This blog contains experience gained over the years of implementing (and de-implementing) large scale IT applications/software.

Power Notes Searcher Updated to v2.0

I’ve finally managed to update the Power Notes Searcher to v2.0, which now supports the new SAP ONE support portal.
This is my free Google Chrome Extension to make life easier if you have to wade through a lot of SAP notes on a regular basis.  This is my tried and trusted tool for 3 years now and it was time to provide an update.

Whilst the main features of Power Notes Searcher remain the same, a few notable features are:

– Highlighted note numbers can now be double clicked to open the note, even if it’s not an actual HTML link.
– Increased the history size to 150 notes.
–  Smaller code base due to the use of the Google code compiler for JavaScript.
– Note content searches now highlight the note numbers without needing to initiate the search through the Power Notes Searcher popup.
– Collapsable settings area, simplifies the screen layout and increases viewing area for the history table.

I’ve also installed some basics into the code to provide for a future “tag” feature to allow notes to be tagged and organised in the history table.

Power Notes Searcher Updated to v1.2

First off, a Happy New Year to you!

During the festivities, I’ve managed to squeeze in a little time to make a couple of modifications to the Power Notes Searcher.  My free Google Chrome Extension for searching for SAP notes and helping you organise the SAP notes you find.

The changes include 1 fix to the Google Font API link which was no longer working due to Google’s move to ensure that it’s infrastructure is accessed via HTTPS.
I’ve also included some enhancements to the list of hard SAP links to useful areas of the SAP support site, such as the Support Package Stack schedule and the SL Toolset (for SUM and SWPM).
I also adjusted the link to the SWDC so that it now uses the new support.sap.com site (instead of the old service.sap.com).

As a bonus, I increased the number of note tabs that can be opened in one go, from 5 to 10.
This means that entering 10 SAP notes into the search box (or omni box), will open all of them.
Finally, I increased the number of allowed SAP notes in the history, from 50 to 100.
I found that on a regular project for 1 system installation, I was regularly exceeding the 50 note limit.

With regards to up & coming features, well I originally meant to include the ability to tag notes listed in the history.  This would provide a way of saving favourite notes, plus saving specific notes as a project set or collection.
The initial core code for storing tags against notes is already built in, I just need to spend some time around the peripheral code creating the interface etc.  Let’s hope I can get this done in the next few months.

In case you’ve not installed the extension, you can see the details here on the Google Chrome Extensions Web Store (or from the link on my initial blog post here).

HowTo: Check SAP SUM Version Without Executing

Scenario: You have extracted, or previously used and subsequently found, a SUM directory on your SAP system.
This is production and you don’t want to start SUM on this system.
You want to know what version of SUM it is.

You can check the manifest.mf file for the SUM version without needing to start SUM:

> cd <SUM PATH>SUM

> more summanifest.mf
Manifest-Version: 1.0
keyname: SUM
keyvendor: sap.com
keylocation: SAP AG
os: NTAMD64
compilation mode: UNICODE
compiled for: 64 BIT
release: 1.0
support package: 7
patch number: 2

native branch: lmt_008
java branch: lmtj_008_REL
assembly time: 2013-05-13 05:10:16
pack version: 22
pack tool version: 1.042


You are interested in the lines:
“release”, “support package” and “patch number”.

The example above is therefore SUM 1.0 SP07 patch 2.