Eclipse is a very popular, open-source, integrated development environment (IDE) already used by many developers. It contains basic features for developing all types of software content, plus it has an extensive plug-in mechanism for customizing the environment. Eclipse is written mostly in Java and it is primarily used to develop Java applications. However, it can also be used to develop applications in other programming languages, including ABAP through the use of plug-ins. Plug-ins provide support for code and graphical based development.
The SAP BW Modeling Tools (BWMT) are an example of one of these plug-ins. They provide a new integrated modeling environment for the development and maintenance of SAP BW/4HANA objects using mostly graphical interfaces. These tools integrate with the ABAP development tools also available in Eclipse.
Note
Eclipse is sometimes referred to as SAP HANA Studio. You can think of SAP HANA Studio as the plug-in that provides various interfaces to manage a native SAP HANA database. This is not relevant for SAP BW/4HANA as the SAP HANA database that runs under SAP BW/4HANA is managed using the more up-to-date tool know as SAP HANA Cockpit.Watch the following demo to explore the SAP BW Modeling Tools (BWMT).