ABAP Life

NetWeaver Magazine - Winter 2006

2005-12-13T16:25:00.000-08:00

The latest edition of SAP NetWeaver Magazine has been published. If you are looking from the narrow viewpoint of exclusively ABAP then there is not much here. With a broader perspective of being prepared for the new technical world of SAP then I recommend you read the cover story on the Rohm and Haas portal project. This is an excellent portrayal of where things are heading in the SAP world. There is a pretty good article on creating web portals via iViews. I believe this is what most ABAP programmers will be using in a couple of years. There is a graphic on page 62 that needs correcting. It lists a glossary of terms in the SAP Enterpirse World -and has RFC defined as a "Request for comments". Oops.
As an ABAPer I would say there is no actionable information in this magazine. As someone who wants to be employed in the SAP technical field for the next few years then I would say it was worth spending some time reading the magazine.

SAP NetWeaver for Dummies - Book Review

2005-11-27T16:54:00.000-08:00

This is my second "Dummies" book this year. The quick answer - if you are technical then you should read this book, if you are more functional then should read "mySAP ERP for Dummies". See my review here: mySAP ERP for Dummies ESA Edition Book Review
If you make your living in the SAP technical world and you don't spend all of your spare time reading the SDN website then you should buy this book. If you don't have time to read it then just read pages 70-79. This will give you an idea what the NetWeaver landscape looks like. I am not sure that the statement on the bottom of page 77 is correct: "ABAP workbench is transferred into SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio". The Developer Studio is the new Java Development platform (thanks JS). I believe that in the new NetWeaver World that the ABAP workbench becomes......... The ABAP workbench. Other than that one issue those ten pages are enough for you to get an idea what NetWeaver is all about.

Since this is a "Dummies" book there is the obligatory attempt at humor. I have been known to complain about technical books being too dry to read so I guess I shouldn't complain about the humor. I have to admit that I did chuckle at the line "SAP Web is as tightly connected to the SAP NetWeaver development environment as the IRS is to your income". Describing a composite application as a "Frankenstein's monster kind of creation" seems like a bit much to me.

The book does not have to be read sequentially so that you can pick it up and read whatever interests you. There are chapters on composite Apps and Xapps, Enterprise Portal, MI (Mobile infrastructure), BI, MDM, XI and WebAS. The book is an easy read and gives a good general overview of NetWeaver. I highly recommend it.

Code Rant

2005-11-27T16:11:00.000-08:00

Over the next few months I will be posting more ABAP code. One of the things that I see in many ABAP programs, including SAP code, is subroutines that are too long. A long time ago in a galaxy far away there was the great programming debate. On one side were the proponents of maximum efficiency. On the other side were these new fangled programmers called structured programmers. The maximum efficiency programmers wanted a program to be coded from top to bottom in as few statements as possible. The structured programmers would use a "main" or "driver" subroutine to drive other subroutines. By 1985 the debate was over. The structured programmers had clearly won over the spaghetti code programmers. Not only was structured code more efficient, it was also was easier to maintain. There was a great gnashing of teeth by the spaghetti programmers but the evidence was overwhelming.
I am always leery of rules but in favor of strict guidelines. In ABAP the START-OF-SELECTION or any other event should not have one hundred lines of code in it. It is highly doubtful that there is justification for any FORM to contain one hundred lines of code. If there is more than one hundred lines of code then the programmer has not thought it through and has guaranteed that the program will be unnecessarily difficult to maintain. I have been too generous - fifty lines is probably too many. The number of lines really isn't the issue. An event or a subroutine (I know we are all doing objects now and don't code subroutines) should contain one task / function. Some general guidelines - one LOOP per FORM, one SELECT per FORM, one CASE per FORM. I know that someone can come up with a good reason for exceptions but that is precisely the point. Varying from the one function per FORM / EVENT should be an exception not a general practice. I have seen an SAP FORM that contained over 700 statements. The most expensive part of programming is maintenance. Adhering to strict guidelines can help minimize those expenses.

Bill Gates Reads My Blog?

2005-11-10T04:32:00.000-08:00

It seems that Bill Gates was reading my blog. Check the story about his latest memo to his employees:

Gates Memo Warns Of Disruptive Changes

He must of read my 'Short Post' on October 22 and decided that I was correct in my analysis.

TLA

2005-10-27T16:52:00.000-07:00

API – Application Programming Interface
BPM – Business Process Management
CAF – Composite Application Framework
CEM – Customer Engagement Manager
CRM – Customer Relationship Management
EAI – Enterprise Application Integration
EDI – Electronic Data Interchange
ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning
ESA – Enterprise Services Architecture
ESS – Employee Self-Service
HCM – Human Capital Management
IDE – Integrated Development Environment
ISV – Independent Software Vendor
JDI – Java Development Infrastructure
JSP – Java Server Pages
JVM – Java Virtual Machine
KPI – Key Performance Indicators
MDM – Master Data Management
MSS – Manager Self Service
PDK – Portal Development Kit
PIP – Partner Implementation Package
PLM – Product Lifecycle Management
RFC – Remote Function Call
ROI – Return On Investment
SCM – Supply Chain management
SRM – Supplier Relationship Management
TCO – Total Cost of Ownership
TLA – Three Letter Acronyms
UML – Unified Modeling Language
WAS – Web Application Server
WML – Wireless Markup Language
XML – extensible Markup Language

That is correct - I have seen the term "TLA" used in an SAP publication as an acronym for "Three Letter Acronyms". Obviously there are more three letter acronyms but this list contains the most common ones found in the SAP world. The two and four letter acronyms have also been omitted.

Short Post

2005-10-22T18:20:00.000-07:00

1967: Plastics
2006: Web Services

mySAP ERP for Dummies ESA Edition Book Review

2005-10-16T04:14:00.000-07:00

I am not a fan of "Dummies" books. As a general rule they try to hard to be funny and not hard enough at communicating worthwhile information. This book by Andreas Vogel and Ian Kimball was better than I expected.

The first section of the book talks about ERP - Enterprise Resource Planning. ERP has been around for a long time. SAP's implementation of ERP now includes ESA - Enterprise Services Architecture. ERP and the impact of ESA are given an overview that is not too technical.
The second section of the book covers NetWeaver. It uses some of the standard charts (like page 121) that are found in every SAP NetWeaver presentation. Here is the definition from the book: "SAP NetWeaver is a set of capabilities that are provided by many different SAP products constructed to work with each other to make people, information, and business processes work together across technologies and organizations, all based on services." Every time I hear NetWeaver described I get a vision of Dan Akroyd on Saturday Night Live portraying Julia Child and proclaiming "It's a floor wax and it's a dessert topping". There is also a chapter on Composites and how they fit in to the NetWeaver scheme of things.
The third section talks about future releases of SAP and building an ERP Roadmap
The last section of the book discusses how to make people more productive. I learned a new acronym - KPI - Key Performance Indicator. This chapter is mostly "future" stuff. The book does contain a good glossary of all the current SAP buzzwords.

If you are pretty familiar with IT concepts but unfamiliar with SAP this book would offer a good starting point. If you have significant experience with SAP there is much to be gained from this book but one needs to turn off their cynicism before reading it. This book is about half way between Ray Kurzweil's extremely optimistic "The Singularity Is Near" and Frederick Brooks' very realistic "The Mythical Man Month".

I will be reviewing NetWeaver for Dummies in a couple of weeks. I'll let you know if you need to read both books or if you can get all you need from one of them.

TechEd 2005 Final - Was It Worth It?

2005-10-15T06:08:00.000-07:00

Before I answer the big question - Was TechEd worth the time and money? - let me comment on some of the logistics. It was held at the new convention center in Boston. Busses were used to go back and forth from the conference to the hotel since the adjoining Westin Hotel has not been finished and the Seaport Hotel had no rooms available. It was a minor inconvenience. I am sure this will only get better at future events in Boston. On Tuesday, SAP provided the most impressive "mass produced" lunch I have ever eaten. It was steak and shrimp. Dinner was provided on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Since the whole convention center was used exclusively for this event it was easy to navigate to the different functions. Overall I would give SAP high marks for their ability to handle the logistics of TechEd.
Was it worth the time and money? The short answer for me is yes. I have not attended any SAP sponsored function in two years. As a programmer it is important to know what the future holds for SAP technology. Even though I read some of the emails and occasionally browse the SDN website, I find it difficult to learn new material strictly through reading. Listening to presentations, attending hands-on sessions and talking to other technical people enhances my learning process. Since I have not attended an ASUG conference or SAPPHIRE or any other training recently I cannot give an accurate comparison of these events. The bottom line is I need to do everything I can do to keep my skills current. TechEd 2005 was worth my time and money.

TechEd 2005 Actionable Info

2005-10-10T17:47:00.000-07:00

Whenever I attend a technical conference I come away with more books to read.
The following books are on my reading list:

mySAP ERP ESA Edition for Dummies by Andreas Vogel
NetWeaver for Dummies by Dan Woods
SAP Exchange Infrastructure by Jens Stumpe and Joachim Orb

I am not usually a fan of “Dummies” books but I have read most of the first book and it is pretty good. I had lunch with Dan Woods at TechEd and he naturally recommended his book. I read one of his other books so I’ll give his NetWeaver book a shot. I think it would be helpful if the writers of SAP materials would read Frederick Brooks’ Mythical Man-Month.

ABAP Programming

The most important thing I need to do as ABAP programmer is to change my thinking. Every program should be thought of in terms of “How do I write this code in a way that it can be called from an external system”? One example is error handling. BAPIs have a standard methodology using a return table (BAPIRETURN) to store error messages. Every program should use this methodology. Another technique is to employ the usage of function modules and BAPIs instead of subroutines. As an old COBOL programmer I tend to think in terms of subroutines.

TechEd 2005 Other Stuff

2005-10-10T17:36:00.000-07:00

SAP Exchange Infrastructure Adapter Framework

I attended a hands-on session on XI. In the session we took a scenario from beginning to end. The scenario was to put a stock quote on a screen. There are two ways to invoke XI – from the outside in or the inside out. SAP strongly suggests using the inside out approach. What this means is that you can use ABAP to invoke XI (outside in) or you can use XI to invoke ABAP (inside out).
The following website contains web based information that can be retrieved via the XI infrastructure:

http://xmethods.org/
(I also placed this on the sidebar – Publicly Available Web Services)
Another new acronym to remember – WSDL – Web Service Description Language

I attended a presentation by a vendor on a tool to integrate Goggle maps. The demo used a scenario where a retailer was trying to determine the logistics of running a sales promotion. The program put bar charts on the map in the warehouse locations for available inventory. It then showed mileage and routes for retail outlets that carry the product. This was all imposed on a google map.

I attended a presentation on Visual Composer. This is the (fill in the largest number you can think of) attempt to create a tool so you will no longer need programmers. I think this will be a great programming tool. One of the examples presented showed a BAPI being selected and placed on a screen through cut and paste.

I attended a hands-on session on Bullet-Proof Software – Writing Robust and Correct Code in ABAP. I was very disappointed in this session. The session was on error handling which is certainly a worthwhile topic but not what I was expecting. Using their analogy – I believe to bullet-proof software you need to learn how to stay out of the wrong neighborhoods – not put on more Kevlar. In the XI / NetWeaver world I understand the need for robust error handling – I just wished they would have said that was the topic of the session and I would have chosen a different session.

TechEd 2005 (continued)

2005-10-10T17:20:00.000-07:00

New Features in ABAP
Horst Keller gave a two hour session on new features in ABAP. Some of the highlights are:
New Editor
- Syntax checker – usage of colors
- Keyword complete (similar to MS Word)
- Part of Debugger

Debugger
- two sessions – program and debugger
- scripting available
- insert code on the fly

Enhancement Framework
- replaces customer exits
- enhancement spots / enhancement points
- switch framework – allow selecting and deselecting of enhancements
- uses SE80

Regular Expressions
- text manipulation tool to replace string commands
- based on UNIX standards
- ideal for XML / HTML

The most significant is probably Regular Expression. I had never heard the term before but it is a standard UNIX tool. When Horst demonstrated it my first thought was I could use the current ABAP string commands to do the same tasks and the ABAP commands would be easier to use and easier to maintain. After further reflection I can see the need for them. As time goes on XI and NetWeaver will require ABAP to parse HTML and XML strings. In order to do this a powerful text manipulation tool will be needed. Rather than inventing their own SAP has chosen to incorporate a UNIX standard for manipulating text. If you do a search on Amazon you will find that there are books available on Regular Expressions.

TechEd 2005 Boston

2005-10-08T17:17:00.000-07:00

This is my first post on TechEd Boston - there will be more.
As always Shai Aggasi started the event laying out the roadmap of SAP in his Keynote Address. The two purposes of attending the keynote for an ABAPer such as myself is to get a quick study on industry standard buzzwords and get a roadmap of where SAP is heading.
The two big buzzwords are – SOA – Service Oriented Architecture and ESA – Enterprise Services Architecture. Shai’s usage of terminology is important. He uses industry standard terminology that needs to be understood to get the “big picture”. An ABAP programmer needs to know not only how systems all fit together but also what the technical buzzwords are behind those connections. Let me give one example. Shai probably spent less than one minute talking about disruptive processes. The “disruptive” nomenclature can be attributed to Harvard professor Clayton Christiensen’s books “The Innovator’s Dilemma” and “The Innovator’s Solution”. If you keep up on all of the latest business books you will find terms like Silos, Consolidation, Composition and Repositories are prevalent. These are all words that Shai used in his presentation.
Shai's new name for IT is ST - Strategic Technology. When I started out it was DP - Data Processing. Then in the late 80s it became IS - Information Systems. Then by the late 90s it was IT - Information Technology. Technical jargon aside - the basic vision is for everyone to be able to talk to everyone everywhere using a common architecture - SAP NetWeaver. Stay tuned for more posts.