HowToUseTheSAPABAPDebuggerEfficiently

TheABAPDebuggerisusedtooltoexecuteandanalyzeprogramslinebyline.Usingitwecanchecktheflow
logicofaprogramanddisplayruntimevaluesofthevariables.Currently,SAPofferstwotypesofDebuggers:
TheClassicABAPDebugger
TheNewABAPDebugger
TheClassicABAPDebugger,withitsolduserinterfaceanditslimitationstodebugcertaintypesofABAP
programisnownotinusebymanynewandoldABAPdevelopers.
LearnHowToUseTheABAPDebuggerInThisTrainingCourse
TheNewABAPDebugger,withitsstateoftheartandflexibleuserinterface,canbeusedtodebugalltypesof
ABAPprograms.Itprovidesmanynewfeatureswhichimproveourefficiencyofdebugging,bothinABAP
supportanddevelopment.
Inthisarticle,wewilllearnhowtousethesenewfeaturesanddiscoversometipsandtrickstoefficientlyuse
ABAPdebugger.

SwitchingbetweentheClassicDebuggerandNewDebugger
Youcanswitchbetweenboththedebuggerandmakeanyoneyourdefaultdebugger.Todothis,gotoABAP
Editor(SE38)UtilitiesSettings.

NowintheuserspecificsettingspopupboxclickonABAPEditortabandthenclickonDebugging.

HereyoucanselecttheNewDebuggerradiobuttontomakeityourdefaultdebugger.

External(User)Debugging
Externaldebuggingisusedwhenwewanttoanalyzeourprogramwhichiscalledbyanexternaluserthrough
HTTPsuchasWebDynproABAP,WebDynproJAVA,andBSPetc.Toactivateexternaldebuggingwehaveto
setexternalbreakpoints,whichcanbesetjustlikethesessionbreakpointsbykeepingthecursoronthedesired
codelineandclickingontheExternalBreakpointicon.

WecanalsosettheexternaluserforwhomthebreakpointistobeactivatedbygoingtoABAPEditor(SE38)
UtilitiesSettings,andintheuserspecificsettingspopupboxclickonABAPEditorTabandthenclickon
Debugging.
Hereyoucanspecifytheusername.

Watchpoints
Watchpointscanbeusedtobreaktheexecutionofaprogramwhenthevaluesinavariablechanges.
Thishelpustogototheexactpositionwherethevariablechanges.Youcanalsospecifyconditionsin
Watchpointandtheexecutionoftheprogramwillbreakassoonastheconditionisfulfilled.
TocreateaWatchpoint,clicktotheWatchpointbuttonintheNewABAPDebugger.
Now,intheCreateWatchpointpopupenterthevariablenameforwhichyouwanttocreatetheWatchpoint.

DebuggerVariants
WiththehelpofDebuggerVariantyoucansavethecurrentdebuggersettingsintothedatabaseortoalocal
file.Thesesettingsincludebreakpoints,UIcustomizationsandotherspecialoptionsfordebuggingtools.
Nexttime,whenyouwillbedebuggingthesameapplicationyouwillnothavetosetbreakpointsagainortodo
allthesettingsagain.Also,whenyouareworkinginalargeteamthenyoucanalsopassthedebugging
variantstootherusers.
TosavetheDebuggingVariantgotoDebuggerDebuggerSessionSave
Youcansavethecurrentdebuggersessioneithertoafileorinthedatabase.
IntheDebuggerVariantyoucansavethefollowingcomponents:
1.Layout
2.Breakpoints
3.Settings
4.Options
ToloadthesavedDebuggervariantsgotoDebuggerDebuggerSessionLoad

Debuggingamodalwindow

Generally,wecanactivatedebuggingbytyping/hinthecommandline,butwhatifthecommandlineisnot
there?
Oftenyouwillcomeacrossmodalwindowsandotherpopupwindowscommandlineisnotpresentandwe
cannotactivatedebuggingdirectly.Insuchcases,youcaneithercreateaSAPGUIshortcutoftypeSystem
Commandandcommand/horcreateatextfilewithbelowtexts.
[FUNCTION]
Command=/H
Title=Debugger
Type=SystemCommand
Todebugamodalwindowdraganddroptheabovecreatedfileoverit.

DebuggingTricks
Manyatimes,duetoanincorrectentryinadatabasetableoratablewithoutmaintenanceviewwearenotable
tocreate,editordeleteadatabaserecord.Inthesecaseswecanusethisdebuggingtrick.
Todothis,gototransactioncodeSE16.
Enterthenameofyourdatabasetable.Selectthelinewhichyouwanttoprocess,andpressthedisplaybutton.
Enter/hinthecommandlineandhitenterbuttontwotimes.
Now,thedebuggerwindowwillopenandyoucanseethesourcecode.ClickonthevariableCODE,itwillhave
SHOWasitsvalue.
Hereyoucaneditthisvariableandsetthenewvaluebasedontheoperationyouwanttoperform.
BysettingthevariableCODEwithvalueasEDITyoucaneditrecords,
INSR,Insertnewrecords
DELE,Deleterecords
And,ANVOisforeditingtherecordwithprimarykeys.
Aftersettingthevariablewiththerequiredoperation,hitF8.Now,youareinEDITmode.Presssavebuttonto
savetherecord.

TheMagicofSHIFT+F12
Youcanusethiskeycombinationtobypassaspecificlineofcodesuchasanormalsysubrccheckoran
authorizationcheck.Tojumporbypassanyline/linesofcodeallyouhavetofoisjustputyourcursoronthe

desiredlineandthenpresstheSHIFT+F12key.

SomelimitationsofNewABAPdebuggerScreenDebugging
Whenyoutrytosetbreakpointsinscreen/dialogprograms,yougetthemessagestatingthatdebuggingisnot
yetsupported.
Togetbythisanddebugyourscreen/dialogprogramsjustswitchbacktotheclassicaldebugger.

ABAPMemoryID
InthenewdebuggeritisnotpossibletoviewtheusedABAPmemoryIDsandtheircontent.But,intheclassical
debuggeryoucanviewtheABAPmemoryIDsbygoingtoGotoSystemAreasABAPMemory
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