You also think that an SQL Editor is missing from the SAP environment? Not any more! Hovitaga developed an SAP add-on that greatly extends the ABAP Workbench.
The main feature of the OpenSQL Editor is that it can instantly execute every syntactically correct SELECT statement. You can join multiple tables and use complex WHERE clauses, there are no limitations. Just build your query, press F8 and see the result in a ALV Grid or ALV Tree. There is no easier way to get this done! Your possibilities go far beyond the SE16N and the tool is much more flexible than the SAP Query. Besides that you can also execute UPDATE and DELETE commands, but only if you have the proper authorizations.
Let’s take a closer look.
There are four areas of the user interface. The middle section is the command editor window, with the most important features of the ABAP editor: syntax highlighting, code completion and pretty print function. On the left side you can manage your commands. You can save them and execute them any time. On the right side you see the tables used in the current command and you can several shortcuts are available: display table definitions and table properties, select the field list for the query, put together a value range for the WHERE clause, or use proposals for table joins.
The lower half of the screen is for the ALV control that displays the result set.
Instead of the grid display you can also use a tree control. This has the advantage that you can group the records and display them hierarchically.
With proper authorizations you are allowed to modify data in tables. Not only you can execute an UPDATE command, but you also can work directly on the result set of a query – if there are no table joins and all of the key fields where selected. Before making changes to a table, you have to lock the records you want to edit:
Although it is a standard function of the ALV grid to export the data into an external file, the OpenSQL Editor can also do it the other way around: you can import data from an external file to the ALV grid – and than save it to the database table.
As you see the OpenSQL Editor offers really powerful features, but everything is under control with authorization settings. In a productive system you can disable all modification possibilities and leave only the features for reporting purposes in place. Also you can exactly specify which tables a user can read. The authorization system even allows filtering the queryable data on column and row level.
In conclusion, the OpenSQL Editor offers the quickest solution for ad-hoc reporting and it’s a great support for development and testing.
For more information visit the Hovitaga website, www.hovitaga.com There is also a free version available for download here: www.hovitaga.com/try