CAST SAP Extractor NG

Summary: this page describes how to use the standalone CAST SAP Extractor NG to extract data from a supported SAP instance so that it can be packaged and delivered for analysis.

What’s new?

See CAST SAP Extractor NG - Release Notes for more information.

What is the CAST SAP Extractor NG?

Background information

In order to analyze SAP tables/views and ABAP source code that are part of an Application, CAST requires that the source code is delivered for analysis in “offline” file format. In other words, CAST does not connect to the SAP instance during the analysis and instead the “offline” files are analyzed. This delivery/analysis method provides a distinct performance boost and allows the delivery to be performed by a dedicated resource.

How does the CAST SAP Extractor NG work?

The CAST SAP Extractor is installed directly on the SAP instance from which you want to extract source code for analysis. It extracts the required data from SAP standard tables to provide the ABAP source code and database structure to be analyzed by the SAP ABAP Analyzer. It accesses tables related to the SAP Repository (Data Dictionary, Reports, Function Modules, Classes, Web Dynpro etc.) and Transport Orders in READ-ONLY mode and implements custom function modules as well as calls to SAP standard function modules to execute actions.

When do I use the CAST SAP Extractor NG?

If you want to use the SAP ABAP Analyzer to analyze your SAP / ABAP source code, you must use the standalone CAST SAP Extractor NG first:

The extractor is installed directly on the SAP instance from which you want to extract source code for analysis.
The CAST SAP Extractor NG will output its results to a single ZIP file (containing both ABAP and SAP tables/views source code), either to the SAP instance or to the local machine on which the SAP extractor is executed.
The output of the CAST SAP Extractor NG is then packaged and delivered for analysis.

Packaging and delivering output generated by the CAST SAP Extractor NG

Once the extraction is complete, the ZIP file produced by the extractor must be unpacked before it can be delivered - the ZIP itself cannot be delivered as-is:

the ZIP file containing the extracted source code needs to be transferred to a location that the packaging machine can access (i.e. a Windows machine or a network share)
the ZIP file must be unzipped to disk
the unpacked files from the ZIP are then delivered for analysis

Note:

In CAST Imaging V3, deliver the unpacked files as you would any other source code - see the SAP ABAP Analyzer for the analysis configuration that consumes them.
In CAST Imaging V2, the unpacked files must be delivered using the Files on your file system option in the CAST Delivery Manager Tool, on a Windows machine.

Where can I obtain the CAST SAP Extractor NG?

You can obtain the CAST SAP Extractor NG from CAST Extend .

Prerequisites

To use the CAST SAP Extractor NG, the following is required:

SAP system compatibility

CAST SAP Extractor version	Required SAP components
≥ 8.3.2	SAP module Basis 7.4 (minimum) SAP Solution Manager 7.2
8.0.x - 8.2.x	SAP module Basis 7.02 SP13 (minimum)

Note that:

when the SAP environment is fully hosted in the cloud (i.e. using the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP)), the CAST SAP Extractor cannot connect and extract the required data.
if a hybrid environment is in place (cloud/on premises) and SAP Logon is in use, the CAST SAP Extractor is supported.

Documentation

Documentation for 8.4.x and older releases of the extractor remains available in the V2 documentation . Note that the transport request numbers used to install 8.4.x differ from those described here.

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

See CAST SAP Extractor NG - FAQ.