... Introduction ... 13
... Acknowledgments ... 17
1 ... Introduction ... 19
1.1 ... Systems, Applications, and Products in Data Processing (SAP) ... 19
1.2 ... Advanced Business Application Programming (ABAP) ... 21
1.3 ... Data Dictionary ... 22
1.3.1 ... Data Dictionary Tasks ... 23
1.3.2 ... Objects in the Data Dictionary ... 24
1.4 ... Summary ... 25
2 ... Data Types ... 27
2.1 ... Data Types ... 27
2.1.1 ... Built-In Elementary Data Types ... 28
2.1.2 ... User-Defined Data Types ... 32
2.2 ... Mapping of the Data Types ... 35
2.3 ... Summary ... 38
3 ... Domains ... 39
3.1 ... An Introduction to Domains ... 39
3.2 ... Attributes of Domains ... 41
3.2.1 ... Short Description ... 42
3.2.2 ... Properties Tab ... 42
3.2.3 ... Definition Tab ... 43
3.2.4 ... Value Range Tab ... 50
3.2.5 ... Documentation ... 52
3.3 ... Creating Domains ... 52
3.4 ... Changing Domains ... 55
3.5 ... Deleting Domains ... 56
3.6 ... Summary ... 57
4 ... Data Elements ... 59
4.1 ... An Introduction to Data Elements ... 59
4.2 ... Attributes of Data Elements ... 59
4.2.1 ... Short Description ... 60
4.2.2 ... Attributes Tab ... 60
4.2.3 ... Data Type Tab ... 61
4.2.4 ... Field Label Tab ... 63
4.2.5 ... Further Characteristics Tab ... 64
4.2.6 ... Documentation ... 69
4.3 ... Creating Data Elements ... 71
4.4 ... Deleting Data Elements ... 75
4.5 ... Summary ... 76
5 ... Tables ... 77
5.1 ... An Introduction to Tables ... 77
5.1.1 ... Transparent Tables ... 77
5.2 ... Components of a Table ... 82
5.2.1 ... Table Fields ... 84
5.2.2 ... Includes ... 89
5.2.3 ... Foreign Key ... 92
5.2.4 ... Technical Settings ... 112
5.2.5 ... Indexes ... 122
5.2.6 ... Enhancements in Tables (Append Structures and Customizing Includes) ... 127
5.2.7 ... Delivery Class ... 133
5.2.8 ... Activation Types ... 135
5.2.9 ... Data Browser/Table View Maintenance ... 136
5.3 ... Creating Tables ... 137
5.3.1 ... Options when Creating Tables ... 140
5.3.2 ... Maintaining Technical Settings ... 143
5.3.3 ... Creating Foreign Keys ... 144
5.3.4 ... Creating Secondary Indexes ... 147
5.4 ... Changing Tables ... 149
5.4.1 ... Inserting New Fields ... 150
5.4.2 ... Deleting Existing Fields ... 152
5.4.3 ... Changing Existing Fields ... 153
5.4.4 ... Changing Table Category ... 154
5.4.5 ... Moving Fields ... 155
5.4.6 ... Copying Fields from Another Table ... 156
5.5 ... Deleting Tables ... 158
5.6 ... Creating Other Dictionary Objects ... 159
5.6.1 ... Creating Table Pools ... 159
5.6.2 ... Creating Table Clusters ... 162
5.6.3 ... Creating Pooled Tables/Cluster Tables ... 164
5.7 ... Deleting Other Dictionary Objects ... 166
5.8 ... Summary ... 167
6 ... Views ... 169
6.1 ... An Introduction to Views ... 169
6.2 ... Attributes of Views ... 170
6.2.1 ... Join ... 170
6.2.2 ... Relationship between Foreign Keys and Join Conditions ... 173
6.2.3 ... Projection ... 173
6.2.4 ... Selection ... 174
6.2.5 ... Maintenance Status ... 175
6.3 ... Types of Views ... 176
6.3.1 ... Database Views ... 177
6.3.2 ... Projection Views ... 179
6.3.3 ... Append Views ... 179
6.3.4 ... Help Views ... 180
6.3.5 ... Maintenance Views ... 181
6.4 ... Creating and Deleting Views ... 182
6.4.1 ... Creating Database Views ... 183
6.4.2 ... Creating Projection Views ... 189
6.4.3 ... Creating Append Views ... 191
6.4.4 ... Creating Help Views ... 194
6.4.5 ... Creating Maintenance Views ... 198
6.4.6 ... Deleting Views ... 204
6.5 ... Summary ... 204
7 ... Table Maintenance Dialog ... 205
7.1 ... Table Maintenance Dialog: Initial Screen (Transaction: SE54) ... 206
7.2 ... Table Maintenance Generator ... 208
7.2.1 ... Components of Table Maintenance Generator ... 208
7.2.2 ... Creating the Table Maintenance Generator ... 218
7.2.3 ... Modifying the Table Maintenance Generator ... 221
7.3 ... Maintaining Authorization Groups ... 239
7.4 ... Maintaining Function Group ... 243
7.5 ... View Variants ... 245
7.6 ... View Clusters ... 250
7.6.1 ... Structure of a View Cluster ... 250
7.6.2 ... Creating View Clusters ... 251
7.6.3 ... Testing View Clusters ... 259
7.7 ... Summary ... 261
8 ... Complex Data Types: Structures and Table Types ... 263
8.1 ... Structures ... 264
8.1.1 ... Types of Structures ... 264
8.1.2 ... Creating Structures ... 266
8.2 ... Table Types ... 271
8.2.1 ... Access Mode ... 272
8.2.2 ... Key Definition ... 273
8.2.3 ... Key Category ... 274
8.2.4 ... Generic Table Types ... 275
8.2.5 ... Correlation between Table Types and Internal Tables ... 276
8.2.6 ... Creating Table Types ... 276
8.2.7 ... Ranges Table Types ... 279
8.2.8 ... Creating Ranges Table Types ... 280
8.3 ... Deleting Data Types ... 283
8.4 ... Summary ... 283
9 ... Search Helps ... 285
9.1 ... Introduction to Search Helps ... 285
9.2 ... Types of Search Help ... 286
9.2.1 ... Elementary Search Help ... 287
9.2.2 ... Collective Search Help ... 294
9.2.3 ... Search Help Exit ... 297
9.3 ... Creating Search Help ... 300
9.3.1 ... Creating Elementary Search Helps ... 300
9.3.2 ... Creating Collective Search Helps ... 305
9.4 ... Value Transport for Input Helps ... 311
9.4.1 ... Parameterizing the Import Parameters ... 311
9.4.2 ... Returning the Values from the Hit List ... 312
9.5 ... Search Help Attachment ... 312
9.5.1 ... Search Help Attachment to a Data Element ... 313
9.5.2 ... Search Help Attachment to a Check Table ... 316
9.5.3 ... Search Help Attached to a Table or Structure Field ... 318
9.5.4 ... Search Help Attached to a Screen Field ... 320
9.5.5 ... Hierarchy of the Search Help Call ... 322
9.6 ... Summary ... 324
10 ... Lock Objects ... 325
10.1 ... An Introduction to Locks ... 325
10.2 ... Lock Mechanisms and Their Attributes ... 327
10.2.1 ... Lock Objects ... 327
10.2.2 ... Lock Arguments ... 328
10.2.3 ... Lock Mode ... 329
10.2.4 ... Lock Server ... 330
10.2.5 ... _SCOPE Parameter ... 333
10.2.6 ... Lock Table ... 334
10.2.7 ... Local Lock Containers ... 336
10.2.8 ... Function Modules for Lock Requests ... 337
10.2.9 ... Foreign Keys in Lock Objects ... 341
10.2.10 ... Lock Mechanism ... 342
10.3 ... Creating Lock Objects ... 343
10.4 ... Deleting Lock Objects ... 347
10.5 ... Summary ... 348
11 ... Database Utility ... 349
11.1 ... An Introduction to the Database Utility ... 349
11.2 ... Processing Types ... 351
11.2.1 ... Direct ... 352
11.2.2 ... Background ... 352
11.2.3 ... Enter for Mass Processing ... 353
11.3 ... Storage Parameters ... 363
11.3.1 ... Storage Parameter for a Table ... 364
11.3.2 ... Maintaining Storage Parameters ... 364
11.4 ... Runtime Objects ... 367
11.5 ... Activation ... 370
11.5.1 ... Mass Activation ... 370
11.5.2 ... Background Activation ... 373
11.6 ... Adjusting Database Structures ... 374
11.7 ... Conversion ... 376
11.7.1 ... Conversion Process ... 376
11.7.2 ... Conversion Problems ... 380
11.7.3 ... Continuing Terminated Conversions ... 381
11.7.4 ... Finding Terminated Conversions ... 383
11.8 ... Editing Dictionary Objects in the Database ... 383
11.8.1 ... Editing Tables ... 384
11.8.2 ... Editing Views ... 389
11.9 ... Summary ... 394
... The Author ... 395
... Index ... 397

Tanmaya Gupta is a senior ABAP developer who has worked on ABAP projects for multiple companies, including AT&T, MOLEX, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering, and is experienced in a number of areas of ABAP, including dialog programming, report programming, Smart Forms, BDC, LSMW, scripts, and the ABAP Data Dictionary.