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ABAP 7.40 Quick Reference

Contents

  1. Inline Declarations
  2. Table Expressions
  3. Conversion Operator CONV
  4. Value Operator VALUE
  5. FOR operator
  6. Reduction operator REDUCE
  7. Conditional operators COND and SWITCH
  8. CORRESPONDING operator
  9. Strings
  10. Loop at Group By
  11. Classes/Methods
  12. Meshes
  13. Filter
  14. Document Purpose

 

1. Inline Declarations

Before 7.40

With 7.40

Data

DATA text TYPE string.
text = 'ABC'.
DATA(text) = 'ABC'.

Loop at into work area

DATA wa like LINE OF itab.
LOOP AT itab INTO wa.
...
ENDLOOP.
LOOP AT itab INTO DATA(wa).
  ...
ENDLOOP.

Call method

DATA a1 TYPE ...
DATA a2 TYPE ...

oref->meth( 
        IMPORTING p1 = a1
        IMPORTING p2 = a2 ).
oref->meth( 
        IMPORTING p1 = DATA(a1)
        IMPORTING p2 = DATA(a2) ).

Loop at assigning

FIELD-SYMBOLS: <line> type …

LOOP AT itab ASSIGNING <line>.
  ...
ENDLOOP.
LOOP AT itab
   ASSIGNING FIELD-SYMBOL(<line>).
   ...
ENDLOOP.

Read assigning

FIELD-SYMBOLS: <line> type …

READ TABLE itab
           ASSIGNING <line>.
READ TABLE itab
   ASSIGNING FIELD-SYMBOL(<line>).
Select into table
DATA itab TYPE TABLE OF dbtab.

SELECT * FROM dbtab
         INTO TABLE itab
        WHERE fld1 = lv_fld1.
SELECT * FROM dbtab
   INTO TABLE @DATA(itab) 
        WHERE fld1 = @lv_fld1.

Select single into

SELECT SINGLE f1 f2
  FROM dbtab
  INTO (lv_f1, lv_f2)
 WHERE ...

 WRITE: / lv_f1, lv_f2.
SELECT SINGLE f1 AS my_f1,
              f2 AS abc
         FROM dbtab
         INTO DATA(ls_struct)
        WHERE ...

WRITE: / ls_struct-my_f1,
         ls_struct-abc.

 

2. Table Expressions

If a table line is not found, the exception CX_SY_ITAB_LINE_NOT_FOUND is raised. No sy-subrc.

Before 7.40

With 7.40

Read Table  index

READ TABLE itab INDEX idx  
     INTO wa.
wa = itab[ idx ].

Read Table  using key

READ TABLE itab INDEX idx
 USING KEY key
      INTO wa.
wa = itab[ KEY key INDEX idx ].

Read Table  with key

READ TABLE itab 
  WITH KEY col1 = …
           col2 = …
      INTO wa.
wa = itab[ col1 = … col2 = … ].

Read Table  with key components

READ TABLE itab
  WITH TABLE KEY key 
  COMPONENTS col1 = …
             col2 = …
        INTO wa.
wa = itab[ KEY key col1 = …
                   col2 = … ].

Does record exist?

READ TABLE itab ... 
     TRANSPORTING NO FIELDS.

IF sy-subrc = 0.    
   ... 
ENDIF.
IF line_exists( itab[ ... ] ).       
   ...
ENDIF.
Get table index
DATA idx type sy-tabix.

READ TABLE ... 
  TRANSPORTING NO FIELDS.
idx = sy-tabix.
DATA(idx) =
       line_index( itab[ ... ] ).

NB: There will be a short dump if you use an inline expression that references a non-existent record.

SAP says you should therefore assign a field symbol and check sy-subrc.

ASSIGN lt_tab[ 1 ] to FIELD-SYMBOL(<ls_tab>).
IF sy-subrc = 0.
...
ENDIF.

 NB: Use itab [ table_line = … ] for untyped tables.

 

3. Conversion Operator CONV

I.  Definition

CONV dtype|#( … )

dtype = Type you want to convert to (explicit)

#     = compiler must use the context to decide the type to convert to (implicit)

 

II. Example

Method cl_abap_codepage=>convert_to expects a string

Before 7.40

DATA text   TYPE c LENGTH 255.
DATA helper TYPE string.
DATA xstr   TYPE xstring.

helper = text.

xstr = cl_abap_codepage=>convert_to( source = helper ).

With 7.40

DATA text TYPE c LENGTH 255.

DATA(xstr) = cl_abap_codepage=>convert_to( source = CONV string( text ) ).

OR

DATA(xstr) = cl_abap_codepage=>convert_to( source = CONV #( text ) ).

 

4. Value Operator VALUE

I. Definition

     Variables:    VALUE dtype|#( )

     Structures:  VALUE dtype|#( comp1 = a1 comp2 = a2 … )

     Tables:         VALUE dtype|#( ( … ) ( … ) … ) …

II. Example for structures

TYPES:  BEGIN OF ty_columns1, “Simple structure
           cols1 TYPE i,
           cols2 TYPE i,
        END OF ty_columns1.

TYPES: BEGIN OF ty_columnns2,  “Nested structure
          coln1 TYPE i,
          coln2 TYPE ty_columns1,
       END OF ty_columns2.

DATA: struc_simple TYPE ty_columns1,
      struc_nest   TYPE ty_columns2.

     struct_nest   = VALUE t_struct(coln1 = 1
                                    coln2-cols1 = 1
                                    coln2-cols2 = 2 ).

      OR

struct_nest   = VALUE t_struct(coln1 = 1
                               coln2 = VALUE #( cols1 = 1
                                                cols2 = 2 ) ).

 

 III. Examples for internal tables

Elementary line type:

TYPES t_itab TYPE TABLE OF i WITH EMPTY KEY.
DATA  itab   TYPE t_itab.

itab = VALUE #( ( ) ( 1 ) ( 2 ) ).

Structured line type (RANGES table):

DATA itab TYPE RANGE OF i.

itab = VALUE #( sign = 'I'  option = 'BT' ( low = 1  high = 10 )
                                          ( low = 21 high = 30 )
                                          ( low = 41 high = 50 )
                            option = 'GE' ( low = 61 )  ).

 

 

5. FOR operator

I. Definition

FOR wa|<fs> IN itab [INDEX INTO idx] [cond]

II. Explanation

This effectively causes a loop at itab. For each loop the row read is assigned to a work area (wa) or field-symbol(<fs>).

This wa or <fs> is local to the expression i.e. if declared in a subrourine the variable wa or <fs> is a local variable of

that subroutine. Index like SY-TABIX in loop.

Given: 

TYPES: BEGIN OF ty_ship,
          tknum TYPE tknum,     "Shipment Number
          name  TYPE ernam,     "Name of Person who Created the Object
          city  TYPE ort01,     "Starting city
          route TYPE route,     "Shipment route
END OF ty_ship.
TYPES: ty_ships TYPE SORTED TABLE OF ty_ship WITH UNIQUE KEY tknum.
TYPES: ty_citys TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF ort01 WITH EMPTY KEY.

GT_SHIPS type ty_ships. -> has been populated as follows:

Row TKNUM[C(10)] Name[C(12)] City[C(25)] Route[C(6)]
1 001 John Melbourne R0001
2 002 Gavin Sydney R0003
3 003 Lucy Adelaide R0001
4 004 Elaine Perth R0003

III. Example 1

Populate internal table GT_CITYS with the cities from GT_SHIPS.

Before 7.40

DATA: gt_citys TYPE ty_citys,
      gs_ship  TYPE ty_ship,
      gs_city  TYPE ort01.

LOOP AT gt_ships INTO gs_ship.
  gs_city =  gs_ship-city.
  APPEND gs_city TO gt_citys.
ENDLOOP.

With 7.40

DATA(gt_citys) = VALUE ty_citys( FOR ls_ship IN gt_ships ( ls_ship-city ) ).

IV. Example 2

Populate internal table GT_CITYS with the cities from GT_SHIPS where the route is R0001.

Before 7.40

DATA: gt_citys TYPE ty_citys,
      gs_ship  TYPE ty_ship,
      gs_city  TYPE ort01.

LOOP AT gt_ships INTO gs_ship WHERE route = 'R0001'.
  gs_city =  gs_ship-city.
  APPEND gs_city TO gt_citys.
ENDLOOP.

With 7.40

DATA(gt_citys) = VALUE ty_citys( FOR ls_ship IN gt_ships
                               WHERE ( route = 'R0001' ) ( ls_ship-city ) ).

Note: ls_ship does not appear to have been declared but it is declared implicitly.

 

V. FOR with THEN and UNTIL|WHILE

FOR i = … [THEN expr] UNTIL|WHILE log_exp

Populate an internal table as follows:

TYPES:
  BEGIN OF ty_line,
    col1 TYPE i,
    col2 TYPE i,
    col3 TYPE i,
  END OF ty_line,
  ty_tab TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF ty_line WITH EMPTY KEY.

Before 7.40

DATA: gt_itab TYPE ty_tab,
      j       TYPE i.
FIELD-SYMBOLS <ls_tab> TYPE ty_line.j= 1.

DO.
  j = j + 10.
  IF j > 40. EXIT. ENDIF.
  APPEND INITIAL LINE TO gt_itab ASSIGNING <ls_tab>.
  <ls_tab>-col1 = j.
  <ls_tab>-col2 = j + 1.
  <ls_tab>-col3 = j + 2.
ENDDO.

With 7.40

DATA(gt_itab) = VALUE ty_tab( FOR j = 11 THEN j + 10 UNTIL j > 40
                            ( col1 = j col2 = j + 1 col3 = j + 2  ) ).

 

6. Reduction operator REDUCE

I. Definition

… REDUCE type(

INIT result = start_value

           …

FOR for_exp1

FOR for_exp2

NEXT …

           result = iterated_value

… )

II. Note

     While VALUE and NEW expressions can include FOR expressions, REDUCE must include at least one FOR expression. You can use all kinds      of FOR expressions in REDUCE:

  • with IN for iterating internal tables
  • with UNTIL or WHILE for conditional iterations

III. Example 1

Count lines of table that meet a condition (field F1 contains “XYZ”).

Before 7.40

DATA: lv_lines TYPE i.

LOOP AT gt_itab INTO ls_itab where F1 = ‘XYZ’.
  lv_lines = lv_lines + 1.
ENDLOOP.

With 7.40

DATA(lv_lines) = REDUCE i( INIT x = 0 FOR wa IN gt_itab
                    WHERE( F1 = ‘XYZ’ ) NEXT x = x + 1 ).

IV. Example 2

Sum the values 1 to 10 stored in the column of a table defined as follows

DATA gt_itab TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF i WITH EMPTY KEY.
gt_itab = VALUE #( FOR j = 1 WHILE j <= 10 ( j ) ).

Before 7.40

DATA: lv_line TYPE i,
      lv_sum  TYPE i.

LOOP AT gt_itab INTO lv_line.
  lv_sum = lv_sum + lv_line.
ENDLOOP.

With 7.40

DATA(lv_sum) = REDUCE i( INIT x = 0 FOR wa IN itab NEXT x = x + wa ).

V. Example 3

Using a class reference – works because “write” method returns reference to instance object

With 7.40

TYPES outref TYPE REF TO if_demo_output.

DATA(output) = REDUCE outref( INIT out  = cl_demo_output=>new( )
                              text = `Count up:`
                              FOR n = 1 UNTIL n > 11
                              NEXT out = out->write( text )
                              text = |{ n }| ).
output->display( ).

 

7. Conditional operators COND and SWITCH

I. Definition

… COND dtype|#( WHEN log_exp1 THEN result1
[ WHEN log_exp2 THEN result2 ]

[ ELSE resultn ] ) …

… SWITCH dtype|#( operand
WHEN const1 THEN result1
[ WHEN const2 THEN result2 ]

[ ELSE resultn ] ) …

II. Example for COND

DATA(time) =  
  COND string(
    WHEN sy-timlo < '120000' THEN
      |{ sy-timlo TIME = ISO } AM|
    WHEN sy-timlo > '120000' THEN
      |{ CONV t( sy-timlo - 12 * 3600 )
       TIME = ISO } PM|
    WHEN sy-timlo = '120000' THEN
      |High Noon|
    ELSE
      THROW cx_cant_be( ) ).

III. Example for SWITCH

DATA(text) =
NEW class( )->meth(
                     SWITCH #( sy-langu
                              WHEN 'D' THEN `DE`
                              WHEN 'E' THEN `EN`
                              ELSE THROW cx_langu_not_supported( ) ) ).

 

8. Corresponding Operator

I. Definition

… CORRESPONDING type( [BASE ( base )] struct|itab [mapping|except] )

II. Example Code

With 7.40

TYPES: BEGIN OF line1, col1 TYPE i, col2 TYPE i, END OF line1.
TYPES: BEGIN OF line2, col1 TYPE i, col2 TYPE i, col3 TYPE i, END OF line2.

DATA(ls_line1) = VALUE line1( col1 = 1 col2 = 2 ).
WRITE: / 'ls_line1 =' ,15 ls_line1-col1, ls_line1-col2.
DATA(ls_line2) = VALUE line2( col1 = 4 col2 = 5 col3 = 6 ).
WRITE: / 'ls_line2 =' ,15 ls_line2-col1, ls_line2-col2, ls_line2-col3.
SKIP 2.

ls_line2 = CORRESPONDING #( ls_line1 ).
WRITE: / 'ls_line2 = CORRESPONDING #( ls_line1 )'
     ,70 'Result is ls_line2 = '     
     ,ls_line2-col1, ls_line2-col2, ls_line2-col3.
SKIP.

ls_line2 = VALUE line2( col1 = 4 col2 = 5 col3 = 6 ).   "Restore ls_line2
ls_line2 = CORRESPONDING #( BASE ( ls_line2 ) ls_line1 ).
WRITE: / 'ls_line2 = CORRESPONDING #( BASE ( ls_line2 ) ls_line1 )'
        , 70 'Result is ls_line2 = ', ls_line2-col1
        , ls_line2-col2, ls_line2-col3.
SKIP.

ls_line2 = VALUE line2( col1 = 4 col2 = 5 col3 = 6 ).   "Restore ls_line2
DATA(ls_line3) = CORRESPONDING line2( BASE ( ls_line2 ) ls_line1 ).
WRITE: / 'DATA(ls_line3) = CORRESPONDING line2( BASE ( ls_line2 ) ls_line1 )'
         , 70 'Result is ls_line3 = ' , ls_line3-col1
         , ls_line3-col2, ls_line3-col3.

III. Output

/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/image001_906951.jpg

IV. Explanation

Given structures ls_line1 & ls_line2 defined and populated as above.

Before 7.40

With 7.40

1
CLEAR ls_line2.
MOVE-CORRESPONDING ls_line1 
                TO ls_line2.
ls_line2 = CORRESPONDING #( ls_line1 ).
2
MOVE-CORRESPONDING ls_line1 
                TO ls_line2.
ls_line2 = CORRESPONDING #
        ( BASE ( ls_line2 ) ls_line1 ).
3
DATA: ls_line3 like ls_line2.

ls_line3 = ls_line2.
MOVE-CORRESPONDING ls_line1 
                TO ls_line2.
DATA(ls_line3) = CORRESPONDING line2
        ( BASE ( ls_line2 ) ls_line1 ).
  1.   The contents of ls_line1 are moved to ls_line2 where there is a matching column name. Where there is no

            match the column of ls_line2 is initialised.

  2. This uses the existing contents of ls_line2 as a base and overwrites the matching columns from ls_line1.

            This is exactly like MOVE-CORRESPONDING.

  3. This creates a third and new structure (ls_line3) which is based on ls_line2 but overwritten by matching

             columns of ls_line1.

V. Additions MAPPING and EXCEPT

MAPPING allows you to map fields with non-identically named components to qualify for the data transfer.

   … MAPPING  t1 = s1 t2 = s2

 

EXCEPT allows you to list fields that must be excluded from the data transfer

   … EXCEPT  {t1 t2 …}

 

9. Strings

I. String Templates

A string template is enclosed by two characters “|” and creates a character string.

Literal text consists of all characters that are not in braces {}. The braces can contain:

  • data objects,
  • calculation expressions,
  • constructor expressions,
  • table expressions,
  • predefined functions, or
  • functional methods and method chainings

Before 7.40

DATA itab TYPE TABLE OF scarr.
SELECT * FROM scarr INTO TABLE itab.

DATA wa LIKE LINE OF itab.
READ TABLE itab WITH KEY carrid = 'LH' INTO wa.

DATA output TYPE string.
CONCATENATE 'Carrier:' wa-carrname INTO output SEPARATED BY space.

cl_demo_output=>display( output ).

With 7.40

SELECT * FROM scarr INTO TABLE @DATA(lt_scarr).
cl_demo_output=>display( |Carrier: { lt_scarr[ carrid = 'LH' ]-carrname }|  ).

II. Concatenation

Before 7.40

DATA lv_output TYPE string.
CONCATENATE 'Hello' 'world' INTO lv_output SEPARATED BY space.

With 7.40

DATA(lv_out) = |Hello| & | | & |world|.

III. Width/Alignment/Padding

WRITE / |{ 'Left'     WIDTH = 20 ALIGN = LEFT   PAD = '0' }|.
WRITE / |{ 'Centre'   WIDTH = 20 ALIGN = CENTER PAD = '0' }|.
WRITE / |{ 'Right'    WIDTH = 20 ALIGN = RIGHT  PAD = '0' }|.

IV. Case

WRITE / |{ 'Text' CASE = (cl_abap_format=>c_raw) }|.
WRITE / |{ 'Text' CASE = (cl_abap_format=>c_upper) }|.
WRITE / |{ 'Text' CASE = (cl_abap_format=>c_lower) }|.

V. ALPHA conversion

DATA(lv_vbeln) = '0000012345'.
WRITE / |{ lv_vbeln  ALPHA = OUT }|.  “or ALPHA = IN to go in other direction

VI. Date conversion

WRITE / |{ pa_date DATE = ISO }|.           “Date Format YYYY-MM-DD
WRITE / |{ pa_date DATE = User }|.          “As per user settings
WRITE / |{ pa_date DATE = Environment }|.   “As per Environment

 

10. Loop at Group By

I. Definition

LOOP AT itab result [cond] GROUP BY key ( key1 = dobj1 key2 = dobj2 …
      [gs = GROUP SIZE] [gi = GROUP INDEX] )
[ASCENDING|DESCENDING [AS TEXT]]
[WITHOUT MEMBERS]
[{INTO group}|{ASSIGNING <group>}]

[LOOP AT GROUP group|<group>

ENDLOOP.]

ENDLOOP.

II. Explanation

The outer loop will do one iteration per key. So if 3 records match the key there will only be one iteration for these 3 records. The structure “group” (or

“<group>” ) is unusual in that it can be looped over using the “LOOP AT GROUP” statement. This will loop over the 3 records (members) of the group. The

structure “group” also contains the current key as well as the size of the group and index of the group ( if GROUP SIZE and GROUP INDEX have been

assigned a field name). This is best understood by an example.

 

III. Example

With 7.40

TYPES: BEGIN OF ty_employee,
         name TYPE char30,
         role TYPE char30,
         age  TYPE i,
END OF ty_employee,

ty_employee_t TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF ty_employee WITH KEY name.

DATA(gt_employee) = VALUE ty_employee_t(
( name = 'John'     role = 'ABAP guru'       age = 34 )
( name = 'Alice'     role = 'FI Consultant'   age = 42 )
( name = 'Barry'    role = 'ABAP guru'       age = 54 )
( name = 'Mary'     role = 'FI Consultant'   age = 37 )
( name = 'Arthur'   role = 'ABAP guru'       age = 34 )
( name = 'Mandy'  role = 'SD Consultant'  age = 64 ) ).

DATA: gv_tot_age TYPE i,
      gv_avg_age TYPE decfloat34.

"Loop with grouping on Role
LOOP AT gt_employee INTO DATA(ls_employee)
  GROUP BY ( role  = ls_employee-role
             size  = GROUP SIZE
             index = GROUP INDEX )
  ASCENDING
  ASSIGNING FIELD-SYMBOL(<group>).

  CLEAR: gv_tot_age.

  "Output info at group level
  WRITE: / |Group: { <group>-index }    Role: { <group>-role WIDTH = 15 }|
              & |     Number in this role: { <group>-size }|.

   "Loop at members of the group
   LOOP AT GROUP <group> ASSIGNING FIELD-SYMBOL(<ls_member>).
      gv_tot_age = gv_tot_age + <ls_member>-age.
      WRITE: /13 <ls_member>-name.
   ENDLOOP.

   "Average age
   gv_avg_age = gv_tot_age / <group>-size.
   WRITE: / |Average age: { gv_avg_age }|.

   SKIP.

ENDLOOP.

IV. Output

Group: 1    Role: ABAP guru           Number in this role: 3

                 John

                 Barry

                 Arthur

Average age: 40.66666666666666666666666666666667

Group: 2    Role: FI Consultant       Number in this role: 2

                  Alice

                  Mary

Average age: 39.5

Group: 3    Role: SD Consultant       Number in this role: 1

                  Mandy

Average age: 64

 

11. Classes/Methods

I. Referencing fields within returned structures

Before 7.40

DATA: ls_lfa1  TYPE lfa1,
      lv_name1 TYPE lfa1-name1.

      ls_lfa1= My_Class=>get_lfa1( ).
      lv_name1 = ls_lfa1-name1.

With 7.40

DATA(lv_name1) = My_Class=>get_lfa1( )-name1.

II. Methods that return a type BOOLEAN

Before 7.40

IF My_Class=>return_boolean( ) = abap_true.
…
ENDIF.

With 7.40

IF My_Class=>return_boolean( ).
…
ENDIF.

NB: The type “BOOLEAN” is not a true Boolean but a char1 with allowed values X,- and <blank>.

       Using type “FLAG” or “WDY_BOOLEAN” works just as well.

 

III. NEW operator

This operator can be used to instantiate an object.

Before 7.40

DATA: lo_delivs TYPE REF TO zcl_sd_delivs,
      lo_deliv  TYPE REF TO zcl_sd_deliv.

CREATE OBJECT lo_delivs.
CREATE OBJECT lo_deliv.

lo_deliv = lo_delivs->get_deliv( lv_vbeln ).

With 7.40

DATA(lo_deliv) = new zcl_sd_delivs( )->get_deliv( lv_vbeln ).

12. Meshes

Allows an association to be set up between related data groups.

I. Problem

Given the following 2 internal tables:

TYPES: BEGIN OF t_manager,
  name   TYPE char10,
  salary TYPE int4,
END OF t_manager,
tt_manager TYPE SORTED TABLE OF t_manager WITH UNIQUE KEY name.

TYPES: BEGIN OF t_developer,
  name    TYPE char10,
  salary  TYPE int4,
  manager TYPE char10,   "Name of manager
END OF t_developer,
tt_developer TYPE SORTED TABLE OF t_developer WITH UNIQUE KEY name.

 

Populated as follows:

Row Name[C(10)] Salary[I(4)]
1 Jason 3000
2 Thomas 3200
Row Name[C(10)] Salary[I(4)] Manager[C(10)]
1 Bob 2100 Jason
2 David 2000 Thomas
3 Jack 1000 Thomas
4 Jerry 1000 Jason
5 John 2100 Thomas
6 Tom 2000 Jason

II. SolutionGet the details of Jerry’s manager and all developers managed by Thomas.

With 7.40

TYPES: BEGIN OF MESH m_team,
         managers   TYPE tt_manager  ASSOCIATION my_employee TO developers
                      ON manager = name,
         developers TYPE tt_developer ASSOCIATION my_manager TO managers  
                      ON name = manager,
       END OF MESH m_team.

DATA: ls_team TYPE m_team.
ls_team-managers   = lt_manager.
ls_team-developers = lt_developer.

*Get details of Jerry's manager *

"get line of dev table
ASSIGN lt_developer[ name = 'Jerry' ] TO FIELD-SYMBOL(<ls_jerry>).
DATA(ls_jmanager) =  ls_team-developers\my_manager[ <ls_jerry> ].

WRITE: / |Jerry's manager: { ls_jmanager-name }|,30
         |Salary: { ls_jmanager-salary }|.

"Get Thomas' developers
SKIP.
WRITE: / |Thomas' developers:|.

"line of manager table
ASSIGN lt_manager[ name = 'Thomas' ] TO FIELD-SYMBOL(<ls_thomas>).
LOOP AT ls_team-managers\my_employee[ <ls_thomas> ]     
        ASSIGNING FIELD-SYMBOL(<ls_emp>).
  WRITE: / |Employee name: { <ls_emp>-name }|.
ENDLOOP.

III. Output

Jerry’s manager: Jason          Salary: 3000

Thomas’ developers:

Employee name: David

Employee name: Jack

Employee name: John

 

13. Filter

Filter the records in a table based on records in another table.

I. Definition

… FILTER type( itab [EXCEPT] [IN ftab] [USING KEY keyname]
WHERE c1 op f1 [AND c2 op f2 […]] )

II. Problem

Filter an internal table of Flight Schedules (SPFLI) to only those flights based on a filter table that contains the fields Cityfrom and CityTo.

III. Solution

With 7.40

TYPES: BEGIN OF ty_filter,
         cityfrom TYPE spfli-cityfrom,
         cityto   TYPE spfli-cityto,
         f3       TYPE i,
       END OF ty_filter,
       ty_filter_tab TYPE HASHED TABLE OF ty_filter
                     WITH UNIQUE KEY cityfrom cityto.
DATA: lt_splfi TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF spfli.

SELECT * FROM spfli APPENDING TABLE lt_splfi.

DATA(lt_filter) = VALUE ty_filter_tab( f3 = 2
                          ( cityfrom = 'NEW YORK'  cityto  = 'SAN FRANCISCO' )
                          ( cityfrom = 'FRANKFURT' cityto  = 'NEW YORK' )  ).

DATA(lt_myrecs) = FILTER #( lt_splfi IN lt_filter
                                  WHERE cityfrom = cityfrom 
                                    AND cityto = cityto ).

“Output filtered records
LOOP AT lt_myrecs ASSIGNING FIELD-SYMBOL(<ls_rec>).
  WRITE: / <ls_rec>-carrid,8 <ls_rec>-cityfrom,30
           <ls_rec>-cityto,45 <ls_rec>-deptime.
ENDLOOP.

Note: using the keyword “EXCEPT” (see definition above) would have returned the exact opposite records i.e all records EXCEPT for those those returned above.

 

14. Document Purpose

So you’re an experienced ABAP programmer wanting to leverage off the fantastic new functionality available to you in ABAP 7.40!

However, searching for information on this topic leads you to fragmented pages or blogs that refer to only a couple of the new features available to you.

What you need is a quick reference guide which gives you the essentials you need and shows you how the code you are familiar with can be improved with ABAP 7.40.

The below document contains exactly this!

It gives examples of “classic” ABAP and its 740 equivalent. It goes into more details on the more difficult topics normally via examples. This allows the reader to dive in to the level they desire. While this document does not contain everything pertaining to ABAP 740 it certainly covers the most useful parts in the experience of the author.

The document has been compiled by drawing on existing material available online as well as trial and error by the author. In particular the blogs by Horst Keller have been useful and are the best reference I have found (prior to this document ). He has a landing page of sorts for his various blogs on the topic here:

ABAP Language News for Release 7.40

Credit also goes to Naimesh Patel for his useful explanations and examples on ABAP 7.40. Here is his example of the “FOR iteration expression” which I leaned on (links to his other 740 articles can be found at the bottom of the link):

http://zevolving.com/2015/05/abap-740-for-iteration-expression/

I compiled the below document to make the transition to using ABAP 740 easier for myself and my project team. It has worked well for us and I hope it will do the same for you.

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      72 Comments
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      Author's profile photo Jitendra Soni
      Jitendra Soni

      Hi Jeffrey,

      Very informative blog.

       

      Below syntax is not working for me.

       

      "SELECT * FROM dbtab INTO TABLE @DATA(lt_dbtab) WHERE field1 = @lv_field1."

       

      ABAP version:

      SAP_BASIS 740 0007 SAPKB74007 0000 - SAP Basis Component
      SAP_ABA 740 0007 SAPKA74007 0000 - Cross-Application Component
      Author's profile photo Jeffrey Towell
      Jeffrey Towell
      Blog Post Author

      Thanks Jitendra.

      I am not sure which bits of ABAP 7.40 come in with exactly which version but here is some working code. If this does not work on your box then its fair to say you do not have the relevant version yet.

       

      DATA: lv_bukrs type bukrs VALUE '0001'.
       
      SELECT * FROM t001 INTO TABLE @DATA(lt_t001)

                     WHERE bukrs = @lv_bukrs

      Author's profile photo Christiano José Beltrão Magalhães
      Christiano José Beltrão Magalhães

      Hi Jitendra/Jeffrey,

       

      the new open sql syntax was created in ABAP 7.40 SP05 and enhanced in SP08. More information in ABAP News for 7.40, SP08 - Open SQL.

       

      Jeffrey, great blog... very useful.

       

      BR,

      Christiano.

      Author's profile photo Paul Bakker
      Paul Bakker

      Thanks for going to so much effort! Very interesting reading.

       

      Unfortunately some of the code (inside the black borders) is truncated on the right hand side. But I think we can work it out

       

      cheers

      Paul

      Author's profile photo Jeffrey Towell
      Jeffrey Towell
      Blog Post Author

      Thanks for your comments Paul.

       

      Was also concerned about truncation on the right but found that if you click on the text and drag to the right that it all becomes visible. Alternatively the scroll bar at the bottom works but it's a bit inconvenient scrolling down to find it.

       

      Cheers,

      Jeff

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Very much useful document Paul!

      Author's profile photo Manu Kapur
      Manu Kapur

      Brilliant. Thanks for sharing.

      Author's profile photo Raphael Pacheco
      Raphael Pacheco

      Great post Jeffrey !


      Just a suggestion ... I believe that would be less harmful to the blocks with commands have the edges a little thinner.

      Author's profile photo Jeffrey Towell
      Jeffrey Towell
      Blog Post Author

      Good point Raphael! If I can find a relatively easy way to do that I think I will.

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Brilliant, looking forward for future blogs..

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      very helpful, can't wait to use some of the inline expressions

      Author's profile photo Guy Lamoureux
      Guy Lamoureux

      Very Interesting. But I see that clarity and "ease of reading"continues to be vastly underestimated and undervalued. ABAP is going to the dark side 😉

      Author's profile photo Jeffrey Towell
      Jeffrey Towell
      Blog Post Author

      Guy, I thought the exact same thing at first along with others I have chatted to. However, after using it a while I realise it becomes more clear as you get more familiar with the syntax. After years of using the old syntax it has become so familiar to us that it feels like we have to think too much to understand what is being coded in the new syntax. Soon it will be second nature to you and hence easy to read.

      Author's profile photo Guy Lamoureux
      Guy Lamoureux

      Hi Jeffrey,

       

      "after using it a while" the problem is right here. Not everybody is an ABAP programmer and not everybody programs in ABAP on a regular base. I've seen a lot of functional analyst who can follow what's going on in an ABAP program. They do it for many reasons but it's part of their job and the more we change the language to something more obscure, the less they will be able to do it. They will need help from ABAP programmers. This will slow down the process.

      On my part, I've worked as an ABAP programmer for 10 years, followed by 10 years of BW developement. I don't write ABAP code on a regular base. This new syntax will keep being obscure.

      Author's profile photo Christoph Schreiner
      Christoph Schreiner

      Nice overview, thanks for sharing it with us!

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Great job! Thank you for making our life easy...

      Author's profile photo Aslam MD
      Aslam MD

      Hi Jeffrey,

       

      Very informative matierial.

       

      Thank you very much

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Big THX :-).

       

      Just sent this link to the whole team :-).

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      When I do an inline Declaration of an internal table

      SELECT ... FROM ... INTO TABLE @data(lt_data).

      Is there also some way, to have this as a sorted / hashed table or at least add secondary keys?

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Not that I'm aware of Jakob. If you create a "type" of the kind you want with sorting etc. and call it say ty_mytab you could do a conversion using CONV:

       

      TYPES ty_mytab TYPE SORTED TABLE OF t001w WITH NON-UNIQUE KEY fabkl.

       

      SELECT * FROM t001w INTO TABLE @DATA(lt_t001w).

        DATA(lt_new_tab) = CONV ty_mytab( lt_t001w ).

       

      However, this does not save you any time/typing compared to selecting directly into your defined internal table:

       

      TYPES ty_mytab TYPE SORTED TABLE OF t001w WITH NON-UNIQUE KEY fabkl.

      DATA: lt_new_tab TYPE ty_mytab.

       

      SELECT * FROM t001w INTO TABLE lt_new_tab.

      Author's profile photo Wilbert Sison
      Wilbert Sison

      Nice collection Jeffrey! 

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Cheers Wilbo!

      Author's profile photo Michael Calekta
      Michael Calekta

      Thanks for your effort Jeffrey!

      Yet there's a little mistake in the Mesh-Example:

      ASSIGN lt_developer[ name = 'Jerry' ] TO FIELD-SYMBOL(<ls_jerry>).
      DATA(ls_jmanager) =  ls_team-developers\my_manager[ jerry ].


      Second line should read instead:

      DATA(ls_jmanager) =  ls_team-developers\my_manager[ <ls_jerry> ].


      Same is true for "thomas" a few lines below.

      Nevertheless this is the first example I found, where the advantage of meshes can be seen.
      All the best
      Michael

      Author's profile photo Jeffrey Towell
      Jeffrey Towell
      Blog Post Author

      Thanks for pointing that out Michael. I have corrected that.

      The amazing thing is that the code is a copy and paste from a working program I wrote and still have. I've noticed the "<" and ">" get stripped off my field symbols in this document before. My theory is that when it gets converted to HTML that the field symbols sometimes look like HTML tags because they are between the <>. As such they are sometimes stripped out by this conversion to HTML.

       

      That's my theory anyway.

      Thanks again.

      Author's profile photo Michael Calekta
      Michael Calekta

      Sorry to interrupt again, but it was not only the <> missing, which you have corrected, but also the ls_ which is still missing. I don't think this can get lost by an html-conversion-error. Perhaps a missing definition and value assignment from the original coding.

       

      I have copied the example and tried it, and it really works fine, once I could eliminate the syntax-errors because of the missing letters.

      Author's profile photo Jeffrey Towell
      Jeffrey Towell
      Blog Post Author

      Interruption appreciated as you are correct that I forgot to add the "ls_" in. However, I can assure you that the original code has both the "<>" and the "ls_" in. The HTML issue has caused problems in other parts of this document which is why I know about it. In the "Loop at Group By" section it would not let me save the code I added. I finally added the code into the document word by word (i.e. saving after each word) and discovered it was a field symbol causing the problem. When I renamed the field symbol it saved.

      Author's profile photo Sergiu Iatco
      Sergiu Iatco

      Loop in loop is easier to understand and implement. What are the benefits of MESHES?

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Thanks for documenting all the new changes. This comes as a helpful doc for all who wants to know the new features of ABAP Programming. The Inline Declaration is a very helpful feature of ABAP 740 and it solves huge effots of developer.

       

      Regards,

      Vinay Mutt

      Author's profile photo Martin Neuß
      Martin Neuß

      ... wonderful !

       

      I am just trying to gather some Information about Netweaver 7.40 ABAP for a forthcoming inhouse training here in our company, and found out soon that the original SAP samples are hardly helpful.

       

      Your examples are really straightforward, easy to understand and useful for "real life" developers.

       

      Thank you !

       

      Regards,

      Martin Neuss

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Hi, experts. How can i fill itab with corresponding fields from structure variable and one field from another table using one statement ? my example:

       

       

      data(RT_CONFIG_PERS_DATA) =

      VALUE BSP_DLCT_PERS(   for wa_touser in TOUSER

      ( CORRESPONDING #( RS_CONFIG_PERS_DATA EXCEPT PERS_FOR_USER ) PERS_FOR_USER = wa_touser-low  ).


      this statement gives syntax error.


      so i am just using classic code:


      data RT_CONFIG_PERS_DATA type BSP_DLCT_PERS.

        LOOP AT TOUSER INTO DATA(wa_touser) .

          APPEND INITIAL LINE TO rt_config_pers_data ASSIGNING FIELD-SYMBOL(<fs>).

          MOVE-CORRESPONDING rs_config_pers_data to <fs>.

          <fs>-pers_for_user = wa_touser-low.

        ENDLOOP.


      is it possible to do such actions in one statement ?

       

       

      Author's profile photo Jeffrey Towell
      Jeffrey Towell
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Konstantin,

      Its possible to get it on one line by using each component of the structure instead of the "CORRESPONDING". In your case this would look like:

       

      DATA(rt_config_pers_data) =

      VALUE bsp_dlct_pers(   FOR wa_touser IN touser

      ( pers_for_user   = wa_touser-low

         component       = rs_config_pers_data-component

         viewname         = rs_config_pers_data-viewname

         role_key           = rs_config_pers_data-role_key

         component_usage = rs_config_pers_data-component_usage

         object_type       = rs_config_pers_data-object_type

         object_sub_type = rs_config_pers_data-object_sub_type

         changed_by      = rs_config_pers_data-changed_by

         changed_at      = rs_config_pers_data-changed_at

         config               = rs_config_pers_data-config

         parameters      = rs_config_pers_data-parameters

         config_type      = rs_config_pers_data-config_type

         invalid_flag      = rs_config_pers_data-invalid_flag

         marking_flag    = rs_config_pers_data-marking_flag

         check_flag      = rs_config_pers_data-check_flag ) ).


      Of course your "classic code" is better not just because the above is longer but also because the above will not work if there is ever a change to the structure bsp_dlct_pers.

      Author's profile photo Pruthviraj Dayam
      Pruthviraj Dayam

      Cant we use Filter with Non-Key fields! .. any manipulation possible with declaration?!

      Author's profile photo Rohit Gupta
      Rohit Gupta

      Are constructor operators are better in performance ? or It is just a different way of writing the code.

      Author's profile photo Ramesh Kothapally
      Ramesh Kothapally

      Hi Jeffrey,

      Thanks for sharing very informative document with us.This blog help for all who wants to know new features and techniques in ABAP 7.4 programming and helpful to getting started with ABAP 7.4/7/5

      Thank you very much.

       

      Thanks and Regards,

      Ramesh Kothapally

       

      Author's profile photo Sawyer Peng
      Sawyer Peng

      Great blog, many thanks.

      Author's profile photo Sawyer Peng
      Sawyer Peng

      There is a typo for the select into table:

      SELECT * FROM dbtab

         INTO TABLE DATA(itab) 

              WHERE fld1 = @lv_fld1.

      it should be:

      SELECT * FROM dbtab

         INTO TABLE @DATA(itab) 

              WHERE fld1 = lv_fld1.

      Please help to correct it.

      Author's profile photo KUMAR ANURAG
      KUMAR ANURAG

      This can be written also as :

      SELECT FROM dbtab INTO TABLE @DATA(itab WHERE FLD1 @P_FIELD1.    ”  P_FIELD1 – Is the value coming from selection screen.

       

      Author's profile photo sridhar reddy
      sridhar reddy

      Thanks for the wonderful blog Jeffrey.

      BTW, how do we READ table using binary search with the new syntax?

      Author's profile photo Freek Cavens
      Freek Cavens

      In the new syntax you would probably use a sorted or hashed table.  A problem that I have encountered numerous times with the binary search is that the table is not sorted correctly (often because the sort order is changed in a later adjustment of the code and the binary search is overlooked), leading to an incorrect result.  Using sorted table makes sure that the sorting of the table is correct.  If you need to read the table using different access paths, you can just declare multiple keys.

       

      it would be something like this :

      data : lt_kunnr TYPE HASHED TABLE OF kna1 WITH UNQUE KEY kunnr
      with non-unique sorted key k_city components ORT01,

      **Get a specific customer (if no key is specified, the default key is used, in this case the hashed key)

      assign lt_kunnr[ kunnr = '1000023653' ] to field-symbol(<ls_kunnr>).

       

      **Get the first customer of a city, using the sorted key

      assign lt_kunnr[ key k_city orto1 = 'BRUSSELS' ] to <ls_kunnr>.

       

       

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Really very good informative post.........Thanks alot

      Author's profile photo Ruthiel Trevisan
      Ruthiel Trevisan

      Thanks a lot Jeffrey Towell ! This article is amazing!

      I'll try to implement this features on my developments!

      Author's profile photo Antonis Ioannidis
      Antonis Ioannidis

      First of all, Great Job Jeffrey Towell! This is an excellent post providing very useful information. Thank you!

      But I cannot stop to wonder, are those new ways of writting any better than the older ones performance-wise?

      In my point of view, if there is no actual performance gain by using the new methods, apart from some new additions like CONV which are indeed very useful, it seems to me that it will just make the code a lot more complex for other programmers, not familiar with the new methods, to read.

      What are your thoughts on this?

      Author's profile photo Michael Rudolph
      Michael Rudolph

      Hi Antonis,

      maybe not better than older ones performance-wise. But the way you can code know safes a lot of  performance while your typing! Don't forgot that every letter you have not to type are saving time. Isn't it? Sure at the beginning it is sometimes hard to read but:it becomes clear after a while. Now ABAP is a little bit closer to other programming languages.

      regards

      Micha

      Author's profile photo Jeffrey Towell
      Jeffrey Towell
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Antonis,

      I haven't tested the performance of old vs new syntax however I would be surprised if SAP have made the new syntax work slower. Presumably where one line of code in the new syntax does the work of multiple lines in the old then the new syntax will be quicker as it will be optimized for the specific function it is carrying out.

      In terms of readability it actually becomes easier to read once you are familiar with the syntax. Taking your CONV example, previously you might have passed a value from one variable (say Type I) to another (say Char3) to convert it. While reading this you would not know for sure a conversion is taking place. A value might just be shared between two variables of the same type. With CONV it is obvious what the intent is.

      Old:  var2 = var1.      (Is this a conversion or just a shared value between vars of the same type ?)

      New: var2 = conv char3( var1 ).

       

       

      Author's profile photo Himansu Gyala
      Himansu Gyala

      Much Informative

      Author's profile photo Ebrahim Hatem
      Ebrahim Hatem

      it is really interesting and anybody can find all information which ich related to ABAP 740. But I have an comment to the II. Methods that return a type BOOLEAN.

       

      IF My_Class=>return_boolean( ).  " True ('X')

      ENDIF.

       

      IF NOT My_Class=>return_boolean( ).  " false  empty

      ENDIF.

       

      Regards

      Ebrahim

       

      Author's profile photo Bärbel Winkler
      Bärbel Winkler

      Rather belated thanks from me as well, Jeffrey Towell for this detailed and very helpful list (h/t Jonathan Capps whose recent post linked to yours)!

      This list will help me to wrap my head around the (no longer really) new options to write ABAP-statements. I however also share some misgivings others have mentioned earlier, namely that this shortened and arguably streamlined way to write ABAP-code is no longer quite as easy to read and parse - esp. for people new to programming or to folks mostly working on the functional and customizing part of SAP within IT. With the old "long-form" ABAP with spelled out statements, it was usually possible for a technically-minded colleague to at least understand the gist of what is going on in a program, while either looking at the code in SE38/SE80 or during debugging. Considering that I'm having a hard time quickly remembering and understanding what I'm looking at with many of the "new" constructs I can imagine how even more confusing this might look for non-developers.

      So, I'm wondering if there's perhaps some additional information needed to highlight the advantage(s) of the new constructs apart from potentially having to type a few characters less? One such advantage might be performance or another hightened security. For me, brevity is not always a bonus and longer but more self-explanatory statements can make life easier once the time comes that changes need to be applied.

      Cheers

      Baerbel

      Author's profile photo Jeffrey Towell
      Jeffrey Towell
      Blog Post Author

      Apologies Barbel. My response is even more belated than your comment 😉

      I think the readability issues are due to us not being familiar with the new syntax. If, like me, you are still looking up some of the syntax when coding then reading existing code will also be slower. However, a given statement in the new syntax can only have one meaning and once we are "fluent" in the syntax its as easy to read as to write.

      Your point about non-developers is well taken. Where non-developers have spent years slowly learning what is now legacy syntax they will now be impeded when trying to read/debug code in new syntax.

      If I wrote: "Thx 4 ur comment" it would save me 8 characters. If I was writing this statement frequently it would start saving me time and I'd be able to read it as quickly as the full version.

      I cannot speak to performance in terms of running the code. But in terms of debugging it is quicker as we now have one line of code doing what multiple lines of code used to do. For example a 15 line case statement  becomes a 1 line COND statement that can be stepped over with one F6 in debug mode. I also think the COND is as easy to read.

      Jeff

       

       

       

       

      Author's profile photo Jayaprakash H J
      Jayaprakash H J

      Hi,

      Under many headings i could only find Before 7.40 . There is nothing in With 7.40 .

      Please help.

      Regards,

      Jp

      Author's profile photo Srikanth Thogiti
      Srikanth Thogiti

      Thanks for sharing the knowledge.

      It is really a useful info and It changes our job easy, especially with FILTER, GROUP, VALUE, FOR etc.

       

      Author's profile photo Vimal Sharma
      Vimal Sharma

      How to pass inline declared internal table to a subroutine. e.g.

      SELECT kappl,
      objky,
      kschl,
      spras,
      FROM nast
      INTO TABLE @DATA(gt_nast) .

      IF sy-subrc is initial.

      Perform get_entries using gt_nast

      ENDIF.

      "Declaration of perform

      GET_ENTRIES USING p_nast type  ????

      If declare a type and then tries to pass it here , it says type mismatch . So what to do while declaring a perform for internal table fetched with literals.

       

      Author's profile photo Sandra Rossi
      Sandra Rossi

      Eclipse ADT "quick fixes" to declare the variable explicitly (DATA BEGIN OF ...), change DATA into TYPES, and use that type name...

      Author's profile photo Joachim Rees
      Joachim Rees

      (well, you could type your parameter with TYPE STANDARD TABEL, but the probably would not be useful in most cases)

      I often struggle with that a bit!
      It's not possible to pass on a inline-declared table from a select so what I tend to do is some of these:
      - Have it only as a temporary structure, while programming the select - replace it with a explicitly declared variable later (QuickFix in AdT, like Sandra Rossi  mentioned)
      - have an additional, explicitly declared table, and fill that from the inline-declaration table.
      - have my get_data method be way loooonger than it should be....

      best
      Joachim

      Author's profile photo Renuka Behara
      Renuka Behara

      Nice blog.. All at one place.

      Author's profile photo Vishal Kumar
      Vishal Kumar

      Hello

      Can someone help me with the syntax error in the attached code ?

      It gives error "No components exists with the name 'FOR' "

        TYPES:
          BEGIN OF ty_for_final,
            vbeln TYPE vbeln_va,
            vbtyp TYPE vbak-vbtyp,
            posnr TYPE vbap-posnr,
          END OF ty_for_final.
      
          DATA(li_for_final) = VALUE ty_for_final( FOR wa_vbak IN for_vbak
                                                   FOR wa_vbap IN for_vbap WHERE ( vbeln = wa_vbak-vbeln )
                                                    ( vbeln = wa_vbak-vbeln  vbtyp = wa_vbak-vbtyp  posnr = wa_vbap-posnr ) ).
      
      

      Thanks

      Author's profile photo Sandra Rossi
      Sandra Rossi

      Yes, but only if you ask the question in the forum...

      Author's profile photo Vishal Kumar
      Vishal Kumar

      Getting error with New Operator as well.

      TYPES:
          BEGIN OF ty_ord,
            vbeln TYPE vbeln_va,
            posnr TYPE posnr_va,
            vbtyp TYPE vbak-vbtyp,
          END OF ty_ord.
        DATA:
          lv_new_table  TYPE REF TO DATA.
      
          lv_new_table  = NEW ty_ord( ( vbeln = '000000001' posnr = '0000001' vbtyp = 'L' ) ( vbeln = '000000002' posnr = '0000002' vbtyp = 'C' ) ).
      Author's profile photo Rajesh Nair
      Rajesh Nair

      Hi Vishal,

      True. This would be an error since the type ty_ord is a structure.

      lv_new_table  = NEW ty_ord( ( vbeln = '000000001' posnr = '0000001' vbtyp = 'L' ).

      This would work. If you want multiple entries, then you could declare a table type as follows and then your code would work.

      TYPES ty_t_ord TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF ty_ord WITH EMPTY KEY.

       lref_new_table  = NEW ty_t_ord( vbeln '000000001' posnr '0000001' vbtyp 'L' vbeln '000000002' posnr '0000002' vbtyp 'C' ).

       

      Regards,

      Rajesh P Nair

      Author's profile photo Sandra Rossi
      Sandra Rossi

      the first one will not work because you still define two opening parentheses ( (

      Instead use only one opening parenthesis:

      lv_new_table  = NEW ty_ord( vbeln = '000000001' posnr = '0000001' vbtyp = 'L' ).

       

      Author's profile photo Rajesh Nair
      Rajesh Nair

      Hi Sandra,

      You are correct. That was a typo, I have copied from Vishal's message and removed the closing parenthesis, but not the opening one. I was suggesting Vishal that multiple entries will not work for the type ty_ord since it represents a flat structure and we can use multiple entries only if we use a table type of ty_ord.

      Regards,

      Rajesh P Nair

       

      Author's profile photo RAMNIK DHAR
      RAMNIK DHAR

      Hi Guys,

      Suppose I have a table with only one column and my requirement is to get all the contents of the table in a string separated by (,) and ending with (.) e.g. Value1, Value2, Value3.

      Any pointers on how to do this with the new syntax without concatenating.

      Author's profile photo Joachim Rees
      Joachim Rees

      Huh, seems I missed this blog so far (found it now via https://blogs.sap.com/2018/09/13/abaps-new-syntax-tips-from-experience/ ) - this seems like a very helpful resource, thanks!

      Author's profile photo Ankit Maskara
      Ankit Maskara

      Hi Joachim Rees ,

      Thanks a lot for recommeding my blog. You are also an inspiration for many of us.

      Thanks and Regards,

      Ankit Maskara.

      Author's profile photo Paweł Karp
      Paweł Karp

      Thank you very much! Incredibly useful post!

      I just have only a small question - is in the first table with "inline declarations" not missing a sign "@"?

      SELECT * FROM dbtab

      INTO TABLE @DATA(itab)

      WHERE fld1 = @lv_fld1.

      Best regards
      Paweł

      Author's profile photo Joachim Rees
      Joachim Rees

      Yes, I think you are right!

      Author's profile photo Jeffrey Towell
      Jeffrey Towell
      Blog Post Author

      Thanks Pawet (and Joachim).

      I've no idea how that slipped through the cracks for the last 5.5 years this article has been up. 🙂

      I've made the correction.

      Author's profile photo Aditya Sharma
      Aditya Sharma

      When you are working with such a client where issues arises daily, they have to be met daily.

      In addition your team get 3-4 Functional specs on daily.

      Stringent timelines have to be submitted to client.

      How can one motivate team to do these adornments ?

       

      I have been requesting sap ,please with joined hands,finalize your product.

      What you want to give to others ?.

      You have been used to work in abap with a particular style of coding, why you will change it at first place ?

       

      These things are not enhancements but an open outlet journey for some people to leave field of abap altogether.

       

      You work with team with diverse kind of people. Some teams even are more than 30-50 abaper count .

      Why make life of others hard to fulfill these stupid desires which final equate to same sense ?.

      And mind you its important to understand.You are in field of AI,Machine learning,Deep learning neural networks.But what i think in this case you are trying to prove that human brain is different.

      Just a new version is released,does that mean its the fault of customer or he should be penalized for that ?

       

      Author's profile photo Joachim Rees
      Joachim Rees

      Wow, this ABAP 7.40 Quick Reference is awesome, giving old/new examples for many features like Inline Declarations, Table Expressions, Value Operator VALUE, etc.

      This will help me a lot!
      Yes, I still need such references, despite the blog and those "new" features being some years old already (2015).

      Thanks a lot!
      Joachim

      PS: I now see on the comments, that I had already discovered that blog post in 2020 ... seems I could work on my knowledge management, or just be happy about this re-discovery!

      Author's profile photo Sergiu Iatco
      Sergiu Iatco

      To progress with ABAP 7.40 we need help from AI to convert existing code. Such tools are part of GPT-3 , but they do not include ABAP.

      Author's profile photo Sergiu Iatco
      Sergiu Iatco

      In CORRESPONDING - mapping EXCEPT works also with *

      CORRESPONDING - mapping 
       
       Syntax 
      
      ... [ MAPPING {t1 = s1}|( t1 = s1 [MAPPING ...] [EXCEPT ...] ) 
                    {t2 = s2}|( t2 = s2 [MAPPING ...] [EXCEPT ...] ) 
                    ...  ] 
          [ EXCEPT {ti tj ...}|* ] ... 
      
      
      
       Extras: 
      
       1. ... MAPPING  t1 = s1 t2 = s2 ...  
      
       2. ... EXCEPT  {t1 t2 ...}|*  
      
      Author's profile photo Sergiu Iatco
      Sergiu Iatco

      8. CORRESPONDING operator

      DATA: ls_line3 like ls_line2.
      ls_line3 = ls_line2.
      MOVE-CORRESPONDING ls_line1 
                      TO ls_line3. "line3 instead of line2
      Author's profile photo Himanshu Sachan
      Himanshu Sachan

      Thanks, Jeffrey Towell for the valuable knowledge.