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ABAP Cloud — released APIs only

Level: 301 · deep dive

Status: stub — the rules are here; the worked example is not yet.

One line: ABAP Cloud is a restricted development model — the language version ABAP for Cloud Development — in which only released APIs and released database tables may be used, which rules out a large part of classic ABAP regardless of how recent your release is.

What stops compiling

Out Why, and what replaces it
Direct reads of unreleased SAP tables use the released CDS view instead
CALL FUNCTION on unreleased modules use the released class or API
FORM / PERFORM methods
Classic Dynpros, WRITE lists, ALV GUI Fiori, RAP, OData
OPEN DATASET released file APIs or cloud storage services
Modifications and classic user exits released extension points, BAdIs marked for cloud

"Released" is a formal state, visible in ADT and in the API state of the object. An object that is not released may change or disappear in an upgrade — which is the whole reason for the rule: the three-tier extensibility model exists so that customer code cannot be broken by SAP changing its own internals.

The same model is increasingly applied on-premise through the ABAP for Cloud Development language version and the corresponding ATC check variant, which is how a landscape prepares for a move without one.

What this page still needs

  • [ ] a worked conversion of a small classic report into a cloud-ready form
  • [ ] how to find the released successor of an unreleased API, reliably
  • [ ] the tiers — cloud, cloud API enabled, classic — stated precisely with their rules
  • [ ] the ATC cloud-readiness check over an existing object, with a recorded finding list

See also