Creating an Add-On Project (SAP Library - Changing the SAP Standard (BC))

Creating an Add-On Project

To take advantage of the exits available in standard R/3 applications, you need to create an add-on project. This project lets you organize the enhancement packages and exits you want to use. The add-on project also allows you to hang add-on functionality onto the exit hooks contained with SAP enhancements.

Managing an Add-On Project

An add-on project contains a series of exits, as well as the add-ons that you develop to attach to these exits (like menu entries or function modules). To create an add-on project from within the ABAP Workbench menu, choose Utilities ® Enhancements ® Project management.

Before you begin defining a project, you need to decide which application, application component, or specific standard transaction you would like to add your own functionality to. Give your project a name that indicates the type of functions it contains and that shows which transactions are affected. It may be useful to agree upon a company-wide naming convention for enhancement projects.

There are two factors you need to keep in mind when you create an add-on project. First, you can include an SAP enhancement package and the customer exits it contains in one project only. The same SAP enhancement may not appear in two separate customer projects.

Second, in order to make your add-ons, such as menu items or screen fields, appear in standard R/3 applications, you must activate your add-on project. When you activate a project, all of the add-ons created within this project are activated as well. For this reason, you should ensure that the exits you include in your project contain functions that can be activated simultaneously. It is not possible to activate exits individually.

After you have specified the name of your new project, proceed as follows:

Choose Create.
Describe the nature of the project by providing a short descriptive text.

Choose Save.

The system then prompts you to assign a change request. This assignment allows you to transport the project and its components into a productive system once you have completed it.

Specify which SAP enhancement packages you want to include in your project by choosing SAP enhancements.

Enter the names of these SAP enhancements in the spaces provided.

You should choose enhancement packages that logically belong together. For example, if you are planning to use several enhancements that deal with Materials Management modules, you can include all of these enhancements in the same project. If you are working on enhancements that deal with different applications, or if the enhancements are not logically related, you should include these enhancements in separate projects.

Once you have identified the SAP enhancements you want to include in your project, you can begin adding your own functions to the exits offered in the enhancements. To display the individual components of the SAP enhancements, return to the main screen of the Project Management transaction and choose Enhancement components The system displays all of the exits included in the enhancements assigned to your project.