My vision/pipe dream: Building an application server…

For a long time, I have dreamed of building an application server for business software, one which simplifies many aspects of the software development process.


Categories: Uncategorized

The Beatles feat. Dexter Holland – “Obla-Job”

I had some fun the last few days bringing together The Offspring’s “Why don’t you get a job” and The Beatles’ “Obla-di Obla-da” after noticing that the songs are quite similar.


Making softgui.de static

So in my last post, I was all lyrical about the use of SQLite for my site SoftGuide. Well, that is soon to be a thing of the past. Not because of SQLite or anything, but I have discovered the joy of static websites.


The magic that is SQLite

Back in 2010, I was sitting at a client and using SQLite to do reconciliation between systems when we were doing a migration. Back then I thought: I must do a feature on SQLite as an “App of the week” because, honestly, it’s a beautiful thing.


My *next* project: Softgui.de

So I have been busy the last while with my latest website: Softgui.de. The tagline is “The Good Software Guide”. That’s nice, because it’s ambiguous: is the software nice or the guide? You decide.


Portable and dynamic selection-screen texts in ABAP programs

Copying and pasting ABAP report programs from one system to another normally leaves one obvious casualty: selection screen texts. Here I show you how to include them in the source of a program to make them portable.


Categories: ABAP, SAP

Why ABAP is still the best platform for enterprise applications

The ABAP platform provides a centralised model of development that solves several of the challenges of mainstream business software development practices.


Categories: ABAP

ABAP Source Code Search using HANA Fulltext search

In a previous post I showed you how to build a SOAP message payload search using a SAP HANA fulltext index. Here I will show you how to create an ABAP source code search using the SAP HANA database (though it should work with any database that has a fulltext index feature by tweaking the SQL statements).


Categories: Smalltalk

First Steps with Pharo Smalltalk (a beginner’s tutorial)

Having played a little (really, only a little) with Pharo, I decided maybe I can give the smallest of introductions based on my own experience so far. Smalltalk environments like Pharo and Squeak can be quite daunting, regardless of whether you are coming from a programming background or not. I will try to keep opinions and general ramblings to myself here.


Hiding the Execute button in an ABAP report selection screen

I thought it might be worthwhile sharing some of the tips and tricks I have learned over the years. This technique is one I am particularly fond of, as I found how to do this after scratching around in system programs for a long time.