Version: 1.0.0
History of changes
See also project Wiki

• Synopsis
• Installation
• Reference
• Examples and HOWTOs
• Other features
• Excel to TXT conversion script
• Contributors
• Publications
• Plans
• License

The tool is created to simplify data preparation/loading for SAP ABAP unit tests. In one of our projects we had to prepare much tables data for unit tests. For example, a set of content from BKPF, BSEG, BSET tables (FI document). The output of the methods under test is also often a table or a complex structure.

Hard-coding all of that data was not an option - too much to code, difficult to maintain and terrible code readability. So we decided to write a tool which would get the data from TAB delimited .txt files, which, in turn, would be prepared in Excel in a convenient way. Certain objectives were set:

• all the test data should be combined together in one file (zip)
• ... and uploaded to SAP - test data should be a part of the dev package (W3MI binary object would fit)
• loading routine should identify the file structure (fields) automatically and verify its compatibility with a target container (structure or table)
• it should also be able to safely skip fields, missing in .txt file, if required (non strict mode) e.g. when processing structures (like FI document) with too many fields, most of which are irrelevant to a specific test.

" Test class (o_ml is mockup_loader instance)
...
call method o_ml->load_data " Load test data (structure) from mockup
  exporting i_obj       = 'TEST1/bkpf'
  importing e_container = ls_bkpf.

call method o_ml->load_data " Load test data (table) from mockup
  exporting i_obj       = 'TEST1/bseg'
            i_strict    = abap_false
  importing e_container = lt_bseg.

...

call method o_test_object->some_processing " Call to the code being tested
  exporting i_bkpf   = ls_bkpf
            it_bseg  = lt_bseg
  importing e_result = l_result. 

assert_equals(...).

The first part of the code takes TAB delimited text file bkpf.txt in TEST1 directory of ZIP file uploaded as binary object via SMW0 transaction...

BUKRS BELNR GJAHR BUZEI BSCHL KOART ...
1000  10    2015  1     40    S     ...
1000  10    2015  2     50    S     ...

... and puts it (with proper ALPHA exits and etc) to an internal table with BSEG line type.

Later another objective was identified: some code is quite difficult to test when it has a select in the middle. Of course, good code design would assume isolation of DB operations from business logic code, but it is not always possible. So we needed to create a way to substitute selects in code to a simple call, which would take the prepared test data instead if test environment was identified. We came up with the solution we called "Store".

" Test class (o_ml is mockup_loader instance)
...
call method o_ml->store " Store some data with 'BKPF' label
  exporting i_name = 'BKPF'
            i_data = ls_bkpf. " One line structure
...

" Working class method
...
if some_test_env_indicator = abap_false. " Production environment
  " Do DB selects here 

else.                                    " Test environment
  call method zcl_mockup_loader=>retrieve
    exporting i_name  = 'BKPF'
    importing e_data  = ls_fi_doc_header
    exceptions others = 4.
endif. 

if sy-subrc is not initial.
  " Data not selected -> do error handling
endif.

In case of multiple test cases it can also be convenient to load a number of table records and then filter it based on some key field, available in the working code. This option is also possible:

" Test class
...
call method o_ml->store " Store some data with 'BKPF' label
  exporting i_name   = 'BKPF'
            i_tabkey = 'BELNR'  " Key field for the stored table
            i_data   = lt_bkpf. " Table with MANY different documents
...

" Working class method
...
if some_test_env_indicator = abap_false. " Production environment
  " Do DB selects here 

else.                                    " Test environment
  call method zcl_mockup_loader=>retrieve
    exporting i_name  = 'BKPF'
              i_sift  = l_document_number " Filter key from real local variable
    importing e_data  = ls_fi_doc_header  " Still a flat structure here
    exceptions others = 4.
endif. 

if sy-subrc is not initial.
  " Data not selected -> error handling
endif.

As the final result we can perform completely dynamic unit tests in our projects, covering most of code, including DB select related code without actually accessing the database. Of course, it is not only the mockup loader which ensures that. This requires accurate design of the project code, separating DB selection and processing code. But the mockup loader and "store" functionality makes it more convenient.

Here are some facts about package content and invocation approach:

• The main class is called ZCL_MOCKUP_LOADER. It is designed as a singleton class assuming it loads ZIPped content once when the test class initialized. Consequently, the "Store" exists in one instance as well.
• Most methods of the class may throw local exception based on cx_static_check, which in particular specifies some error details available via get_text() call (also an error code, which is more for own unit testing purpose). Those methods are assumed to be executed from unit test classes, so there should be no problem to handle exceptions properly there.
• RETRIEVE() method, however, which takes data from the "Store" is static. It is assumed to be called from "production" code instead of DB selects. It does all singleton magic inside, and throws non-class based exception. This is made to avoid the necessity to handle exceptions, irrelevant to the main code, and also to be able to catch the exception as SY-SUBRC value. SY-SUBRC can be checked later as if it would be the result of a regular DB select. So the interference with the main code is minimal.
• Zipped text files must be in Unicode encoding (UTF16).

The most convenient way to install the package is to use abapGit - it is easily installed itself and then a couple of click to clone the repo into the system. There is also an option for offline installation - download the repo as zip file and import it with abapGit.
Unit test execution is a recommended after-step (see manual step 3.3).

1. Create a package with SE21/SE80 (ZMOCKUP_LOADER would be a good name :)
2. Create the class with SE24 - ZCL_MOCKUP_LOADER.
   1. Switch to "Source code based" mode and copy /src/zcl_mockup_loader.clas.abap content there.
   2. Add code from /src/zcl_mockup_loader.clas.locals_imp.abap to local definitions and implementations (Goto menu)
   3. Activate.
3. Optionally upload unit tests.
   1. Create a test class for the ZCL_MOCKUP_LOADER. Copy the content of /src/zcl_mockup_loader.clas.testclasses.abap there and activate.
   2. Create a binary data object via SMW0 transaction in the package ZMOCKUP_LOADER. Call it ZMOCKUP_LOADER_UNIT_TEST and upload the /src/zmockup_loader_unit_test.w3mi.data.zip.
      • This potentially may require setting up MIME type in Settings->Maintain MIME types menu (the setting is quite obvious, e.g. just specify TYPE=ZIP, EXTENTION=*.zip).
   3. Run the unit test for the ZCL_MOCKUP_LOADER class (Menu->Class->Run->Unit tests or Ctrl+Shift+F10). Should pass ;)
4. Create SET/GET parameters ZMOCKUP_LOADER_STYPE and ZMOCKUP_LOADER_SPATH with SM30 and maintenance view TPARA.
5. Create the program ZMOCKUP_LOADER_SWITCH_SOURCE
   1. ... Copy the content of /src/zmockup_loader_switch_source.prog.abap and activate.
   2. Create transaction ZMOCKUP_LOADER_SWSRC with SE93 and set it to run the program.

SAPLink support has been abandoned since v1.0.0. The last version supporting it was v0.2.1 - this is a stable version so can be used if you prefer SAPLink installation.

Complete reference of class method can be found in REFERENCE.md.

Have a look at the Howto section in the project Wiki.

A complete example can be found in /src/zmockup_loader_example.prog.abap.

Final test mockup is supposed to be uploaded as MIME object via SMW0. During data or test creation, however, it is more convenient (faster) to read local file.

Supposedly, you call static CLASS_SET_SOURCE method in CLASS_SETUP of testing class to define the 'normal' type/path to mockup archive. To temporarily switch to another source you can call transaction ZMOCKUP_LOADER_SWSRC (or program ZMOCKUP_LOADER_SWITCH_SOURCE). It will initialize SET/GET parameters ZMOCKUP_LOADER_STYPE and ZMOCKUP_LOADER_SPATH which will overload defaults for current session. User changes in the selection screen immediately change the parameters in session memory, no run is required.

We have a lot of data prepared in Excel files. Many files, many sheets in each. It is boring and time consuming to copy them all to text (although Ctrl+C in Excel actually copies TAB delimited text which greatly simplifies the matter for small cases).

So we created a VB script which does this work automatically. Please read EXCEL2TXT.md for more info.

Contributors are described in CONTRIBUTORS.md. You are welcomed to suggest ideas and code improvements ! :)

Main development team members are:

• Alexander Tsybulsky
• Svetlana Shlapak
• Bohdan Petrushchak

• Unit testing mockup loader for ABAP @SCN
• How to do convenient multicase unit tests with zmockup_loader @SCN

• Text parser is useful itself for other tasks - maybe worth splitting the class into 2 tools
• Maybe implement direct editing of the text data in SAP. In ALV or, better, with inline Excel. To have a consistent solution and avoid external VBS script

The code is licensed under MIT License. Please see LICENSE for details.