Create a Simple ABAP Daemon
- How to create and run an ABAP Daemon
- How to send PCP messages to an ABAP Daemon
Prerequisites
- Your system needs to be based on SAP NetWeaver 7.52 or higher.
- You need to use ABAP Development Tools.
Introduction to ABAP Daemons
ABAP Daemons are provided by the ABAP Daemon Framework (ADF). They are used to handle events in a reliable way by running in sessions with unlimited lifetime. ABAP programs can communicate with the daemons by sending messages to them using ABAP Messaging Channels and message type Push Channel Protocol.
You can make yourself more familiar with the ABAP Daemon Framework by reading the official documentation.
Push Channel Protocol (PCP) is a communications format similar to a simple HTTP message. It consists of header fields (name-value pairs) for metadata and a message body. For further information, have a look at the Specification of the Push Channel Protocol.
- Step 1
ABAP Daemons are instances of an ABAP Daemon class that extend the base class
CL_ABAP_DAEMON_EXT_BASE
.First, create a new ABAP class
ZCL_TUTORIAL_SIMPLE_DAEMON
and setCL_ABAP_DAEMON_EXT_BASE
as its superclass.As you can see there is an error in line 1 since the necessary abstract methods have not been implemented yet. Click on the light bulb next to the line number and select Add 9 unimplemented methods to resolve this:
- Step 2
Before a new instance of the ABAP Daemon class can be created, its
ON_ACCEPT
method is called to determine if the daemon should start.Replace your
ON_ACCEPT
method with the following code. It accepts all start requests from your own class and rejects all requests from any other program. This is achieved by checking the calling program that initiated the start.abapCopyMETHOD if_abap_daemon_extension~on_accept. TRY. DATA lv_program_name TYPE program. lv_program_name = cl_oo_classname_service=>get_classpool_name( 'ZCL_TUTORIAL_SIMPLE_DAEMON' ). IF i_context_base->get_start_caller_info( )-program = lv_program_name. e_setup_mode = co_setup_mode-accept. ELSE. e_setup_mode = co_setup_mode-reject. ENDIF. CATCH cx_abap_daemon_error. " to do: error handling, e.g. write error log! e_setup_mode = co_setup_mode-reject. ENDTRY. ENDMETHOD.
- Step 3
To start the ABAP Daemon, the
ON_START
method is executed.You can include a PCP message containing arbitrary startup parameters which can be accessed in the
ON_START
method.In this simple scenario, you will pass a parameter
timeout
via PCP. The daemon will then set up a timer to display a popup message each time the timeout was reached. A counter will be used to stop the timer after five messages.At first, you need to create some private member variables to store the necessary data. Add these lines to the
PRIVATE SECTION
of your class:ABAPCopyDATA: mv_timeout TYPE i, mo_timer TYPE REF TO if_abap_timer_manager, mv_counter TYPE i.
In the
ON_START
method you can now retrieve the timeout value from PCP and initiate the timer afterwards. To do so, copy the following implementation:abapCopyMETHOD if_abap_daemon_extension~on_start. TRY. " retrieve timeout from PCP start parameters mv_timeout = i_context->get_start_parameter( )->get_field( 'timeout' ). " start timer for displaying messages mo_timer = cl_abap_timer_manager=>get_timer_manager( ). mo_timer->start_timer( i_timeout = mv_timeout i_timer_handler = me ). CATCH cx_abap_daemon_error cx_ac_message_type_pcp_error cx_abap_timer_error. " to do: error handling, e.g. write error log! ENDTRY. ENDMETHOD.
CAUTION! Please add your own exception handling for productive applications as this has not been included in this simple tutorial.
- Step 4
While your ABAP Daemon is running in the background, the
ON_TIMEOUT
method will be triggered when the timeout elapses. Therefore, you need to implement a handler interface. Add this code to thePUBLIC SECTION
of your class:ABAPCopyINTERFACES if_abap_timer_handler.
Now insert the following
ON_TIMEOUT
method into your class implementation. It will display a popup message using function moduleTH_POPUP
and restart the timer five times:ABAPCopyMETHOD if_abap_timer_handler~on_timeout. " increment the loop counter ADD 1 TO mv_counter. " display popup message CALL FUNCTION 'TH_POPUP' EXPORTING client = sy-mandt user = sy-uname message = CONV th_popup( |Timeout triggered. Number of loops: { mv_counter }| ). " restart the timer if any loops are remaining IF mv_counter < 5. TRY. mo_timer->start_timer( i_timeout = mv_timeout i_timer_handler = me ). CATCH cx_abap_timer_error. " to do: error handling, e.g. write error log! ENDTRY. ENDIF. ENDMETHOD.
- Step 5
You can also send PCP messages to your daemon while it is continuously running in the background. The
ON_MESSAGE
method will be called every time the daemon receives a PCP message.In this tutorial, you will send a plain text to the daemon, which then will be shown in a popup message. As a real life example, you could imagine the ABAP Daemon receiving live data from a sensor and sending a notification under certain conditions.
Replace your
ON_MESSAGE
method with this code:abapCopyMETHOD if_abap_daemon_extension~on_message. TRY. " get text from PCP message DATA(lv_text) = i_message->get_text( ). " display popup CALL FUNCTION 'TH_POPUP' EXPORTING client = sy-mandt user = sy-uname message = CONV th_popup( |Message received: { lv_text }| ). CATCH cx_ac_message_type_pcp_error. " to do: error handling, e.g. write error log! ENDTRY. ENDMETHOD.
- Step 6
Since the security concept of ABAP Daemons is based on “source code authorization” (see documentation), i.e. only the program (e.g. a class) which starts the daemon has the right to send messages to the daemon or to stop it. For simplicity reasons we use the daemon class to implement the start, stop and send functionalities for the daemon to access them from different programs.
This simple ABAP Daemon will be started by a static method. Thus, you need to create a new method
START
in your daemon class with two import parameters:IV_DAEMON_NAME
: The name of the daemonIV_TIMEOUT
: The timeout between two successive timer events (milliseconds)
To do so, paste the following code into the
PUBLIC SECTION
of the class definition:ABAPCopyCLASS-METHODS start IMPORTING iv_daemon_name TYPE string iv_timeout TYPE i RAISING cx_abap_daemon_error cx_ac_message_type_pcp_error.
Instantiate the ABAP Daemon using the ABAP Daemon Manager. Its static method
CL_ABAP_DAEMON_CLIENT_MANAGER=>START
requires the name and priority of the daemon as parameters. Additionally, you can pass the startup parameters as a PCP message.Copy these lines into your class implementation:
ABAPCopyMETHOD start. " set ABAP Daemon start parameters DATA(lo_pcp) = cl_ac_message_type_pcp=>create( ). lo_pcp->set_field( i_name = 'timeout' i_value = CONV #( iv_timeout ) ). " start the daemon application using the ABAP Daemon Manager cl_abap_daemon_client_manager=>start( i_class_name = 'ZCL_TUTORIAL_SIMPLE_DAEMON' i_name = CONV #( iv_daemon_name ) i_priority = cl_abap_daemon_client_manager=>co_session_priority_low i_parameter = lo_pcp ). ENDMETHOD.
- Step 7
Implement a static method
SEND
which will be used to send text to the daemon and therefore trigger itsON_MESSAGE
method. The method will need the following importing parameters:IV_DAEMON_NAME
: The name of the daemon that will receive the message.IV_TEXT
: The text message that will be send to the daemon.
You can have multiple instances of your daemon running independently at the same time as they can be distinguished by their name.
Paste the code below into the
PUBLIC SECTION
of the class definition.ABAPCopyCLASS-METHODS send IMPORTING iv_daemon_name TYPE string iv_text TYPE string RAISING cx_abap_daemon_error cx_ac_message_type_pcp_error.
In order to send PCP messages to your daemon, you first have to retrieve a list of all running ABAP Daemon instances of your class
ZCL_TUTORIAL_SIMPLE_DAEMON
. Afterwards, you can compare the name of each instance toIV_DAEMON_NAME
and send the PCP message accordingly.Insert the following code into the class implementation:
ABAPCopyMETHOD send. " retrieve the list of ABAP Daemon instances DATA(lt_ad_info) = cl_abap_daemon_client_manager=>get_daemon_info( i_class_name = 'ZCL_TUTORIAL_SIMPLE_DAEMON'). " create PCP message with text DATA(lo_pcp) = cl_ac_message_type_pcp=>create( ). lo_pcp->set_text( iv_text ). " for each running daemon instance of this class LOOP AT lt_ad_info ASSIGNING FIELD-SYMBOL(<ls_info>). " send a message if the names match IF iv_daemon_name = <ls_info>-name. cl_abap_daemon_client_manager=>attach( <ls_info>-instance_id )->send( lo_pcp ). ENDIF. ENDLOOP. ENDMETHOD.
- Step 8
Congratulations, you have now created your first ABAP Daemon class!
Activate it by pressingCtrl+F3
.You can run your daemon by simply calling the static
START
method created previously. Therefore, create a new ABAP ProgramZ_TUTORIAL_SIMPLE_DAEMON_START
with only one line of code:abapCopyzcl_tutorial_simple_daemon=>start( iv_daemon_name = 'simple_daemon' iv_timeout = 10000 ).
Activate the program and run it as ABAP Application:
You should see a popup notification every 10 seconds:
- Step 9
In addition to the timeout, you can trigger a popup message manually by calling the static
SEND
method. Create another ABAP ProgramZ_TUTORIAL_SIMPLE_DAEMON_SEND
with the following content:abapCopyDATA(lv_text) = `This is a simple ABAP Daemon message sent via PCP.`. zcl_tutorial_simple_daemon=>send( iv_daemon_name = 'simple_daemon' iv_text = lv_text ).
Feel free to change the message text in line 1. After activating and executing the program you should see a popup message similar to this:
If you do not receive any message: Make sure your daemon has been started previously in step 8. The daemon will keep running even after the popup messages stop.
- Step 10
You can monitor all running ABAP Daemons using transaction
SMDAEMON
in SAPGUI. There you can see their state, check for errors, and also restart and terminate them.To stop your daemon, select it from the list and go to ABAP Daemon > Terminate Daemon.
Alternatively, you can also create a static
STOP
method. Therefore, add this to thePUBLIC SECTION
of your class definition:ABAPCopyCLASS-METHODS stop IMPORTING iv_daemon_name TYPE string RAISING cx_abap_daemon_error.
Copy the following lines into the class implementation:
ABAPCopyMETHOD stop. " retrieve the list of ABAP Daemon instances DATA(lt_ad_info) = cl_abap_daemon_client_manager=>get_daemon_info( i_class_name = 'ZCL_TUTORIAL_SIMPLE_DAEMON'). " for each running daemon instance of this class LOOP AT lt_ad_info ASSIGNING FIELD-SYMBOL(<ls_info>). " stop the daemon if the names match IF iv_daemon_name = <ls_info>-name. cl_abap_daemon_client_manager=>stop( i_instance_id = <ls_info>-instance_id ). ENDIF. ENDLOOP. ENDMETHOD.
Now you can stop your daemon by executing
ABAPCopyzcl_tutorial_simple_daemon=>stop( iv_daemon_name = 'simple_daemon' ).
from any ABAP Program.
For further information on ABAP Daemons, see the ABAP Daemons documentation.
- Step 11
Start your daemon using the following line of code. Note that the daemon name is now significantly longer and the timeout is negative.
ABAPCopyzcl_tutorial_simple_daemon=>start( iv_daemon_name = 'does_the_daemon_start_up_if_you_use_this_as_your_daemon_name' iv_timeout = -10000 ).
Which of these is correct?