ZAL - Introduction
The ZAL application logging mechanism will help you capture and record data
as it is at run-time. Additionally, it will encapsulate data to organize the
information and to let you skip portions of the log you are not interested in at
this time. Finally, its error guiding mechanism flags areas requiring your
attention, so that you know where to look. It is easy to learn and easy to use.
ZAL is available since December 2000.
To give you more information and to show how it 'looks' and 'feels', we provide
you with the following:
A brief presentation which explains why and where you should use ZAL.
A working demonstration which lets you see the output (the 'look')
A non-working demonstration which lets you see the real programming effort (the 'feel')
A web demonstration which lets you see the ZAL detail output.
The presentation:
(click on link to view, right-click to save...)
This is a PowerPoint97 presentation of ZAL.
The look:
(click on link to view, right-click to save...)
This is a demo mock-up program.
The coding does not use the same techniques as the implemented logging mechanism.
It is purposely hard-coded and unusable as such. It is solely written for the
purpose of demonstrating the list output interactively. Due to this approach, we
can only demonstrate some of ZAL's features, but at least it allows us to have an
executable demonstration at all. If you are interested, please download the source
code to your PC and upload it as YZALDEMO as local objects into your SAP system.
Run YZALDEMO for a demo.
The feel:
(click on link to view, right-click to save...)
This is a demo example program. We want you to see, how
intuitive the macro commands (ZAL__*) are. The coding is real, but it will not work
on your system without a full installation of ZAL. ZAL__WRITE writes out a whole field.
The ZAL__OPEN... and ZAL__CLOSE... functions handle the routing (of what gets written) to
the appropriate log and message. The detail information would typically be stored for
later review. Error flagging and indentation (data encapsulation) are shown here.
The web demonstration:
This is the DHTML equivalent of the same example program. It
shows most but not all features of the example. Please note, that it is slower than ZAL in
SAP(TM).
Other platforms:
A downsized version of ZAL is available for ANSI C for non-SAP platforms, but the
output will require an FTP to your local machine (Windows PC) or SAP server. It can
then be uploaded for display. All formatting features are present, but most other
features are either not available (such as hiding data) or limited (such as the number
of concurrent logs and messages).
Added functionality:
We added message forum functionality within the SAP instance to ZAL. A new forum
can be created, which looks like any other ZAL log. Inside the detail, a message forum
is presented, where new messages can be posted and existing ones can be replied to. The
purpose is to allow (asynchronous) open communication between all SAP users.
SAP and ABAP/4 are trademarks of SAP AG. Wolfgang Consulting, Inc. is not affiliated with SAP AG.