ABAP Test Cockpit in the Cloud - What is already possible

[OlgaDolinskaja]

Last edit: November 12, 2023

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If you develop ABAP applications in the SAP BTP, ABAP environment and want to establish quality assurance for your developments, then you can use ABAP test cockpit.

Beyond this you can also use ABAP test cockpit in the SAP BTP, ABAP environment as a central check system to establish quality assurance for your ABAP custom code in SAP Business Suite or SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition (or SAP S/4HANA on-premise) systems.

Over and above that you can also use ABAP test cockpit in the SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition to check your developments for quality issues.

This blog provides an overview, how to use ABAP test cockpit (ATC) in the cloud for different scenarios.

PLEASE NOTE: after custom code analysis you can stop your SAP BTP, ABAP environment system to save the costs, if the system is temporarily not used. Learn how to do it in this blog SAP BTP ABAP Environment - Manage system hibernation.

Usage of ABAP Test Cockpit for developments in SAP BTP ABAP Environment

For quality assurance of ABAP developments in SAP BTP, ABAP environment we deliver the default ATC check variant ABAP_CLOUD_DEVELOPMENT_DEFAULT. If needed you can create your own ATC check variants, or even implement your own ATC checks. The execution of ATC checks over your ABAP code in the cloud, maintenance of ATC check variants and exemptions handling take place in the ABAP development tools for Eclipse. For ATC configuration the ATC Configurator app is to be used. It is also possible to integrate ATC checks in your CI/CD processes.

More detailed information is provided in the blog Usage of ABAP Test Cockpit (ATC) for developments in SAP BTP ABAP Environment.

Usage of ABAP Test Cockpit in the cloud for on-premise (or private cloud) developments

Central ATC in the cloud for quality assurance of SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition (or SAP S/4HANA on-premise) landscapes is available in SAP BTP, ABAP environment. Central ATC in the cloud is a combination of SAP Fiori- and Eclipse-based tools like Custom Code Migration app, ATC Configurator app, Approve ATC Exemptions app and ATC in ABAP development tools for Eclipse.

More information is provided in the blog Usage of ABAP Test Cockpit (ATC) in the cloud for on-premise developments.

Usage of ABAP Test Cockpit in the SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition

In SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition it is possible to create development projects in a 3-system landscape using Developer Extensibility. For quality assurance of ABAP developments in SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition we deliver the default ATC check variant ABAP_CLOUD_DEVELOPMENT_DEFAULT. If needed you can create your own ATC check variants, or even implement your own ATC checks. The execution of ATC checks over your ABAP code in the cloud, maintenance of ATC check variants and exemptions handling take place in the ABAP development tools for Eclipse. For ATC configuration the ATC Configurator app is to be used.

More information is provided in the blog Usage of ABAP Test Cockpit in the SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition.

[ceedee666]

Hi olga.dolinskaja

This feature is not available in the SAP CP ABAP Trial, is it? I was not able to find the required Fiori Apps there.

Christian

[OlgaDolinskaja]

Hi Christian,

no, ATC Configurator is not available in the SAP CP ABAP Trial.

Bye,

Olga.

[solmancube]

Hi Olga,

Great and very Informative blog as like always. Thanks for giving your precious time for these blog!!

 

Regards

Ajay Sigh

[ThFiedler]

Hi Christian,

this is because you change system wide settings with the App. And I think this will drive you crazy when several people change the prios at the same time 😉

Regards,

Thomas.

[kasithunuguntla]

Olga,

we have on-prem system configured as Central ATC Check system(754 - Hana) which is productive and don't have Dev/QA systems which is a concern.

Thinking of below two options and would like to know which one is cost effective.

1. Having DEV and PRD for Central ATC Check on BTP (shift our central ATC production env to BTP)


2. Having DEV on BTP and Production on-prem(as-is). is this feasible option?

Appreciate your time.

Regards

Kasi

[ThFiedler]

Hi Kasi,

why do you need a DEV system for the central ATC system?

 

Currently it is not possible to call the central ATC system in the Cloud from your on-prem systems. Therefore the 2 options you mention are currently not possible. We currently run a POC to evaluate the developer scenario for the ATC in SAP BTP to check when we can provide this scenario as well.

We will keep you in the loop via this blog.

 

Regards,

Thomas.

[paprikapulver]

Hi Thomas,

could you further explain what a "developer scenario" is?
We are also very interested in using a SAP BTP system as a central ATC system.

Regards,

Chris

[ThFiedler]

Hi Chris,

I mean that you can can trigger the central ATC from within your development system on-prem.

See the blog for details: https://blogs.sap.com/2017/02/27/remote-code-analysis-in-atc-for-developers/

Unfortunatly this scenario is currently not possible via th eCloud version of ATC.

Regards,

Thomas.

 

[StevenDeSaeger]

Hi Olga,

In your blog you state the following regarding 'CVA'

Using SAP CVA in the SAP BTP ABAP Environment is included at no additonal licensing fee.

 

We have a couple of questions (to ease the mind of our management):

• So just to repeat the question - when subscribing to a SAP BTP ABAP cloud service then the CVA addon is included in the license ?


• The standard on premise product is an user based licensing - how is this applied then to the cloud ?


• Does that mean that we can use cloud remote ATC CVA to perform on premise security analysis ? And if so,  we do not require any on premise CVA user licenses ?

 

Thanks,

Steven

[OlgaDolinskaja]

Hi Steven,

yes, you need only to entitle the SAP BTP ABAP Environment, CVA checks are provided in the Custom Code Migration app for free. There is no connection between the standard on-premise CVA license (user-based) and CVA usage in the SAP BTP (free of license fee). These usage scenarios are completely separated. You can surely use cloud CVA (free of license fee) for on-premise security analysis, but some ATC features are still missing there (baseline concept, integration with SolMan tools, developer scenario, end-to-end exemption handling...).

Kind Regards,

Olga.

[StevenDeSaeger]

Thanks for your quick responses to my various questions ... much appreciated.

[FrankSt1]

Dear Olga,

currently we use a OnPremise system S4HANA1909 as a central ATC System (SAP_BASIS 754/SP1).

We are also very interested in using a SAP BTP system as a central ATC system.

How can I migrate my existing data (Baseline data, exemption requests, etc.) to SAP BTP?

Which features are still missing on a SAP BTP system?
(baseline concept, integration with SolMan tools, developer scenario, end-to-end exemption handling...).

What's  the  roadmap of missing features?

Kind Regards

Frank

[OlgaDolinskaja]

Hi Frank,

the missing features (as you listed them) are currently planned for the 2023 and onwards. I cannot provide more details on that now. We haven't thought yet about the migration of the existing on-premise baseline and exemptions data, since the baseline and exemption concepts are not yet implemented, but we will consider your feedback (thank you!), it depends of course on the technical feasibility of such migration.

Kind Regards,

Olga.

[asankadl]

Hi Olga,

we have a requirement of getting ATC checks triggered from our WEB application. is there any API that we can use for that purpose?

is it possible to approve exemptions from web platform?

 

Thanks,

Asanka.

[ThFiedler]

Hi Asanka,

we have APIs to trigger an ATC run and get the results from the run. Approval of exemptions is currently not possible. I will add this topic to our ATC-API backlog.

https://help.sap.com/docs/btp/sap-business-technology-platform/executing-abap-test-cockpit-atc-check...

Regards,

Thomas.

[asankadl]

Thanks Thomas. How can I link the display_id to  anexemption_id programatically. I need to list out all exemptions created for a specific display_id and display them. could you please help me with relevant object classes?

 

Thank you!.

Asanka.

[ThFiedler]

Hi Asanka,

you mean the Diaplay_ID of an ATC run? There is no relation between an ATC run and an exemption. An exemption depends on several parameters, like object, source code, message-id etc. But not to an specific ATC run.

Regards,

Thomas.

[asankadl]

Thanks Thomas.

 

[BSG]

Hi Olga,

Thanks for the informative blog!

Very much interested in using ATC in our SAP landscape to make sure any developer extensions on our S/4HANA are meeting quality and security requirements and standards. In addition would like to explore the usage of ATC to make sure ABAP for Cloud is enforced, like described in another one of your blogs: How the ABAP Test Cockpit supports you to adopt ABAP Cloud | SAP Blogs

I do wonder however, initially this blog goes back to 2021. Have there been any new developments on SAP BTP ATC? Are same functionalties provided as "on-premise" central ATC setup, including the check for ABAP Cloud developer extensibility?

Many thanks,

Regards, Bart Groot

 

[OlgaDolinskaja]

Hi Bart,

this blog has been updated over time (as new features became available), and now it contains the up-to-date information regarding the usage of ATC in SAP BTP ABAP Environment. For the on-premise ATC see please these blog series https://blogs.sap.com/2016/12/12/remote-code-analysis-in-atc-one-central-check-system-for-multiple-s.... You can also check your code for ABAP Cloud readiness on-premise, see the blog https://blogs.sap.com/2022/10/26/how-to-make-your-custom-code-cloud-ready-and-upgrade-stable/.

Kind Regards,

Olga.

[RiccardoEscher]

Hello Olga,

I am studying the "ABAP Test Cockpit Configurator" and am scratching my head.

1. Is my impression right that you cannot create own check variants like with ADT, but that you can only create own configurations of existing variants, where you maintain some attributes of the configuration and can change the priority of the existing checks?
2. Until now (Q3 2023) the messages are a long flat list of 1656 checks which can displayed only by 10 at a time. Will there come more comfort (tree, scrolling&paging)
3. Does the button "Adapt Configuration" have a purpose? When I click it, I see the three waiting dots, and after some time the same screen as before.
4. The first configuration was "DEFAULT_GENERATED" with check variant "ABAP_CLOUD_DEVELOPMENT_DEFAULT" containing 1656 checks; I created two new Configuration using variants "SLIN_SEC" and "FUNCTIONAL_DB" respectively, but both still contain the same 1656 checks and the first 10 are identical to the DEFAULT (see picture)I am puzzled. Is this a bug?
5. Finally, when I create a new Custom Code Analysis Project in the Migration app, I can select a check variant, but my newly created configuration, where can I select it? Or put it in a different way, for what is a configuration good? The help isn't helpful ;-).

Best Regards,

Riccardo

[OlgaDolinskaja]

Hello Riccardo,

first thank you very much for your valuable feedback, really appreciate it.

Now to your questions.

1.correct, ATC check variants must be created in ABAP development tools for Eclipse, ATC configurations should be maintained in the ATC Configurator (transport settings, priorities of ATC check messages etc.). I have updated the blog, to describe this more clearly. Thank you.

2. Just forwarded this feedback to our development. Surely something like scrolling should be possible here

3.The documentation  via "?" button is really poor here and will be changed, thanks!  What is meant is the following: if an ATC check gets new message codes (or a new ATC check is implemented), then the priorities for these new/changed ATC checks do not automatically appear in the configurations. Clicking this button will read all message codes present in the system and add them to the configurations.

4. This behavior is correct. When you create a new configuration, you can always adjust all message priorities of all ATC checks in the system. It is necessary, because besides the default ATC check variant, specified in the configuration, you can execute an ATC run with any other ATC check variant (containing any ATC checks, reporting any messages), and the active configuration of message priorities will be valid for all such ATC runs as well.

5. Yes, correct, in the Custom Code Migration app you select a check variant and the subsequently triggered ATC run will consider the active configuration of the ATC Configurator: ATC check message priorities for example. If you trigger an ATC run in the ABAP development tools for Eclipse at transport release for example, then transport settings of the active configuration will be considered etc. The configuration allows you to specify a new default check variant, behavior at transport release, set up handling for pseudo comments and pragmas etc. as stated in the features of the ATC Configurator in the SAP Help Portal documentation.

I hope, it helps.

Best Regards,

Olga.

[ThFiedler]

Hi Riccardo,

I also don't like the long list of check messages.

What I usually do is searching for the message Code:

 

 

This number is also displayed in the ATC error message in ADT.

Or you can use the available filter, sort, group possibilities behind the configuration wheel.

Regards,

Thomas.

[RiccardoEscher]

Hello Olga,

thank you very much, I have now to digest the answer 🙂

Best Regards,

Riccardo

[RiccardoEscher]

Thank you Thomas,

sure, search & filter are a little help.

But obviously a grouping like in the on-premise ATC would be better.

As a consultant I am expected to prepare a well thought ready-to-use ATC setup and not an iterative jump&run action where I have to wait for a finding to decide how to proceed.

Is there a suitable Continuous Improvement project on influence.sap.com?

Best Regards,

Riccardo

[ThFiedler]

Hi Riccardo,

yes, you can use the Customer Influence Channel: https://influence.sap.com/sap/ino/#campaign/2911

Category: Custom code Analysis

I totally agree that a filtering via ATC categories would be helpful.

Regards,

Thomas.

[FrankSt1]

Dear Olga,

currently we use a OnPremise system S4HANA2021 as a central ATC System (SAP_BASIS 756/SP2).

We are also very interested in using a SAP BTP system as a central ATC system.

How can I migrate my existing data (Baseline data, exemption requests, etc.) to SAP BTP?

Which features are still missing on a SAP BTP system?
(baseline concept, integration with SolMan tools, developer scenario, end-to-end exemption handling...).

What's  the  roadmap of missing features?

Kind Regards

Frank

[OlgaDolinskaja]

Hi @FrankSt1, 

exemptions handling, developer scenario and integration with SolMan CHARM (was enabled with developer scenario) were already delivered, see the blog https://community.sap.com/t5/technology-blogs-by-sap/usage-of-abap-test-cockpit-atc-in-the-cloud-for..., baseline and ATC runs scheduling will come with the SAP BTP ABAP Environment 2408. In addition to manage the expectations, not all SAP GUI ATC features can (and will) of course be recreated, but including the baseline ATC on BTP has already a solid feature scope.

Currently there is no migration path from ATC on-premise to ATC on BTP, you need to start from scratch with ATC on BTP,  but some topics are already planned, like migration of ATC exemptions from on-premise ATC system to the ATC on SAP BTP should be delivered in 2024.

Kind Regards,
Olga.

[Chris_Tan]

Hi Olga,

Thanks for sharing such handy articles, it's really helped my team and I on the setup for our S/4 HANA systems.

I do have a question though, might you know if this central ATC checks on BTP works on ECP(Employee Central Payroll) which is a public cloud edition of an 740 ABAP system?

Regards,

Chris

[OlgaDolinskaja]

Hi @Chris_Tan ,

it is currently not possible to check the S/4HANA public cloud edition with ATC on BTP. ATC checks in the public cloud edition should be executed directly in the system. See the blog https://community.sap.com/t5/enterprise-resource-planning-blogs-by-sap/usage-of-abap-test-cockpit-in... for more details.

Kind Regards,
Olga.