Tools & Environment Setup

ADT is SAP's strategic IDE and the only IDE for CDS, RAP, AMDP and ABAP Cloud.

3.1 SAP GUI and classic transactions

Object Navigator — the all-in-one classic workbench ABAP Editor (programs)

ABAP Dictionary (tables, data elements, domains, views) SE41 / SE51 Menu Painter / Screen Painter Create transaction codes SE16 / SE16N SE09 / SE10 Runtime errors (short dumps)

3.2 ABAP Development Tools (ADT) in Eclipse

ADT is SAP's strategic IDE and the only IDE for CDS, RAP, AMDP and ABAP Cloud.

Install Eclipse IDE (latest release, "for Java Developers" or plain).

*Help → Install New Software* → https://tools.hana.ondemand.com/latest → select ABAP Development Tools.

*File → New → ABAP Project* → choose a system from SAP Logon (on-premise) or a service key/URL (BTP).

Useful shortcuts: Ctrl+Shift+A open object, Ctrl+F3 activate, F8 run, Ctrl+Space code completion, Ctrl+1 quick fix, Shift+F1 pretty printer, F2 element info, Ctrl+Shift+F10 run ABAP Unit.

3.3 Getting a system to practice on

SAP BTP ABAP Environment trial Free, browser + ADT, ABAP Cloud only (RAP, CDS, classes). Best for modern ABAP.

ABAP Cloud Developer Trial (Docker) Free on-premise ABAP Platform image (sapse/abap-cloud-developer-trial) with SAP GUI and ADT; full classic language. Needs ~16+ GB RAM.

SAP Learning Hub / company sandbox Paid or employer-provided.

SAP Cloud Appliance Library Full S/4HANA images on your own hyperscaler account (costs).

3.4 abapGit

abapGit (open source, abapgit.org) serializes ABAP objects to files and syncs them with Git repositories. Install the standalone report ZABAPGIT_STANDALONE on-premise; in BTP it is available as an ADT plugin ("abapGit Repositories"). Covered in §40.

3.5 Classic vs ADT editing

In SAP GUI you work with "Display/Change" mode, Ctrl+F2 syntax check, Ctrl+F3 activate, F8 execute. ADT edits source text directly, supports refactoring, multiple windows, and Git integration. You'll use both in real projects.