Tell us what you think

We want to create the best possible experience for our learners. Your feedback helps us to improve the experience for everyone.

Give feedback

Preparing the Development Environment

Objectives

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

Set up the development environment for CDS analytical projection views
Explore a CDS view using ABAP Development Tools (ADT)

Install Eclipse and ABAP Development Tools (ADT)

To develop CDS analytical projection views, you must install and prepare the Eclipse development environment.

Once you have installed Eclipse, you must install an additional component called ABAP Development Tools (ADT) that allows you to connect Eclipse to an ABAP environment. The ADT tools provide the code editors for ABAP artifacts, debuggers, and data preview tools.

Watch this video to learn how to install Eclipse and the ABAP Development Tools (ADT) so that you are ready to work with CDS analytical projection views:

Once you have installed Eclipse and the ABAP development tools (ADT), you must then connect to each ABAP environment in which you want to work. You can connect to an on-premise or cloud ABAP environment.

Each ABAP connection is represented in Eclipse by a project. You can work with multiple projects in the same interface so you can easily jump between ABAP environments.

Hint

The CDS source files that are used in this course can be imported into your own ABAP system to practice and even try out your own ideas.

You can find the files and setup instructions by clicking on this link:https://community.sap.com/t5/sap-learning-blog-posts/develop-powerful-analytical-queries-using-abap-core-data-services-cds/ba-p/13999588

Working with CDS Views in the ADT Tools

To prepare for working with CDS Analytical Projection Views, you should develop some basic navigation skills using the ADT tools of Eclipse.

Watch the video below to learn how to get started. The example CDS view in the video is not an CDS analytical projection view but a cube view. The navigation in ADT tools is the same regardless of the type of CDS view you work with. So when you watch this video you should focus on the work flow and navigation in the tool, rather than the content of the CDS view that is shown.

You can preview the results from any CDS view by right-clicking anywhere in the code and from the context menu, select the entry:Open With → Data Preview.

Note

For CDS analytical projection views, the Multidimensional Analysis (MDA) tool is launched in a browser. This tool provides the key features that a business user would find in most analytical tools and is ideal for testing an analytical query. For other types of CDS views, the standard data preview tab opens in Eclipse.

If you double-click on the name of a CDS view and press F3, you are able to navigate to the underlying view or (Ctrl+ left click will do the same).

If you highlight an element or annotation and then press F2, detailed information is displayed.

Continue to quiz