Easter Eggs

It's always fun to find out those hidden codes to jump to the next level in the game. Well, in in this case there is no level and no game, just a hidden debug code from a post by anatogi.

You can debug batch jobs by going to SM37, type in JDBG in the command line ( no '/' ), put the cursor on the job and press enter - will take you to the job in debug mode.

You can do this only after the job has finished execution. This will simulate the exact background scenario with the same selection screen values as used in the job also sy-batch will set to 'X'.

So type in the transaction code JDBG and place your cursor on the job after It has finished. It will take you to a SAP program in debug mode. Step through this program which is about 10 lines, after this your program will be executed in the debug mode.

FAQ: Material master CIF transfer

This seems to be a topic that many people get lost with. It is a bit confusing why some standard fields are not transfered from R3 to APO without development. But this is well documented in OSS note 520561 (Maintaining product master in R/3 or in APO?).

Even for APO material master data not available in R3, people often find it better to extend the R3 material master application (OSS 44410) and to transfer these new fields to APO using the CIF exits. This way all material data is maintained in a single place (which means less work and less confusion for users).

Why not Java?

I use java. I recognize it has a clean design. It is slow, but fast enough for my needs. But I never got to the point to be enthusiastic about it. In a recent advogato post Omnifarious resumed in a single sentence why he dislikes java. I absolutely agree with him.

If I wanted an OS, I'd install one. I don't need one to masquerade as a programming language.

New SAP community site

SAP revamped the community section of the website. First thing I see after the login: I have 250 status/reward points. With an extra 500 I get a magnificent bottle fastener. Geee! Come on people run for your bottle fastener. Did I said it is "high-grade steel shaft in metall silver and engraved SAP logo in a nice packing"? Argh. God save the great sapfans forum.

Automatic generation of ABAP code to call functions

This python cgi script has been quite useful to me. For a given function, it looks at the dictionary definition for the parameters and generates all the code to call the function. It saves the time needed to create the structures and write for each field the value assignment. It makes experimentation with BAPI calls a lot faster.

Microsoft and SAP !?

I've just browsed for the first time the website of the Microsoft SAP Global Alliance. There is nothing special with the site. But the "friends" scenario is hard to understand.

SAP added java to the core. Microsoft bought Navision to sell ERP software. SAP made SAPdb open-source. SAP has a linux lab. How can this alliance be taken seriously?

I guess I'll search for other websites. Maybe a IBM Microsoft Alliance (oh, there was one but the website was closed sometime ago). And it seems the Google Microsoft Alliance has not setup the website yet. ;-)