As Pillir explains (https://www.pillir.io/eol/sap-web-dynpro), programmers using SAP products have been employing ABAP code since the 80s. So, why is it challenging for businesses looking to shift to SAP HANA’s optimal performance after about four decades?
This article will explain the meaning of ABAP, the reasons to use ABAP, and what makes SAP HANA stand out from the rest. Keep reading to find out more about ABAP SAP custom coding.
An Overview of ABAP Code
Advanced Basic Application Programming (ABAP) is a high-level programming language that was earlier referred to as Allgemeiner Berichts-Aufbereitungs-Prozessor – a German word meaning general report creation processor.
ABAP was originally used in the 1980s as a reporting language for SAP R/2 to empower clients with programming experience to create custom reports. SAP later developed R/3 in 1992 and SAP HANA in 2010. HANA was a total paradigm shift in database operations. Fortunately, this step led to major changes to how ABAP code interacted with databases.
Therefore, to use the unique functionality offered by SAP HANA, you need to make sure that your ABAP code is HANA-ready.
Reasons to Use ABAP
ABAP is one of the pioneer coding languages to provide a high abstraction level between business applications, databases, and operating systems. These components are currently referred to as Logical Databases (LDBs).
ABAP-developed applications typically copy data from a particular dataset, leaving that database entirely untouched. The applications process and convert this information before the end-result is delivered to the user.
ABAP code means that any SAP application is deemed “database neutral”; therefore, it can extract data from various databases because it doesn’t require functionalities unique to particular platforms.
Many users can create custom ABAP code, meaning they can access the unique functionality of their database. Therefore, this has led to systems with a massive custom code base that has been accumulating for decades.
What Makes SAP HANA Unique?
Advanced innovations such as the Internet of Things, cloud computing, and real-time analytics that once were emerging technology are now a business reality. And businesses that are not employing the latest technologies quickly fall behind their competitors.
HANA is SAP’s cutting-edge database and offers its customers access to these innovations and is packed with state-of-the-art technology in the present market.
HANA’s computing power and speed far outstrip any of its predecessors. With all the unique functionalities, it’s no longer feasible to abstract between databases and applications.
SAP HANA empowers its users to conduct intensive operations on the database level. Data calculations and transformations can be executed within a particular database, and the result is delivered to the application.
Transferring every data-intensive operation to the database level is crucial for leveraging SAP HANA’s unique capabilities. It also makes the entire architecture more efficient and elegant.
Importance of Adapting Your ABAP Code
Not every ABAP code requires adapting. Most of the ABAP code will still work normally after integrating with HANA. However, you’ll need to adapt any custom ABAP code designed to utilize the unique capabilities of the database.
Among the unavoidable trade-offs from accessing the unique capabilities of SAP HANA is that custom ABAP codes specifically written to interact with other databases are now obsolete and can potentially impact your systems.
For the ABAP code to work seamlessly with HANA, it’s best to make sure the systems are database-independent. Being database-independent means coming up with an ABAP code that depends on the behavior of a specific database and adapting the code to match HANA’s simplified data models.
Custom Coding and the NEW HANA Data Model
HANA’s greatly simplified data model means a custom code compatible with other databases could not work properly with HANA. It may not work optimally because of changes to the database architecture referenced by the custom code.
An example of this case is the need for a custom code that can aggregate data. SAP HANA aggregates every total and subtotal using its column-based and in-memory architecture, meaning you won’t need an ABAP code to conduct the task.
Some cases of incompatible code lead to substantial performance degradation, while others can lead to fatal crashes. All these risks indicate the need to clean your custom code when you want to migrate your complete database or optimize your present SAP HANA database to enhance its performance.
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