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Edit source

Modify objects with the full lock → write → unlock → activate cycle handled for you. If activation fails, the lock is released in a finally block so the object isn't left locked. See How writes work for the full lifecycle.

Edit one object​

The round trip is: download, edit locally, preview, commit.

abapctl source get ZCL_FOO > zcl_foo.clas.abap
# edit zcl_foo.clas.abap in your editor
abapctl source put ZCL_FOO --file zcl_foo.clas.abap --dry-run   # validate, no SAP write
abapctl source put ZCL_FOO --file zcl_foo.clas.abap             # commit

source put locks the object, writes the new source, unlocks, and activates, in that order. The --dry-run preview validates parameters and shows what would happen without touching SAP, the natural step to show a human (or an agent's caller) before committing.

Edit several objects at once​

abapctl source push zcl_foo.clas.abap zif_bar.intf.abap zprog_baz.prog.abap

source push locks each object, writes, and unlocks sequentially, then activates everything in one batch at the end. The batch activation makes this the right tool for RAP stacks and other cases where activation order matters across objects.

Skip activation​

To save the source but leave the object inactive (for example, when you'll activate a group together later), pass --no-activate:

abapctl source put ZCL_FOO --file zcl_foo.clas.abap --no-activate

Pretty-print​

source format pretty-prints ABAP source read from stdin, using the system's pretty-printer settings. It's read-only: it formats text and prints the result, never writing to SAP.

cat zcl_foo.clas.abap | abapctl source format > zcl_foo.formatted.abap

Inspect or change the pretty-printer settings with source format-settings.

A note on older backends​

Some older backends do not retain a stateful ADT session across requests: a LOCK succeeds but the server never issues the context cookie that binds the follow-up write to the lock. abapctl detects this up front and fails write paths with a single clear CAPABILITY_NOT_AVAILABLE message instead of a cryptic HTTP 423. Reads are unaffected. See Capabilities.

See also​