ABAP Debugger Data View Extension (DDVE)

Turn any internal table or structure you are inspecting in the ABAP debugger into a ready-to-paste VALUE #( ... ) statement — and cut the most tedious part of writing ABAP Unit tests: creating test data by hand.

" One click in the debugger turns the content of LT_FLIGHTS into:
DATA(lt_flights) = VALUE tt_flights(
  ( carrid = 'LH' connid = '0400' fldate = '20260115' price = '666.00' currency = 'EUR' )
  ( carrid = 'LH' connid = '0402' fldate = '20260116' price = '471.00' currency = 'EUR' )
  ( carrid = 'AA' connid = '0017' fldate = '20260117' price = '422.94' currency = 'USD' ) ).

Copy, paste into your test class, done.

Why

When you write unit tests for existing code, the realistic test data usually already exists — in the debugger, at the exact spot you are trying to cover. Typing it off the screen field by field is slow and error-prone. This extension adds a menu entry to the debugger's table and structure views that renders the current variable content as a syntactically correct, nicely formatted VALUE constructor expression.

Features

• Internal tables and structures — works from both the table view and the structure view of the new ABAP debugger.
• Nested data — structures in tables, tables in structures: the renderer recurses through arbitrary nesting.
• Respects your ALV state — rows filtered out in the ALV grid and columns you have hidden (no_out) are excluded from the generated statement.
• Real type names — the type resolver translates internal debugger type names (\CLASS=...\TYPE=...) into source-valid type expressions, so the output is DATA(name) = VALUE zcl_foo=>tt_bar( ... ) instead of a cryptic placeholder. If no valid type can be derived, it falls back to VALUE #( ... ).
• Pretty printing — a built-in parser formats the expression with indentation that follows the nesting depth. A second printer variant compresses the output to a configurable maximum line length.
• Per-user customizing — which pretty printer class is used can be configured per user in table ZTOP_DVE_CUST (maintenance views included). You can plug in your own implementation of ZIF_DDVE_VALUE_PRETTY_PRINTER.
• Unit-tested — the core classes ship with ABAP Unit tests; dependency injection via ZCL_DDVE_PRET_PRINTER_INJECTOR keeps the components testable.

Requirements

• SAP NetWeaver ABAP 7.40 SP08 or higher (the code base is deliberately kept compatible with 7.40 SP08 so it can be installed on older systems).
• abapGit to install.

Installation

1. Install abapGit on your system.
2. Create a package (the repository ships as a local package; $Z_DEBUGGER_DATA_VIEW_EXT works fine) and clone this repository into it: https://github.com/gepparta/abap_debugger_data_view_extension.git
3. Pull and activate all objects, including the enhancement implementations (ZENH_TABLE_VALUES, Z_TABLE_V_BUILD_SERVICES_MENUE, Z_STRUC_V_BUILD_SERVICES_MENUE) — they hook the extension into the standard debugger.

Usage

1. Run the included demo program Z_DEBUGGER_DATA_VIEW_EXT_DEMO (or any program of yours) and stop at a breakpoint.

2. Display an internal table or structure in the debugger.

3. Open the Services of the Tool menu of the table/structure view — you will find new entries added by this extension (in the ALV table display there is also a toolbar button Data for ABAP View).

   

4. The generated VALUE statement is displayed in a popup, ready to be copied into your test code.

   

Tip for tables: filter rows and hide columns in the ALV grid first — the generated statement will contain exactly what you see.

Architecture

The extension hooks into the debugger via three implicit enhancements (no modifications) and is otherwise a small, modular class library:

Component	Role
ZENH_TABLE_VALUES, Z_TABLE_V_BUILD_SERVICES_MENUE, Z_STRUC_V_BUILD_SERVICES_MENUE	Enhancement implementations — debugger entry points (table and structure view).
ZCL_DDVE_DEBUGGER_INTEGRATION	Data acquisition: extracts variable content from the debugger context via asXML transformation.
ZCL_DDVE_TABLE / ZCL_DDVE_STRUCTURE	Facades for the table/structure view; apply ALV row filters and hidden columns, build the final statement.
ZCL_DDVE_VALUE_RENDERER	Rendering engine: builds VALUE #( ... ) expressions, owns the recursion for nested data.
ZCL_DDVE_COMPONENT	Formats individual field values.
ZCL_DDVE_TYPE_RESOLVER	Resolves debugger type names into source-valid type expressions and derives variable names.
ZCL_DDVE_SIMPLE_FIELD_CATALOG	Simplified field catalog for DDIC and local types, resolves .INCLUDEs recursively.
ZIF_DDVE_VALUE_PRETTY_PRINTER	Abstraction for pretty printer implementations.
ZCL_DDVE_VALUE_PRETTY_PRINTER / ZCL_DDVE_MAX_LINE_LENGTH_PP	Formatting engines: indented output / compressed to a maximum line length.
ZCL_DDVE_PRETTYPRINTER_FACTORY + ZCL_DDVE_PP_CUSTOMIZING + ZTOP_DVE_CUST	Per-user selection of the pretty printer implementation.
ZCL_DDVE_OUTPUT_PRESENTER	Output: wraps cl_demo_output for display.
ZCL_DDVE_PRET_PRINTER_INJECTOR	Dependency injection for unit tests.

Data flow: debugger enhancement → data acquisition (asXML) → ALV filter → printer selection (customizing) → rendering → display.

Background

The idea, the original implementation and its evolution are described in these articles (newest first):

• ABAP Debugger Enhancement — Reloaded (LinkedIn, 2026)
• DDVE-Update: typisierte VALUE-Anweisungen (German, 2026)
• ABAP Debugger Enhancement — Update (SAP Community, 2019)
• ABAP debugger enhancement — or how to speed up your test data creation process (SAP Community, 2017)

Related community posts:

• Speed up regression tests with the ABAP debugger — uses this tool to generate test data for regression tests (2019)
• Fork of ABAP Debugger Data View Extension tool — a community fork with performance and robustness improvements

License

Licensed under the Apache License 2.0.