Introduction to the ABAP System

Introduction to the ABAP System

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The Data Browser Allows us to look at the underlying table

contents Use transaction code SE16

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The Data Browser Select the desired table name (T001 is

the company code table)

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The Data Browser Select the rows

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The Data Browser The table data

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The ABAP Dictionary (Accessing) Transaction code SE11

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ABAP Dictionary Elements Tables Views

A view created from one or more tables Data types

Data elements Structured types

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ABAP Dictionary Elements (Illustration)

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ABAP Dictionary Elements (Tables) A superset of what we usually think of

as a table There are different types of tables

Transparent tables are used to store business data

Pool tables and cluster tables generally store applications

(Remember that ABAP programs are stored in the database itself)

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ABAP Dictionary Elements (Tables - Transparent) Tables contain

Fields having a field name and a data type Foreign keys describe relationships

between other tables Technical settings describe how the table

is created in the database Indexes

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ABAP Dictionary Elements (Views) In general database terms, it’s a virtual

table that is not physically stored SAP has types of views based on the

underlying fundamental database operations The SAP views are semantic (more later)

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ABAP Dictionary Elements (Views – Types) Database – These are views from one

or many tables Projection views apply to only one

table and restrict the number of fields to display

Structure views are pretty much obsolete

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Creating a Table (Steps) Rules for table names Creating the table Creating the fields

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Creating a Table (Table Names) 16 case insensitive characters Customer names (created) tables

should begin with the characters Z or Y Other namespaces (SAP) are letter

sequences enclosed by slashes /SAPPRESS/

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Creating a Table (Maintenance)

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Creating a Table (Attributes) Change and language information Packages group objects (including tables)

They control transport behavior They organize objects Objects without a package cannot be

transported

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Creating a Table (Delivery and Maintenance) Descriptive information The delivery class drives the transport

of data records during install, upgrade, …

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Creating a Table (Delivery and Maintenance) The following controls dictionary rights

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Creating a Table (Fields) Table fields work a bit differently in SAP Fields belong to a domain

It’s the domain that defines The data type The value range

Domains must be activated before they can be used

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Field Domains Fields have a data element, which

belongs to a domain

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Field Domains (Creating) I prefer to create the domains and then

create the fields DON’T FORGET TO ACTIVATE THEM

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Creating a Table (Fields)

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Creating a Table (Fields) Field name Key fields uniquely identify a row

Composite keys can have a maximum of 16 key fields

Give a field an initial value The Data Element field defines the

field’s data type You can use predefined data types or

create new ones

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Creating a Data Element (1) Select the domain to which the element

applies

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Creating a Field Element (2) This is where the field titles come from

for forms and other places

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Dictionary Technical Settings (1) With the desired table active, select

GoTo, Technical Settings These technical settings describe how

the system treats the table Data Class defines the ‘physical’ area

of the database where the table is stored Master data, transactional data,

organizational data

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Dictionary Technical Settings (2) Size category defines the number of

records expected Buffering whether a record or table is

buffered (prefetched into the work area) when accessed

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Dictionary Technical Settings (Illustration)

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Entering Data