Exploring ABAP Debugger[4]: Work with different desktops

This series covers all the details about ABAP debugging. If you have landed on this post directly, I recommend reading earlier posts as this post assumes that the reader has knowledge of concepts and steps covered in earlier posts.

1. ABAP Debugging Basics
2. ABAP Debugging Controls

This post talks about the configurable desktops and how they can be used to understand the data and program flow at the runtime.

A quick summary of the various desktops is as below.

Desktop Name	Function
Desktop1, Desktop2, Desktop3, Standard	The first 4 desktops show code, variables, and stack in different window layouts.
Structure, Tables, Objects	These views show contents of Structure, Tables, Objects respectively at the runtime
Detail Display, Data Explorer	These views shows information like type of the variable.
Break./Watchpoints	This view shows the breakpoints and the watchpoints.
Diff	This view can be used to compare two variables
Script	Shows the scripts where the default script RSTPDA_SCRIPT_TEMPLATE is shown.

Out of these views the Break./Watchpoints and Script will be covered in dedicated posts later. This post will cover rest of the views.

Code of the program used for this blog is as below.

REPORT zjp_abap_debugger.

DATA : bookings TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF sbook,
       carrid   TYPE sbook-carrid.

SELECT-OPTIONS : s_carrid FOR carrid NO-DISPLAY DEFAULT 'AA'.

START-OF-SELECTION.
  PERFORM get_data.

END-OF-SELECTION.
  PERFORM display.

  IF 1 = 2.  "Dummy statements
  ENDIF.

*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*
*&      Form  GET_DATA
*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*
*       text
*----------------------------------------------------------------------*
*  -->  p1        text
*  <--  p2        text
*----------------------------------------------------------------------*
FORM get_data .
  SELECT * FROM sbook INTO TABLE @bookings
    WHERE carrid IN @s_carrid.
ENDFORM.

*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*
*&      Form  DISPLAY
*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*
*       text
*----------------------------------------------------------------------*
*  -->  p1        text
*  <--  p2        text
*----------------------------------------------------------------------*
FORM display .

  DATA : cancelled_bookings LIKE bookings,
         confirmed_bookings LIKE bookings.

  LOOP AT bookings INTO DATA(booking).
    IF booking-cancelled = abap_true.
      APPEND booking TO cancelled_bookings.
    ELSE.
      APPEND booking TO confirmed_bookings.
    ENDIF.
  ENDLOOP.

  TRY.
      "Create ALV table object for the output data table
      cl_salv_table=>factory( IMPORTING r_salv_table = DATA(lo_tab)
                              CHANGING  t_table      = confirmed_bookings ).
      lo_tab->get_functions( )->set_all( ).
      lo_tab->get_columns( )->set_optimize( ).
      lo_tab->get_display_settings( )->set_striped_pattern( abap_true ).

      lo_tab->display( ).

    CATCH cx_root.
      MESSAGE 'Error in ALV creation' TYPE 'E'.
  ENDTRY.
ENDFORM.

Breakpoint is set up in Start-of-selection event, program is executed to get into the debug mode.

Debug using F5/F6 to reach to below statement.

Variable Contents

Before we move to next views, let us first understand how to observe variable contents.

• Double click on a variable, a structure, an internal table, or an object to load the variable in the variable section.
• Type in the name of a variable, a structure, an internal table, or an object directly in the variable section

Variable	BOOKING-CARRID	Shows content in column Value(Val.)
Structure / Work area	BOOKING	Actual data is displayed in Structure view after double clicking on the name.
Internal Table	BOOKINGS	Shows number of rows and columns. Actual data is displayed in Tables view after double clicking on the name.
Object	LO_TAB	Shows the object/class details. Actual data is displayed in Objects view after double clicking on the name.

Structure view

Once you double click on a structure in variable section above or enter the structure name directly in the Structure View the structure components are displayed.

Tables view

This view shows the table content.

Objects view

Objects can be observed in object view. The object is created from a class reference – all the class attributes are shown. This does not show the methods though.

More information about variables

Detail Display

Details display shows the value of the variable along with its types. Also the View has various options. If the variable content is XML or HTML, this is useful.

Data Explorer

This view can show any type of data.

This tab is rarely used as other tabs already cover this function.

Diff

This view shows difference in two variables. Enter two variables and click on Start Comparison to get result similar to below.

Break./Watchpoints

This tab will be discussed separately in more details later. However, this is how it looks. It shows all the breakpoints and watchpoints as the name suggests.

Script

Another tab that will have a dedicated post. This is not required at beginner level.

This is the overview off all the views, in the next post, we will start with the actual debugging.

Visit ABAP Debugger page to see more articles on debugging.

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