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Short dumps — reading ST22

Level: 201 · working knowledge

Status: stub — the reading order is here; annotated dumps are not yet.

One line: A runtime error ends the program with a short dump: a document in ST22 that names the error (CX_SY_ZERODIVIDE, ITAB_LINE_NOT_FOUND, TIME_OUT), the line, the call stack, every variable in scope and a How to correct the error section — and reading it in the right order answers most incidents without a debugger.

Reading order

  1. Runtime error and exception class at the top. The name is the diagnosis: CONVT_NO_NUMBER, DBIF_RSQL_SQL_ERROR, MEMORY_NO_MORE_PAGING, CALL_FUNCTION_NOT_FOUND…
  2. What happened / What can you do / Error analysis — SAP's own prose, often exact.
  3. Source code extract — the failing line, marked >>>>>, with fifteen lines either side.
  4. Active calls / events — the stack, top frame first; the first Z entry is usually where to look.
  5. Chosen variables — the values in scope at the moment of the error, which is what the debugger would have shown.
  6. Information on where terminated — program, include, line, and whether it ran in dialog or in a job (SM37 links back).

Dumps are kept for a configurable time (rsts_* / RSSNAPDL housekeeping), and ST22 searches by user, date, program and error name across the system.

The ones you will see most

Dump Usually means
CX_SY_ITAB_LINE_NOT_FOUND itab[ … ] with no such row and no OPTIONAL
CX_SY_REF_IS_INITIAL / OBJECTS_OBJREF_NOT_ASSIGNED -> on an unbound reference
CX_SY_ZERODIVIDE division by a variable that was zero
CX_SY_CONVERSION_NO_NUMBER text into a number
CX_SY_OPEN_SQL_DB / DBIF_RSQL_* the database refused the statement; the SQL error is in the text
TIME_OUT a dialog step past rdisp/max_wp_run_time — a job, or a fix
TSV_TNEW_PAGE_ALLOC_FAILED out of memory — an internal table that should have been a cursor
CALL_FUNCTION_CONFLICT_TYPE a parameter type mismatch across an RFC
ASSERTION_FAILED an ASSERT — the program said so on purpose
RAISE_EXCEPTION a classic exception nobody listed in EXCEPTIONS

What this page still needs

  • [ ] three real dumps, anonymised, annotated section by section
  • [ ] the debugger's jump to dump feature, and ST22 → debug-at-line replay
  • [ ] RAISE SHORTDUMP's attributes in the analysis, recorded

See also