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Object lifecycle (classic ABAP sources)

Goal​

Walk through the full life of a repository object (CLAS, INTF, PROG, include): create the shell, iterate on source, activate, attach to a transport, and deal with the two most common failure modes — lock conflicts and inactive dependencies.

Prerequisites​

Steps​

1. Create the shell​

export TR=DEVK900001

adt class create ZCL_DEMO "Demo service" ZMYPKG -t $TR

Expected output:

Created CLAS ZCL_DEMO in ZMYPKG (attached to DEVK900001)

The object exists but is inactive and holds only a skeleton public section — no methods, no implementation.

2. Write source​

Two patterns:

A. Write from a file.

cat > zcl_demo.clas.abap <<'ABAP'
CLASS zcl_demo DEFINITION PUBLIC FINAL CREATE PUBLIC.
  PUBLIC SECTION.
    INTERFACES if_oo_adt_classrun.
ENDCLASS.

CLASS zcl_demo IMPLEMENTATION.
  METHOD if_oo_adt_classrun~main.
    out->write( |Hello { sy-uname }| ).
  ENDMETHOD.
ENDCLASS.
ABAP

adt class write ZCL_DEMO zcl_demo.clas.abap -t $TR --activate

B. Pipe from stdin (handy in scripts):

echo "REPORT zdemo. WRITE 'hi'." | adt program write ZDEMO - -t $TR --activate

3. Activate (separately, if you didn't pass --activate)​

adt class activate ZCL_DEMO --json

Batch activation is supported:

adt interface activate ZIF_A ZIF_B ZIF_C --json

4. Inspect​

adt class read ZCL_DEMO            # print source to stdout
adt class read ZCL_DEMO --json     # metadata only, no source

adt wb outline ZCL_DEMO            # includes, methods, attributes
adt wb where-used ZCL_DEMO -m 50   # reverse dependencies

See Workbench navigation for more.

5. Run a quick smoke test (class-run)​

Any class that implements IF_OO_ADT_CLASSRUN can be executed with adt abap run, but only ad-hoc. To invoke your persisted class, run it through a temporary wrapper:

echo "DATA(o) = NEW zcl_demo( ). o->if_oo_adt_classrun~main( out )." \
  | adt abap run

6. Deploy​

Objects already in a transport are transported implicitly when the TR is released. Re-read CTS workflow for the release cut.

7. Delete​

adt class delete ZCL_DEMO -t $TR -y

Troubleshooting​

Lock conflicts (CLS_LOCKED / Object is locked by user X)​

Error: Object is currently being edited by user PPLENKOV (session 2A020DE...)

Two situations:

  1. You have a stale lock from a failed run. List your persisted lock handles and remove the one that points at this object:

    adt locks           # list
    adt unlock class/ZCL_DEMO

  2. Another user holds the lock. Coordinate, or if you're certain they left it behind:

    adt unlock class/ZCL_DEMO --force

    --force bypasses the persisted registry; SAP still refuses if the other session is actually active.

Activation fails — "Inactive dependencies"​

Error: Program cannot be activated: referenced object ZCL_HELPER is inactive

Activate dependencies first, or do a combined activation pass:

adt class activate ZCL_HELPER ZCL_DEMO

Write rejected — "object does not exist"​

Check that the object was actually created (step 1 may have silently errored because the name was reserved). Re-run create with --no-error-existing to make it idempotent.

Write rejected — HTTP 412 Precondition Failed​

The client's ETag cache is stale. Re-read the object to refresh, then retry:

adt class read ZCL_DEMO > /dev/null
adt class write ZCL_DEMO zcl_demo.clas.abap -t $TR --activate

See also​