IBM Global Services

2005 IBM Corporation ABAP Dictionary | 6.04 March-2005

ABAP Dictionary
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2005 IBM Corporation 2 March-2005 ABAP Dictionary | 6.04
Objectives
The participants will be able to:
Use ABAP dictionary fields in the screen.
Use ABAP dictionary fields in the program.
Understand ABAP dictionary integration.
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2005 IBM Corporation 3 March-2005 ABAP Dictionary | 6.04
Academy Awards Table
YMOVIE
Database Table
AAYear
Category
Winner
Notes
Critic
For this chapter and many of the following chapters, we will use an ABAP
Dictionary table created for the purpose of demonstrating online programming
techniques. This table is named YMOVIE and it contains information about the
Academy Awards.
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2005 IBM Corporation 4 March-2005 ABAP Dictionary | 6.04
Academy Awards Online Program
All of these screen fields,
except for the Academy
Awards title, will be
painted from ABAP
Dictionary fields.

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2005 IBM Corporation 5 March-2005 ABAP Dictionary | 6.04
Select the desired fields.
By selecting a Key word size,
you will get a text field.
Paint Dictionary Fields
To paint fields from the ABAP Dictionary, make sure you are in the Layout view.
Use the Goto-> Secondary Window->Dict/program fields menu path in the
Screen Painter
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2005 IBM Corporation 6 March-2005 ABAP Dictionary | 6.04
Element List for Dictionary Fields
The fields painted from the
ABAP Dictionary are
automatically named
<table name>-<field name>.
Screen Painter
These fields are
marked as
referring to ABAP
Dictionary fields.
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2005 IBM Corporation 7 March-2005 ABAP Dictionary | 6.04
Use Dictionary Fields
** MZA01O01 - PBO Modules **
MODULE INITIALISE OUTPUT.
CLEAR YMOVIE.
ENDMODULE.
** MZA01TOP - Top Include **
PROGRAM SAPMZA01.
TABLES YMOVIE.

PROCESS BEFORE OUTPUT.
MODULE INITIALIZE.

PROCESS AFTER INPUT.
MODULE SELECT_LISTING.
Screen 9000
** MZA01I01 - PAI Modules **
MODULE SELECT_LISTING INPUT.
* code to select record from YMOVIE
ENDMODULE.
When you
paint screen fields from
the ABAP Dictionary, you define
the program fields with the
TABLES statement.
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2005 IBM Corporation 8 March-2005 ABAP Dictionary | 6.04
Online Help for Dictionary Fields
Data element
short text
Data element
documentation
Data element
supplemental
documentation
system-wide
automatic
system-wide
only if maintained
screen-specific
only if maintained
If a screen field is
painted from the
ABAP Dictionary,
it points to a data
element and the
data elements
online help.
F1
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2005 IBM Corporation 9 March-2005 ABAP Dictionary | 6.04
ABAP Dictionary Integration
Notice change
in Category
field length
Execute
transaction
If a change is made to an ABAP Dictionary field (e.g., category length is changed
from 3 to 6 characters) and the appropriate Dictionary objects are reactivated, the
change will take effect throughout the system where this field is used.
Execute
transaction
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2005 IBM Corporation 10 March-2005 ABAP Dictionary | 6.04
Demonstration
Creating a screen with fields having reference to the ABAP Dictionary.
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Practice
Creating a screen with fields having reference to the ABAP Dictionary.
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Summary
To paint fields from the ABAP Dictionary, make sure you are in the Layout view.
Use the Goto-> Secondary Window->Dict/program fields menu path in the
Screen Painter.
If you go to the Element List (field types view), the screens fields painted from
the ABAP Dictionary are automatically named <table name>-<field name>.
To create the program fields with the same names as the screen fields painted
from the ABAP Dictionary, you should use the TABLES statement in the Top
Include.
A screen field that is painted from the ABAP Dictionary points to a data element.
The data element has online help associated with it. If the cursor is positioned in
the screen field and the F1 key is pressed, the system displays a dialog box with
this online help.
The ABAP Dictionary is integrated throughout the SAP system.
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2005 IBM Corporation 13 March-2005 ABAP Dictionary | 6.04
Questions
What is the menu path for referring ABAP Dictionary fields to the screen ?
When a screen field is painted from the ABAP Dictionary, does it point to the
data-elements documentation ?