore Joule's ABAP Capabilities
What does whipped cream have to do with AI? In this session, you could find out. Furthermore, the various planned skills for ADT were presented:
- Code Explanation - Would you like to have a piece of source code, a method or an object explained to you? Joule creates a summary and explains the various components of the object.
- Code Prediction - This is about predicting source code that you will probably want to implement in the next step. The suggestion is displayed as ghost text and you can accept it or continue writing it to perhaps get additional suggestions.
- Unit Test Generator - Joule can also generate ABAP unit tests for a class and methods. To do this, you select the methods and have a suggestion generated.
- Business Object Generator - Would you like to generate a RAP object? A business object will be created in the system using natural language.
The features will be officially delivered in the first quarter of 2025 and will then be available to the public for testing and use. We are definitely excited to put the various features through their paces.
Session catalog: Link
ABAP Cloud Private Edition
Would you like to see a little more about how ABAP Cloud On-Premise works? In this live coding session, you will get a short introduction to the topic of ABAP Cloud and the various features. A custom RAP business object is used to demonstrate the various implementations with its own wrapper. You will also learn a little more about identifying and creating TIER-2 wrappers:
- Cloudification Repository - Here you will find the released APIs, but also help with the classic API for TIER2 and later also TIER-3.
- "Custom Wrapper Generator" - The tool provides an extension of ACO_PROXY that allows you to quickly and easily provide wrappers for TIER-2. Thanks to Andre Fischer, who made the first version available as reports and pushed forward the integration into the transaction.
Session catalog: Link
Fusion Development
What does Fusion Development actually mean for us as developers? This session will provide insights into the topic and what SAP means by the term. Some examples were given:
- Setting up a CAP service by a developer and creating the UI via SAP Build Apps by the developer or another user.
- Creating a service via ABAP Cloud and a workflow with SAP Build Process Automation. The workflow is called here from the service.
- Creation of an event in the S/4HANA system in order to start a workflow in the BTP via the event.
- Creation of a RAP service in S/4HANA and creation of a freestyle UI via SAP Build Code.
The examples are intended to show how the various tools in the SAP Build family interact with one another and can be used to create new processes or expand existing processes. Development starts from the SAP Build Lobby "Create -> Build an Application -> ABAP Cloud", for example to create an application in an ABAP system. In the demo, a business object was then created for a table using the RAP Generator and the UI was generated using the Tool Bridge. You can then see the project at any time via the SAP Build Lobby and jump to the corresponding system/package.
Session catalog: Link
Conclusion
There were a number of new developments and changes to see at SAP TechEd this year, and it remains exciting for us in ABAP development. The topic of AI is currently the focus of development and innovations. So let's look to 2025, when the first features will be officially delivered.