A further common use case for testing is ensuring that new changes do not abnormally terminate during execution. This is referred to as a short-dump where the ABAP program abends unexpectedly. This could happen for numerous reasons but any introduction of new changes into a production system can result in this behaviour unless it has been fully tested.
At numerous customers we have seen how it would be very useful to know when a test script abnormally terminates during playback. This would allow the customer to focus on those failures since often this is a fundamental flaw in the new change.
The new failure reason is auomatically set during the playback as each test script executes. This applies to all object types – dialog transactions, inbound RFC, batch jobs and inbound web-services. This will be extended to Fiori in the next release.
If a test script fails due to a short-dump, it will have its failure reason updated appropriately. The playback overview will break down the failures by application component and failure reason.
Example Scenario
A customer has implemented an user exit in work management that calls a SAP standard external subroutine. After upgrading the system with a support pack, it is found that this new subroutine has an additional mandatory parameter. During playback, this mismatch causes a short-dump in all test scripts that trigger that user exit. The short-dump reason is clearly visible in the playback overview and can be focused on by the test team to remediate the issue in time for retest and production deployment.
Post your comment on this topic.