ABAP File Formats

Albert Mink, @SAP

Lars Hvam, @heliconialabs

Disclaimer

Everything might change
Check respective licenses

History of sharing ABAP code

Let's talk about the ABAP file formats

What is ABAP file formats (AFF)?

Public definition of file content that is human-readable, complete and without redundancy

How?

For every object there is exactly one file named object_name.type.json

For its annotation and validation there is a JSON Schema, generated from an ABAP type

Examples

Form-based object: BAdI Enhancement Spot
Source-based object: ABAP Interface

BAdI Enhancement Spot

ADT form-based editor

AFF file


              {
                "formatVersion": "1",
                "header": {
                  "description": "WB Object Versioning",
                  "originalLanguage": "en"
                },
                "configuration": {
                  "tool": "badiDefinition"
                },
                "badiDefinitions": [
                  {
                    "name": "BADI_WB_OBJECT_VERS_PROVIDER",
                    "description": "BAdI  definition for workbench",
                    "interface": "IF_WB_OBJECT_VERSION_PROVIDER",
                    "instantiation": "creatingNewInstances",
                    "multipleUse": false,
                    "fallbackClass": "CL_BLUE_SVRS_VERSION_PROVIDER",
                    "filters": [
                      {
                        "name": "OBJECT_TYPE",
                        "description": "Workbench object type",
                        "type": "characterLike"
                      }
                    ]
                  }
                ]
              }

Filenames and formatting

Filename is composed by

obj_name.type.json

Ensure interchangeability by formatting

UTF-8
End-of-line marker LF ('\n')
Empty line at end-of-file

ABAP Interface

File	Description
object_name.intf.abap	ABAP source code
object_name.intf.json	Metadata file

Metadata file in AFF

JSON data can be intuitive


            {
              "formatVersion": "1",
              "header": {
                "description": "AFF: Interface v1",
                "originalLanguage": "en"
              }
            }

Possible validation and annotation with JSON Schema, e.g. VS Code Extension

Metadata file in abapGit

XML data for creation of the object

Metadata file in gCTS

The database entries as JSON data


          ...
          {
            "table": "SEOCLASSTX",
            "data": [
              {
                "CLSNAME": "ZIF_ABAPGIT_AFF_INTF_V1",
                "LANGU": "E",
                "DESCRIPT": "AFF: Interface v1"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "table": "SEOCLASSDF",
            "data": [
            {
              "CLSNAME": "ZIF_ABAPGIT_AFF_INTF_V1",
              "VERSION": 1,
              "CATEGORY": 0,
              "EXPOSURE": 2,
              "STATE": 1,
              "RELEASE": 0,
              "AUTHOR": "MR_X",
          ...