File Naming and Formats

abapGitMay 11, 2017About 2 minserializers

All files for an object are located in the same folder, each folder corresponds to a package. Sub-packages are organized under parent packages (directories) according to the logic described in the Repository Settings.

Naming

In general, the names of files containing the object definitions are derived from the TADIR entry i.e. object type and object name. Filenames are lower case and adhere to the following patterns:

<object_name>.<object_type>.<extension>: Object metadata. Supported extensions: xml or json
<object_name>.<object_type>.<extra>.<extension>: Additional object data. Typical extensions: abap, html, js, etc.
<object_name>.<object_type>.i18n.<language>.<extension>: Language-specific translation files: Supported extensions: po or properties

Codepage, EOL, EOF, Indentation

Metadata, ABAP coding, and translation files are stored in UFT-8 with leading Byte-order-mark (xEF BB BF), linefeed (x0A) as end-of-line character and a final newline character. Indentation is set to 2 and uses spaces, not tabs. See .editorconfig for details.

Formats

Classic abapGit Format

Each object is represented by at least one XML file, which contains the object metadata. Depending on the object type, other files may be added like a file with abap extension for source code.

The XML file contains a root <abapGit> tag which specifies the serializer class and version used by abapGit to convert the object to files and vice versa (see example below).

Translations are either included in the XML file or stored in a separate i18n.<language>.po file.

Example

Here's an example for an ABAP OO Class, object type CLAS (See also test repo).

The following files correspond to the editable parts in source-based class builder or ABAP in Eclipse:

zcl_example.clas.abap
zcl_example.clas.locals_def.abap
zcl_example.clas.locals_imp.abap
zcl_example.clas.testclasses.abap
zcl_example.clas.macros.abap

Files do not exist if empty, i.e. the developer did not choose to implement them.

One XML file zcl_example.clas.xml containing:

*<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<abapGit version="v1.0.0" serializer="LCL_OBJECT_CLAS" serializer_version="v1.0.0">
 <asx:abap xmlns:asx="http://www.sap.com/abapxml" version="1.0">
  <asx:values>
   <VSEOCLASS>
    <CLSNAME>ZCL_ABAPGIT_FACTORY</CLSNAME>
    <LANGU>E</LANGU>
    <DESCRIPT>abapGit - Factory</DESCRIPT>
    <STATE>1</STATE>
    <CLSCCINCL>X</CLSCCINCL>
    <FIXPT>X</FIXPT>
    <UNICODE>X</UNICODE>
   </VSEOCLASS>
  </asx:values>
 </asx:abap>
</abapGit>

*:

Example XML data:

VSEOCLASS information
TPOOL information
SOTR information
LINES from DOKU
Descriptions from SEOCOMPOTX

SAP ABAP File Format

Newer object types are represented by a JSON file and follow the ABAP File Format (AFF).

Object types supporting AFF are registered here.

Translations are stored in separate i18n.<language>.properties files (see AFF properties file).

Source Code Reference

zcl_abapgit_filename_logic

file_to_object: Get object from filename and path
object_to_file: Get filename from object
detect_object_definition: Return flags to detect if filename represents an object definition i.e. has an xml or json extension
is_obj_definition_file: Return boolean flag, if the filename represents an object definition or not (metadata)