Getting Started with ABAP

Learn how to write, check and run ABAP in Zed Frame, use selection screens, and explore the local training Dictionary.

Navigating Zed Frame, language and account

The sidebar groups the app into Getting Started, the workbench tools (ABAP Editor, ABAP Dictionary, SE16N, CDS Studio) and the learning pages (functions, classes, examples, forum).

Navigation is open to everyone; individual tools apply their own access rules.

Access (Guest / Free / Pro / Teams): full / full / full / full. full = Included; limited = Limited; signin = Sign-in required; no = Not included; soon = Coming Soon.

Steps

Pick a page in the Object Navigator. This User Guide sits directly below Getting Started. Open Plans & Pricing from the links in this guide or its header button when offered. Hover over your username for View profile, Edit profile, Subscription & billing and Sign out.
Change the interface language in the sidebar for the current visit. English and Spanish are supported.
Signed-in members can store a default language in their profile; it is applied when you sign in or reload.
Use Sign in to open your account. Your plan decides which tools unlock; the Pricing page lists every row.

Good to know

The page address changes as you move around, so you can bookmark a tool. This guide itself scrolls inside the page and never changes the address.
ABAP source and technical identifiers retain their original spelling. Forum messages have their own translation behavior; changing the interface language does not rename your programs, tables or fields.

Limits

The Admin Panel appears only to administrators and is not covered here.

Troubleshooting

A tool shows a sign-in or upgrade message: your current access level does not include it. Compare plans, then sign in or upgrade.

Open plans and pricing in the workbench Open my profile in the workbench

ABAP Editor: open, type, import, export, save, reset, clear

The editor is where programs live. You can write from scratch, paste, open an Example Program, or import a file, then check and run the code against the local ABAP simulator.

Find your way around the ABAP Editor — The editor starts with your source. Check or execute from the toolbar; use the line-number gutter to set breakpoints after signing in.

Guests and Free users keep edits only until refresh; Pro and Teams autosave to the account.

Access (Guest / Free / Pro / Teams): full / full / full / full. full = Included; limited = Limited; signin = Sign-in required; no = Not included; soon = Coming Soon.

Steps

Open ABAP Editor. The default program is named Z_PLAYGROUND and you can type directly into it.
To start from a sample, open Example Programs and choose Open; the source loads into the editor without running.
Use the classic toolbar at the top: Open source loads a file from disk, Export ABAP downloads the current source, Check and Code review run those tools, and Specification PDF opens Program Specification. Inside the editor panel, Add ABAP call opens the call helper (supported function, class method or SUBMIT), and the source counter shows your size against the 262,144-character limit.
The icon buttons Reset editor and Clear editor sit beside the counter. Reset restores the starting program; Clear empties the source and the current results. Neither touches other saved programs. Both are disabled while the debugger is active.
Under the editor, Check validates the source, Review opens the standard review, and Run program (Ctrl+Enter) executes. Example: paste a short REPORT that WRITEs a line, press Check, read any diagnostics, then press Run program and look in the SAP List Viewer tab.

Good to know

The runtime is a simulator that implements a defined subset of ABAP. It is not a connection to a real SAP system.
Header chips show the program name and whether your edits are autosaved or reset on refresh.

Limits

Unsaved work in Guest and Free sessions is lost on page refresh. Export important code first.

Troubleshooting

Imported file looks wrong: confirm it is plain text ABAP, not a document or PDF.

Worked example

Paste this complete report into an empty editor. Check it, then run it to open a selection screen. Change the name and choose Run with selections; the output should greet that name. Loading or reading this example does not execute it.

REPORT z_guide_hello.
PARAMETERS p_name TYPE string DEFAULT 'Learner'.
START-OF-SELECTION.
  WRITE: / 'Hello', p_name.

Open ABAP Editor in the workbench Browse example programs in the workbench

Selection screens and the selections flow

Programs that declare PARAMETERS or SELECT-OPTIONS get a selection screen before running. You fill the values, then run.

Fill the selection screen before running — PARAMETERS creates this screen. Initializing it is not the execution: submit the values explicitly with Run with selections.

Access (Guest / Free / Pro / Teams): full / full / full / full. full = Included; limited = Limited; signin = Sign-in required; no = Not included; soon = Coming Soon.

Steps

Write or open a program that declares PARAMETERS or SELECT-OPTIONS.
When the source declares a selection screen, Run program first initializes it and shows the fields with an Initialized chip. Initialization is free and consumes no credits.
Enter values (single values, ranges or lists where the declaration allows them).
Press Run with selections. The billed cost is calculated from the source, and the output opens in the SAP List Viewer tab. Example: enter a company code or a range in a SELECT-OPTION, run, and check that the list contains only matching rows.

Good to know

Pro and Teams restore your last selections and results together with the saved program.
When the source changes the selection screen is rebuilt, so re-check values after edits.

Limits

Only the selection constructs the simulator supports are shown; unsupported statements produce a diagnostic.

Troubleshooting

No selection screen appears: the program may declare nothing selectable, or a syntax error blocks initialization. Fix the diagnostics first.

Try it in the editor in the workbench

Read the complete user guide