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Understanding ABAP Profiler SettingsLocate this document in the navigation structure

Configuration Options

Here is detailed information on the configuration options you have for ABAP traces:

Perform aggregated measurements?

Here you specify the aggregation mode for the ABAP trace to be created. The following values are available for the aggregation mode: NONE, By Call Stack, By Call Position.

Choose No, I need the Call Sequence (large file size) if you want to create a non-aggregated trace in which each trace event is recorded in a separate trace entry. This level of detail makes a trace file larger, but it is required by the Call Sequence analysis tool.

Choose Yes, I need the Aggregated Call Tree (medium file size) if you need an aggregated ABAP trace. For this option, the trace events are aggregated according to their call stack (aggregation mode: By Call Stack). That means, the trace events that have exactly the same call stack are accumulated in a single trace entry.

Choose Yes, Hit List is sufficient (small file size) if you only need the Hit List trace display. This is an aggregated ABAP trace where trace events are aggregated by call position (aggregation mode: By Call Position). That means, in identical traces, events that are called identically (such as method calls in a loop) are accumulated in a single trace entry.

Remember, the aggregation mode has a major impact on the file size created for the ABAP trace and availablity of tools you can use to analyze the trace. More on this: Aggregation Options in ABAP Traces

Which ABAP statements should be traced? The ABAP Trace can record all of the ABAP statements and events that are potentially performance-consuming . But this can result in a large amount of trace data, and you may not need to see all of the available trace entries. Here, therefore, you can specify which trace events you want to see.
  • Procedural units, SQL: A trace records all of the ABAP modularization statements, such as CALL METHOD and CALL FUNCTION as well as any database activity, such as SELECT or UPDATE operations.
  • Procedural units, SQL, internal tables: As above, but operations on internal tables are also included in a trace.
  • Only procedural units: A trace includes only ABAP modularization statements, like CALL METHOD or CALL FUNCTION.
  • Custom statements: Opens the checkboxes under Details. Here you can switch on or off tracing of the various categories of ABAP statements and events that the ABAP Trace is able to capture.

    Options not described in the rows above are as follows:

    • Dynpro events traces events in the special processing for traditional ABAP Dynpro screens.
    • Other ABAP Events switches on tracing of all traceable ABAP statements and events other than those specified above. This includes, for example, data transfer statements (READ DATASET, TRANSFER) and other statements, such as ASSIGN, MESSAGE, and IMPORT.
    • System and kernel events switches on tracing of ABAP infrastructure code (programs of the ABAP category system programs) as well as calls from ABAP to kernel functions.

The ABAP Trace measures the complete runtime of a program, no matter which statements are traced. What changes with your choices is the level of detail in the trace. The full runtime of a method is always shown in a trace; the number of different trace records within the method changes with your statement tracing choices.
When should the trace start? Immediately starts tracing when you choose Start of the navigation path Profile As Next navigation step ABAP Application End of the navigation path.

If you specify Explicitly switch on and off (for example, within Debugger), you can trace dedicated code sequences of your request. The trace for a code sequence can be switched on and off using the ABAP statement SET RUN TIME ANALYZER {ON|OFF} or the ABAP Debugger.

More on this: Starting and Stopping the ABAP Profiler in the Debugger
Advanced Parameters
  • Maximum execution time: This option prevents a trace from running forever (or until the file system is full). Traces end when the program that is being traced ends, so an endlessly running program can, in theory, produce a very large trace. You can leave this option set to its default value.
  • Trace RFC and update requests: This option lets you follow RFC calls made from the program that you are tracing. If an RFC function module is called, the trace is switched on in the target server or system in which the RFC is running. You can find RFC trace entries by looking for the keyword RFC. The trace file of the request that triggered the RFC call does not contain processing details of the called function module. For these you must display the traces performed in the target system. In addition, when you choose this option, all function modules that are called from the traced coding with option IN UPDATE TASK will be traced. These traces are contained in separate trace files for each invocation of the update task by COMMIT WORK.
  • Enable SQL trace: This option lets you switch on the SQL trace in addition to the ABAP trace. The SQL trace function records the database activity of the executing program. It allows you to see how the OPEN SQL statements that are used in ABAP code are converted to standard SQL operations and which parameters of the SQL statements are passed to the database system.