Creating Type Group and Using it in ABAP Program

Introduction: This document explains the very basic topic of creating the type group and its use in ABAP program.

What is type group: There are several type groups available in SAP. For example ‘ABAP’ and ’SLIS’ etc. To use them in program we use key word ‘TYPE-POOLS’. It allows us to define non-predefined types. Combination of all such non-predefined types is knows as type-pool or type-group. In simple terms, if we want to use some custom types in various programs then we need not define them separately, we can simply create a type group in ABAP dictionary and use that in our programs.

Steps to create:

i)              Go to transaction SE11; select the radio button ‘Type Group’. Click ‘Create’ button.

         Note: – Maximum length of type-group name can be ‘5’.

ii)             Provide some meaningful description in short text

And click on save button.

iii)            Then next screen appears where we can write our source code as highlighted in the below screenshot. As an example, I have created two constants. One thing that needs to be taken care of while declaring the structures, constants, etc. in Type Group is that every object must start with ‘<name of type group>_’. In this example the constants that are declared starts with ‘ZATYP_’. The system gives syntax error in case the above naming convention is not followed.

iv)            Now save and activate    the type group.

v)             Now we can use the type group created above in our SAP programs. Please find below the screenshot for the same

Output will be following:

Summary: In this way we can create type group and use it in ABAP programs.