Code review – Page 5 – Saptechnicalguru.com

Enabling ATC for remote checks

By using a Netweaver 7.52 server (or newer) you can use that server a central ATC server for running the ATC. For explanation on ATC itself, please check this blog.

Questions that will be answered in this blog are:

What are reasons for running remote ATC checks?
How to set up remote ATC checks?
Which limitations does remote ATC checks have?

Reasons for running remote ATC checks

There are several reasons why you might want to do this:

Run ATC against an old 7.00/7.01/7.02 system, where ATC is not delivered by SAP
Run ATC for S4HANA Readiness checks (see blog)
Run the latest ATC checks and you want to use the new baseline function (see blog)
Run the ATC tool centrally when you have more development systems, but still want to maintain the ruleset only once

Consider very carefully if the benefits you are looking for are worth the setup work below.

The master OSS note for the remote checks is 2375864 – ATC: Remote Checks – Developer Scenario.

Central system

First of all you need a 7.52 or higher system. This might already be big stumbling block if you don’t have this. In past blogs and notes you might find it works for 7.51 as well, but this will have severe limitations. For example the S4HANA Readiness only works properly on 7.52.

Read note 2364916 – Recommended SAP Notes for using ATC to perform remote analysis. Goto the section of the central check system for your version and see which OSS notes you need to apply so solve the known bugs.

Checked system

The master note 2375864 – ATC: Remote Checks – Developer Scenario contains the OSS notes to be applied for the older versions. For the newer versions OSS note 2190065 – ATC/CI: Remote Code Analysis – Object Provider Stub is needed.

This looks like a simple action, but it is not. It will pull in dependent OSS notes. One of these notes is the key OSS note 2270689 – Remote Analysis (for source system). This note contains references to the notes to apply.

Notes referred to in note 2270689 can be HUGE OSS notes. It can take 15 to 20 minutes to download and will result into a time-out dump is you have standard 10 minutes set. Ask basis team to set rdisp/max_wprun_time and rdisp/scheduler/prio_high/max_runtime to 30 minutes for you to able to download this note.

Per checked system you will need an RFC connection from the central system to the checked system.

To initialize the remote check per checked system you must run program RS_ABAP_INIT_ANALYSIS:

Also run this program in the central system!

Configuring the central system

Start transaction ATC and goto the setup menu to set the system role:

Select here the second option to make it a central system:

Then goto the menu for setting up the object providers:

First create a group:

The fill the RFC Object providers:

The vital element here is the RFC connection that you have created from the central system to the local system.

Make sure in the central system by testing in SM59: the connection is properly working. Also make sure that the user in the checked system has sufficient RFC rights to execute the remote ATC checks.

Setup the SCI variant for remote execution

In the central system set up the SCI variant for remote execution.

Be aware here one of the major limitations: you can only select the check which SAP has enabled for RFC based check:

Remote ATC run execution

In the central system now define the ATC to run:

Important here:

The check variant has to be defined in the central system
The variant runs against the selected object provider you have just defined

After the first run you must likely will get check tool failures:

Read the failures carefully and solve them one by one.

End result

The end result is the same as with the local system. By clicking on the code you will jump from central to checked system.

Bug fixes

Bug fix notes:

3022283 – Clear Caches of Static Check Infrastructure (contains instructions on clean up reports RS_ABAP_DELETE_ANALYSIS and RS_ABAP_CLEAN_ANALYSIS)

SCI: setup custom checks

The SCI tool is great for analyzing custom code based on SAP delivered checks. For specific reasons you might want to built in your own specific checks that cannot be setup using the out-of-the-box SCI tool.

This blog will answer following questions:

When to setup custom check and when not?
How to setup custom check?
How does my check show up in the SCI and ATC results?
How to document the checks so it really fits into the standard framework?
How to influence the behavior of the checks and the settings for the checks?

When not to set up a custom SCI check?

If you want to do one of the following things, don’t set up custom check:

Change the priority outcome of a check (example from warning to error): use the option to change message priorities for this.
Search for specific string: use the Search functions options in SCI (they can even search trough comment blocks)

How to set up a custom SCI check?

Setting up the new category

First thing to do is to setup a new category. This will act as a placeholder for your checks.

To do this goto SE24 and copy the example class CL_CI_CATEGORY_TEMPLATE to your own Z implementation.

In the copy go to the CONSTRUCTOR method and adapt the description to your needs:

Important here is not to forget to double click on the 000 message and to create the message text: from here the framework will read the description. The quoted description is just for yourself to be able to read the code better.

Implementing the check

Per check you want to have, you need to have an implementation. There are two options here:

Copy one of the two templates (CL_CI_TEST_ROOT_TEMPLATE or CL_CI_TEST_SCAN_TEMPLATE)
Copy one of the existing SCI checks (they all start with CL_CI_) that already resembles the check you want, and modify where needed to make it your own check

The second option is easier to start with.

Hint: first take a good look at the Attributes of an existing check. Some have none (simple check), some have a few tick boxes, and for some you can have a full multiple selection as input. By using a multiple selection which you can fill in the SCI tool, you can avoid hard coding of your checks.

After the copy is done you have to go to the CONSTRUCTOR of your own check:

Important here is not to forget to double click on the message and to create the message text: from here the framework will read the description. The quoted description is just for yourself to be able to read the code better.

The CATEGORY has to refer exactly to the category class you have already created.

On the class level attributes make sure the always present attribute C_MY_NAME has the initial value of the class name of the check you have made.

Depending on the source class check of template you have copied more constant attributes need to be checked or changed.

The actual implementation of the check is to be done in the RUN method. The advantage of copying template or existing check will be obvious in this part, since the complex coding of scanning through source code or fetching other elements like table attributes is already there. You just need to modify when you want a check to fire.

Firing a check happens within the RUN method by invoking the INFORM method. This can be invoked as many times as needed. If not invoked then the check is passed (result zero).

The inform will pass the following to the SCI report tool:

Name of the test (your Z test set in the C_MY_NAME constant attribute you set above)
Point to the code line and statement where your check fired off
Severity level (error, warning, information)

Activating your category and check

To activate your category and check go to transaction SCI and select the menu Code Inspector / Management of / Tests.

Your test will be fully at the bottom since they are Z checks.

Activation of both category and check will not work in one shot.

First activate the category by selecting it and pressing Save. Next activate the custom check by selecting it and press Save.

The text in the description is taken from the text element in the DESCRIPTION that you have made in the CONSTRUCTOR.

Testing the check

After the activation the test is available in SCI. You can make new SCI variant for testing your check. Write a small test program where you are sure the check will fire off. Then run the SCI tool with your check variant to see that your check fires off properly. Now solve the issue and rerun the SCI tool to make sure the check does not fire off any more.

Embedding in SCI and ATC

If your tests all have passed, don’t forget to activate your check in your global SCI variant.

By updating the global SCI variant used in the ATC tool, your check is automatically done as well in the ATC global and local runs.

Finalizing the checks by proper documentation

To make your check look like standard SAP ones you need to spend some time on online documentation of the checks.

First start to document your custom check. To do this start transaction SE61 to create the help text. Switch the Document Class field to Class attribute. Then in the document field put in your Z class for the custom check and for attribute fill out 0000.

Press create and enter your specific help text:

Hint: copy text from standard SAP help text that you like: this saves you lot of time in the lay-outing

Save and activate and your help text is done.

Now you can setup the help text for you own category.

The basic principle of help text is the same, but now you want to hyperlink in the category text to the detailed check help text. This is bit tricky if you don’t know how. To do this select the menu entry Include / Link. The following screen will appear where you can search the referenced check and set up a text for the description:

Custom SCI help text insert link to previous

The end result in the editor is bit ugly since the above nice input screen is translated into technical terms:

Custom SCI help text for complete checks class

In the category help text you can list now all you checks in this way.

End result in the SCI tool help icon will look like this:

The detailed check appears light blue like hyperlink: and it is! If you click it you jump from the category help text straight to your custom check help text.

How to activate the attributes?

You can have attributes for your own check which you can fill out on the SCI screen, and that will be passed to your test.

For this feature to work, you must do following:

Set the HAS_ATTRIBUTES flag to true in the CONSTRUCTOR
Implement the IF_CI_TEST~QUERY_ATTRIBUTES method to define the attributes (tick boxes, fields, multiple selection options) and the text of the attributes
Implement both the GET_ATTRIBUTES and PUT_ATTRIBUTES methods

Hint: by copying right SAP SCI check class that resembles your wanted check, you also will also copy the elements above. Just need to modify it to your own needs.

OSS notes

Oss notes relevant for custom SCI checks:

2848760 – Custom SCI check variants can not be seen from ATC.

ATC: managing your complete custom code base

This blog will explain you the ATC tool to manage your complete custom code base. The name ATC is bit misleading: officially the name is ABAP Test Cockpit, but the tool has nothing to do with test management. It is a code profiling tool.

This blog will answer questions like:

How do I scan my complete custom ABAP code base for issues?
Can I scan custom ABAP code for a complete project?
What is my state of quality of my complete ABAP code base?
The SCI SAP code inspector is nice, but how can I enforce it?
How can I use ATC in the peer review process?
How can I prevent an ABAP workbench from being released if the coding is not ok?
Does the ATC tool replace a peer review?
How do I organize the implementation of the ATC tool in my organization?
How is ATC used in S4HANA migration?

Setting up the ATC tool

Setting up the ATC is quite simple. Just launch transaction code ATC:

Then choose the Configure ATC entry on the screen.

The ATC tool runs on top of the SAP code inspector (SCI). This must be setup first. Choose the variant you have created here as Global Check Variant.

To enable peer review set ATC exemptions to Yes.

If you want to integrate ATC with transport system: set the behavior on Release to either information or error. Be aware that if you set this setting to Error, the transport mechanism will run the ATC tool and will completely block release and transport if any prio 1 or 2 item is found! Only when the issues are solved or exempted, the transport will be released.

This is a great feature for enforcing code standards, but do not switch it on after you have some experience with the ATC tool and your developers are used to the process. Switching it on should also be clearly communicated to basis team and all consultants working on the system. They should be aware of the block coming when releasing transport in SE10 (the description of the block is bit cryptic):

Running the ATC tool

The ATC tool can be run in two different modes:

Globally by development lead for complete custom code base
Locally by developer for one or more of his objects

Running ATC tool globally

To run the ATC tool on all custom code you need to select the Schedule Runs in the ATC tool menu.

Before you can run the tool, you have to create a Run variant. In the setup of this variant it is very important to select the right packages. For custom code only put in Z* in the package selection. If you have projects doing development in separate packages, it is possible to setup a dedicated project variant for that Z project package only.

If you have chosen to use the exemptions and allow pragma’s to be used by the developers, do check the help text in Handling of pragma’s carefully before making a selection.

After the variant has been created, you can now select is and press the Schedule button:

In the next screen before hitting execute, please make sure you have checked the number of processes versus your system hardware. The default value of 10 is pretty aggressive and is assuming a large development system. Use transaction SM50 to check the amount of dialog processes on your system. Don’t fill in more than half the amount of DIA processes than your system has. If you do you might find an angry basis admin at your desk asking you why you are completely filling up your system….

After the executing starts a batch job is triggered, which will fire off as many dialog processes as you have indicated. The amount of time the job takes depends on:

Amount of Z code in your system and selected in your variant
Amount of processes chosen and infrastructure power you have
Using HANA or not (complete code base scanning on HANA runs amazingly fast: full code base of 1000 Z objects with 10 parallel processes can finish under 10 minutes. Running same on slow non-HANA system can run over 8 hours in the night.)

You can use the ATC run monitor to see if your run has finished:

Result of ATC run

When the run is finished go to the Manage Results entry in the ATC menu.

Here you can see the results and the statistics of the results of your run.

If you are working in an agile devops environment this overview screen is very nice. If you run the ATC tool daily or weekly, this can immediately provide you with the needed code quality KPI statistics for the ongoing sprint.

If you select the run results you get a list sorted by priority. Selecting one of the findings will give you the details of the finding (code positing, explanation of reason of the finding):

Double clicking on the object name will immediately jump you to the code program point where the finding is found.

Running the ATC tool locally

The other option is to run the ATC tool locally. In each editor you can call Program/Check/ABAP test cockpit to run the ATC for you specific program.

If you work in Eclipse, you can also run ATC by selecting Run/Run as/Abap test cockpit.

Fixing ATC issues

The easiest way of fixing ATC is simply taking away the root cause. In some cases this simply isn’t possible. Reason can be: you have to select data without full key and ATC is detecting this as error. If agreed upon, you can use the corresponding pragma to suppress the finding in the results. Best practice here is to add a comment line why the pragma was used.

Another sample program:

REPORT zpragma.

DATA: zgs_mara TYPE mara.

* need all for demo, suppress with pragma
SELECT MATNR FROM mara INTO zgs_mara. "#EC CI_NOWHERE
ENDSELECT.

The corresponding ATC result looks like this:

As you can see the error for having no selection clauses is not shown. It is suppressed with the #EC CI_NOWHERE pragma.

The ATC is still throwing issues: there is no check on SY-SUBRC. If needed the ATC tool suggests to use the #EC CI_SUBRC pragma.

Practical use of pragma’s

If you want to allow the pragma’s or not is up to you. The ATC result list can be configured to simply ignore the pragma’s. Best practice is to allow the use of pragma’s, but to demand comment line with explanation. Some pragma’s (like the previous example of not checking sy-subrc) you might suggest not to use at all.

Apply OSS note 3088590 – ATC: Offer default option to handle pseudocomments and pragmas to set default options for pragma handling.

Use of exemptions

If the issues in ATC cannot be solved by changing the code or using the pragma, the last resort it to request an exemption.

This can be done on the detailed screen of the ATC finding:

Upon requesting the system will ask you to fill out why the exemption is needed:

The approver need to be configured in the ATC overview screen. Only the exempters in that list will be shown here.

Unfortunately the ATC tool forces you now to enter a fixed name here. You cannot send the exemption to the group of approvers.

Judging the exemption

If the admin allows to setup mail on your development system you are lucky and get a mail (if configured in the ATC main configuration screen). If not, you either have to check regularly or ask the developers to tell you if they have submitted and exemption.

In the ATC main screen select the Exemption Browser select the exemptions for which you are the approver:

You get a list of items for you to approve, reject or return to the requester.

Again here: if you don’t have mail system, send a signal to the requester that you did an action.

Dealing with old ABAP code

If you have to perform a change to ABAP code that is created before you implemented the ATC tool, the tool might highlight a lot of issues that are in the old section of the code. Should you fix these issues as well? This depends on the size of the coding and the organizational agreements you make. Typically if the coding is very small (user exit with 20 lines) it is common just to fix it. If the coding is large, best practice is to ignore the findings of the ‘old’ code: it is simply too dangerous and too much work to fix it. Or you can work with the baseline option (see this dedicated blog).

ATC tool versus peer review

The ATC tool does not replace a peer review. It is a tool to speed up the peer review, since the tool takes away the burden of the more technical checks like naming conventions, checks of use of SY-SUBRC, are hard coded text replaced by text symbols etc.

Peer review tasks that cannot be done by the ATC tool:

Judgement if the development itself makes any sense
Judging use of comment lines (sufficient?)
Judging if the coding is structured in readable way: future maintenance can be done easily
Correct use of pragma’s
….

Implementation of the ATC tool in your organization

The ATC tool can be implemented in every organization.

Steps to do:

Organize your code standards: have them documented and approved. This is the basis for the setup of the SCI variant you want to run in the ATC tool.
Deploy the SCI tool in your developer community and make sure they understand and run the tool consistently. This is also the time you can fine tune the outcomes of the SCI tool.
Now setup the ATC tool without Exemptions and without transport block. First run the tool globally only yourself to see and understand the ATC tool results and statistics. This will get you a feeling on how long the tool runs on your system and how many exceptions it will report.
Consider if you want to use the pragma’s fully, partially or not.
Set up the Exemption users and organizational agreements (like dealing with old code).
Start to communicate the use of the ATC tool to your developers. If you didn’t think about the pragma’s and the exemption process you will very soon receive many questions from the developers.
If the ATC process with exemptions is running stable, if you want you can now turn on the transport block to avoid any bad code from being released.

From step 1 to step 7 can take several months depending on the speed you can organize, agree and communicate the usage of the standards and tools. Don’t rush it without having the proper communication and organization.

Reorganization of ATC data

If you have large custom code base and run ATC often, the results table SATC_RT_RUN_EXE might get large and your system admin might complain to you about it. If this is the case you can schedule clean up program SATC_AC_REORG_REPOSITORY on weekly basis.

Running ATC central for more systems or against older versions: remote ATC

If you want to run ACT centrally for more development systems, or against an older SAP version not yet enabled for ATC: please read this blog on remote ATC.

ATC settings logging

The ATC setting changes are not logged. The logging is needed if you have a large crew of ABAP developers and apply the rules strictly (for example if you use the option to give an Error on transport release with ATC). To achieve this, switch on table logging for table TRCHECK.

Scope of ATC

ATC is capable of analyzing ABAP code.

For analyzing Smartforms, please make sure you have implemented the OSS notes listed in note 2715684 – Smartforms are not being checked by ATC.

For analyzing Adobe forms, please make sure you have implemented the OSS notes listed in note 2617401 – ATC: Enable ATC Checks for Adobe Forms.

It cannot analyze AMDP code. See OSS note 3086517 – AMDP method not checked by ATC.

S4HANA custom code migration

The ATC tool is a cornerstone tool in the S4HANA custom code migration. For more information, read this dedicated blog.

Running ATC on standard SAP or addon

For running ATC on standard SAP or on an addon, follow the instructions in this blog.

Running ATC on a transport

Running ATC on a transport is explained in OSS note 3250073 – How to perform ATC check of transport request.

ATC explanation notes

ATC explanation notes:

ATC bug fix OSS notes

ATC bug fix OSS notes:

SCI: SAP code inspector

SAP code inspector is a SAP delivered tool to quickly inspect your custom built ABAP code.

This blog will answer following questions:

Why use SAP code inspector?
SAP code inspector versus other source code scanner tools
How to setup SAP code inspector?
Which SCI checks are recommended in general?
Which SCI checks are a must do for S/4 HANA readiness?

Why use SAP code inspector?

SAP code inspector can be used by both ABAP developer or customer who has outsourced ABAP development. The SAP code inspector will check custom ABAP code for:

Potential performance issues
Potential usability restrictions
Robust programming checks
Use of ABAP code naming conventions
Scan for certain statements if wanted

The code inspector has been given big boost last few years by SAP, since has become primary tool to prepare custom ABAP code for S/4 HANA.

SAP code inspector versus other source code tool scanners?

Several major IT parties have setup their own custom build source code inspector tool. In the past these tools could deliver source code scanning functions that SAP did not provide in SCI.

With the improvements done last years on preparing ABAP code for S/4 HANA the SCI tool is now so mature that there are almost no checks missing any more.

The setback of other source code tool scanners is their lack of integration with the SAP development tools (SE38, SE80, SE24, SE37, Eclipse ADT, etc).

How to setup SAP code inspector?

Setting up SAP code inspector is quite straightforward. Start transaction SCI and you come to the main SCI screen.

In this main screen goto the part for Check Variant. Give it a name and make sure that the icon next to Name is switched to global variant as is shown in the screenshot:

Now press create and the empty variant screen is shown.

By clicking on the i icon you can get detailed information on the checks.

By default no checks are active and you have to select which checks are relevant for you.

Let’s go over a few important ones.

Make sure the performance checks are on:

Under Syntax Check make sure the classical SLIN extended program checks is switched on:

In the robust programming section switch on the SY-SUBRC handling. Here you have to take care (as do some other checks) to fill out the details (click on the green multiple selection symbol):

Finally (this is optional) you can also set the ABAP naming conventions:

Setting the variant as DEFAULT SCI variant

If we want to run the SCI tool from code editor the variant DEFAULT is used. This is different variant then we just created. To set the variant for SCI tooling for our own created variant, goto tcode SE16 and edit the contents of table SCICHKV_ALTER:

In the CHECKVNAME_NEW enter the name of the created SCI variant.

Running the SCI tool

The SCI tool can be run from different places. You can run it from tcode SCI itself by entering object or transport there. Or you can run it from code editor and selecting the menu Program/Check/Code Inspector.

Let’s use this sample program:

REPORT zscidemo.
 
 DATA: zlt_vbak TYPE TABLE OF vbak.
 DATA: zls_vbak TYPE vbak.
 
 SELECT * FROM vbak INTO TABLE zlt_vbak.
 
 LOOP AT zlt_vbak INTO zls_vbak.
   WRITE: / zls_vbak-vbeln.
 ENDLOOP.

And now we run code inspector. Results:

The result shows 3 aspects:

Use of SELECT * on large table
SY-SUBRC is not handled after the read: this is correct and should have been done
Naming conventions of variables are not according to settings

After the run the developer can repair the items and rerun as much as needed.

SAP SCI will determine the severity of the found issue into Critical (error/red), Warnings (yellow) and Information (green).

Fine-tuning the SCI message priority

For several reasons you want to fine-tune the SCI message priority. Some check you regard as less important than SAP and some check you regard as more important then SAP is rating them in the SCI standard settings.

If you are in the main SCI screen choose the menu entry Code Inspector/Management Of/ Message Priorities, you come to the screen to adjust and fine-tune the priorities:

The example show is the increase of the check from warning to error (yes, it is still the German Fehler) for the omission of SY-SUBRC check after direct database update.

SCI tool and S/4 HANA migration

When you are in the process of migrating or thinking to migrate to S/4 HANA, then the SCI tool checks play a central role in preparing the custom ABAP code.

In oss note 1912445 – “ABAP custom code migration for SAP HANA – recommendations and Code Inspector variants for SAP HANA migration” SAP explains the details in the 2 newly delivered SCI variants.

You can run these new variants specifically, but it is best to already incorporate these checks into your existing SCI main variant. Even if you don’t plan to upgrade, the checks are good anyhow.

Most important highlights:

Mandatory use of ORDER BY or SORT BY (this check is vital: if not done it can even cause functionality issues!)

Unsecure use of FOR ALL ENTRIES (if not checked if table has entries, ALL database entries will be read, which causes both functional issues and kills performance)

Don’t use SELECT * (code will work, but in HANA this is a performance killer)

Checking for database hints (you rarely see this in custom code, but if done code will not properly work after migration)

This last check is bit hidden: open the multiple selection and in the details make sure Native SQL and DB hints are checked on.

For more details see the blog on S4HANA readiness 2.0 and the blog on setup of S4HANA custom code adjustments.

Checking your complete Z code base

If you want to check your complete Z code base or a larger block for a project, you can use the ATC tool. The ATC tool uses the SCI checks to analyze large blocks of Z code.

Check variant update

In SCI use the menu option Utilities and Import Check Variants to update your check variants. More background in OSS note 2948146 – SCI/ATC check variant is different between systems.

Checking addons and standard SAP

To check standard SAP code or addon ABAP code, follow the instructions in this blog.

Extra custom checks

If you need extra checks in SCI, you can use ABAP code to build your own custom checks. Please follow the instructions in this blog.

Running SCI on standard SAP and addons

If you need to run SCI on standard SAP and/or addons, you will find this is not possible (see OSS note 1986391 – Using SLIN/SCI to check SAP standard objects)

. Follow the trick in this blog to have it done anyhow.

Explanation OSS notes

Notes with extra hints and explanation:

Bug fix OSS notes

List of bug fix OSS notes: