ABAP Language Basics

ABAP Language Basics is a lightweight, declarative Visual Studio Code extension for local ABAP .abap and ABAP CDS .ddls files. It provides broad TextMate syntax highlighting, common ABAP 7.50 snippets, folding, comments, brackets, and Sticky Scroll support without starting a language server.

Language Coverage

ABAP

The ABAP grammar recognizes the syntax used across reports, classes, interfaces, function modules, includes, and executable code, including:

• declarations for data, constants, field symbols, parameters, select options, structured types, internal tables, references, methods, events, interfaces, and aliases;
• class and interface definitions and implementations, method signatures, constructor expressions, procedure calls, and instance, static, and interface selectors;
• control flow, exception handling, internal-table operations, string processing, pragmas, system fields, text symbols, literals, operators, and built-in types and functions;
• Open SQL statements, joins, clauses, aggregate functions, host variables, and parenthesized select lists;
• string templates with embedded ABAP expressions, escapes, and formatting options; and
• named units and nested control-flow blocks for folding and Sticky Scroll.

Contextual scopes prevent keyword fragments in names such as sy-subrc, lo_object->method, and zif_interface~method from receiving misleading keyword colors.

AMDP and HANA SQLScript

Methods declared with BY DATABASE PROCEDURE FOR HDB embed a dedicated HANA SQLScript grammar until ENDMETHOD. The embedded grammar highlights:

• SQL queries, joins, clauses, set operations, window functions, partitions, and aggregate functions;
• table variables, : host variables, assignments, declarations, cursors, conditions, handlers, and procedural control flow;
• HANA built-in functions, SQLScript types, session context, exception and diagnostic variables, comments, strings, numbers, and operators; and
• SIGNAL, RESIGNAL, and related error-handling constructs.

The surrounding AMDP method header and closing ENDMETHOD retain their ABAP scopes.

ABAP CDS

Files ending in .ddls are registered as ABAP CDS. The CDS grammar recognizes:

• view entity declarations, parameters, select lists, keys, aliases, data sources, joins, associations, cardinalities, filters, grouping, and having clauses;
• annotations, annotation objects and arrays, enum values, built-in abap.* types, typed literals, strings, numbers, and comments;
• $parameters, $projection, and $session variables, qualified element names, named function arguments, operators, and SQL expressions; and
• casts, case expressions, aggregate and scalar functions, currency and unit conversion, and date calculations.

CDS has its own // and block-comment behavior, braces, brackets, parentheses, and quote-pair configuration.

Editor Features

• Keyword-prefixed ABAP 7.50 snippets for reports, declarations, object-oriented code, constructor expressions, control flow, internal tables, Open SQL, and ABAP Unit assertions.
• ABAP CDS snippets for classic views, parameters, associations, annotations, projected elements, expressions, filtering, and grouping.
• Whole-file templates for executable reports, global classes, ABAP Unit test classes, and classic ABAP CDS views through Snippets: Fill File with Snippet.
• Automatic bracket, quote, and comment handling for ABAP and CDS.
• Folding markers for classes, interfaces, methods, forms, function modules, modules, selection-screen blocks, and common control-flow blocks.
• Sticky Scroll fallback based on folding ranges when no document-symbol provider is active.
• Theme-compatible TextMate scopes tested against a running VS Code Extension Host.

Scope

The grammars are lexical. They do not parse complete programs, resolve names, read a workspace, or connect to an SAP system. This package contains no extension runtime, scanner, external executable, network access, or background analysis.

Install the separate ABAP LSP extension when diagnostics, navigation, semantic tokens, context-aware completion, parser-backed document symbols, or workspace and SAP repository integration are required.

Development

Install the locked development dependencies and run the VS Code-host tests:

npm ci
npm test
npm run verify:package

When this directory is opened as the VS Code workspace, the Run and Debug view provides two developer workflows:

• Run ABAP Language Basics opens the ABAP fixtures in an Extension Development Host for interactive checks. It uses project-local, ignored profile and extension directories so an installed extension cannot override the development grammar while VS Code's built-in themes remain available.
• Run Extension Tests compiles and runs the automated test suite inside an isolated Extension Development Host.

The matching default build and test tasks are available through Tasks: Run Build Task and Tasks: Run Test Task. A separate verify extension package task builds and validates the VSIX contents.

The TextMate grammars are loaded directly from syntaxes/; there is no grammar build step. Stop a running Development Host before starting it again because VS Code loads declarative grammar contributions when that host starts.

verify:package builds the platform-neutral VSIX and checks that it contains only the declarative runtime assets and Marketplace documentation. See RELEASING.md for the tag-driven release setup.