SAP’s four-decade-old ABAP programming language has stayed relevant through the waves of change. SAP has enabled this by its investment in improving the ABAP development toolset to meet changing demands.

ABAP development tools are the integrated development environment (IDE) for ABAP development on the open Eclipse platform. It enables SAP developers to do the following:

1. Build, extend, and run ABAP applications on SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) to extend SAP products
2. Access SAP BTP services such as integration, machine learning, streaming, and Internet of Things (IoT).

What Is New with ABAP Development Tools?

Different deployment options are now available for the ABAP platform: in the cloud with SAP BTP, ABAP environment trial, on-premise with the Developer Edition, or a virtual appliance in the SAP Cloud Appliance Library (CAL).

As part of SAP BTP, these ABAP environments provide the modern ABAP RESTful Application Programming Model (RAP), leveraging SAP HANA, SAP Fiori, and a cloud-optimized ABAP language with a clear set of released standard APIs. Developers can utilize a development toolset that enables tight integration with Git-enabled lifecycle management that includes ABAP editors, dictionary, UI painters, function, class, and web app builders.

SAP’s four-decade-old ABAP programming language has stayed relevant through the waves of change. SAP has enabled this by its investment in improving the ABAP development toolset to meet changing demands.

ABAP development tools are the integrated development environment (IDE) for ABAP development on the open Eclipse platform. It enables SAP developers to do the following:

1. Build, extend, and run ABAP applications on SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) to extend SAP products
2. Access SAP BTP services such as integration, machine learning, streaming, and Internet of Things (IoT).

What Is New with ABAP Development Tools?

Different deployment options are now available for the ABAP platform: in the cloud with SAP BTP, ABAP environment trial, on-premise with the Developer Edition, or a virtual appliance in the SAP Cloud Appliance Library (CAL).

As part of SAP BTP, these ABAP environments provide the modern ABAP RESTful Application Programming Model (RAP), leveraging SAP HANA, SAP Fiori, and a cloud-optimized ABAP language with a clear set of released standard APIs. Developers can utilize a development toolset that enables tight integration with Git-enabled lifecycle management that includes ABAP editors, dictionary, UI painters, function, class, and web app builders.

There are key features available today to help SAP customers moving to SAP S/4HANA or the Cloud.

1. ABAP tools can help migrate custom code from an SAP Business System to SAP S/4HANA or to the SAP BTP, ABAP environment.
2. SAP Fiori App Custom Code Migration can analyze ABAP custom code for SAP S/4HANA or Cloud readiness and present ways to migrate with speed and quality.
3. Mass Quick Fixes in ABAP development tools in Eclipse provide automation to significantly reduce custom code adaptation time and costs.

As of 2021, ABAP development tools are now packaged as part of the ABAP Platform 2021 and run on Eclipse development platform and several additional technology components, which are required to run SAP S/4HANA. SAP also has added new extensibility options to the ABAP platform, increasing the power of creating extensions in the Cloud.

What Does This Mean for ABAP Developers?

With these sophisticated ABAP development tools, ABAP developers have a smarter way to impact software development to meet business needs. ABAP developers, with their expertise in both business processes and ABAP, can play a key role in streamlining processes and deploying new applications.

ABAP developers can also lead the migration of software to SAP S/4HANA or cloud, and influence custom code strategy. The comprehensive ABAP development tools at their disposal can help them be more versatile and impactful in the digital transformation of their organizations.