Suppressions Guide

In Clean ABAP development, static analysis rules guide quality and readability. However, in certain scenarios—such as interfacing with external legacy APIs or performance-critical micro-optimizations—deviating from a rule is intentional and necessary.

Skylint supports full statement-level suppression using standard ABAP pseudo-comments ("#EC ..."), fully compliant with the SAP ATC framework and SAP Code Pal standards.

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🎯 Dual-Match Compatibility (TAG & CI_TAG)

In adherence to SAP's ATC framework design (as seen in SAP Code Pal for ABAP Cloud), Skylint check rules support both concise tags and traditional SAP CI_ prefixed tags:

• Concise Format: "#EC <TAG>"
• Official SAP ATC Format: "#EC CI_<TAG>"

Both formats are 100% equivalent and recognized natively by Skylint's base framework.

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1. Using Pseudo-Comments ("#EC ...")

Place the pseudo-comment at the end of the flagged ABAP statement (after the period or colon):

" Flagged by rule 'prefer-lines'
DESCRIBE TABLE lt_customers LINES lv_count. "#EC LINES

" Traditional SAP ATC prefix is also recognized
DESCRIBE TABLE lt_customers LINES lv_count. "#EC CI_LINES

Multiple Pseudo-Comments on One Statement

If a single statement triggers multiple checks, you can combine pseudo-comments separated by spaces or commas:

DESCRIBE TABLE lt_data LINES lv_count. "#EC LINES, NO_DESCRIBE

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2. Pragmas vs. Pseudo-Comments in Custom ATC Checks

In SAP NetWeaver and ABAP Cloud, compiler pragmas (##...) are defined in the SAP Kernel repository (table ROPTAG / transaction SE38). Custom customer pragmas cannot be declared arbitrarily by custom check engines without SAP system-level registration.

Therefore, for all custom ATC check suites including Skylint:

• Pseudo-comments ("#EC <TAG>") are the standard, official, and guaranteed mechanism for suppressing findings across both Eclipse ADT, SAP GUI, and CI/CD CLI scans.

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3. How the Base Engine Evaluates Suppressions

Every Skylint check inherits from zcl_skylint_check_base. When a statement or token is reported:

1. Skylint inspects the statement's associated pseudo_comments table provided by the ATC framework (if_ci_atc_source_code_provider=>ty_statement).
2. It evaluates whether either the registered tag (e.g. LINES) or its CI_ prefixed counterpart (e.g. CI_LINES) is attached.
3. If a match is found, the finding is suppressed automatically, preventing false alarms in your ATC run and CI/CD pipelines.

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💡 Best Practices for Suppressions

Clean ABAP Guideline: Fix First, Suppress Only with Justification

1. Always prefer fixing over suppressing: If an automated QuickFix is available (Ctrl + 1), apply it rather than hiding the finding.
2. Document the rationale: Whenever you add a pseudo-comment or pragma, accompany it with a brief explanatory comment explaining why the rule was bypassed:

   " External RFC interface requires classical EXPORTING syntax
   lo_proxy->call_legacy_endpoint( EXPORTING iv_data = lv_payload ) ##CI_NO_EXPORTING.

3. Do not blanket-suppress: Suppress only the exact offending statement. Avoid wide-ranging suppression where possible.

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🔍 Finding Rule Suppression Codes

Every rule in Skylint defines its specific suppression code. You can find the exact pseudo-comment or pragma code for any check:

• In the Rules Catalog under each rule's documentation page.
• In Eclipse ADT: open the finding in the ATC Result View to see the suggested suppression code in the finding details.