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Welcome

ABAP Dictionary

IBM Corporation 2013

Course Title
IBM Global Business Services

Module 4: ABAP Dictionary

(Optional client
logo can
be placed here)

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Housekeeping

Breaks
Washrooms
Transportation / parking
No pagers or cell phones
Participation
Parking lot issues
Questions

ABAP Dictionary

IBM Corporation 2013

IBM Global Business Services

Module objectives
At the completion of the module, the participants should be able to:
Use ABAP dictionary fields in the screen
Use ABAP dictionary fields in the program
Understand ABAP dictionary integration

ABAP Dictionary

IBM Corporation 2013

IBM Global Business Services

Module agenda
The topics dealt in this module are:
Academy Awards Table
Academy Awards Online program
Paint Dictionary fields
Element list for Dictionary Fields
Use Dictionary fields
Online Help for Dictionary fields
ABAP Dictionary integration

ABAP Dictionary

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IBM Global Business Services

Academy Awards Table

For this module, 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.

YMOVIE
Database Table
AAYear
Category
Winner
Notes
Critic

ABAP Dictionary

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Academy Awards Online program

All of these screen fields,
except for the Academy
Awards title, will be
painted from ABAP
Dictionary fields.

ABAP Dictionary

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IBM Global Business Services

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.
By selecting a Key word size,
Select the desired fields.

ABAP Dictionary

you will get a text field.

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Element list for Dictionary Fields

Screen Painter

The fields painted from the

ABAP Dictionary are
automatically named
<table name>-<field name>.
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ABAP Dictionary

These fields are

marked as
referring to ABAP
Dictionary fields.
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Use Dictionary fields

When you
paint screen fields from
the ABAP Dictionary, you define
the program fields with the
TABLES statement.

** MZA01TOP - Top Include **

PROGRAM SAPMZA01.
TABLES YMOVIE.

** MZA01O01 - PBO Modules **

Screen 9000

MODULE INITIALISE OUTPUT.

CLEAR YMOVIE.
ENDMODULE.

PROCESS BEFORE OUTPUT.

MODULE INITIALIZE.

** MZA01I01 - PAI Modules **

MODULE SELECT_LISTING INPUT.

PROCESS AFTER INPUT.

MODULE SELECT_LISTING.

* code to select record from YMOVIE

ENDMODULE.

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ABAP Dictionary

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Online Help for Dictionary fields

If a screen field is
painted from the
ABAP Dictionary,
it points to a data
element and the
data elements
online help.

F1

Data element
short text
Data element
documentation
Data element
supplemental
documentation

System-wide
Automatic

System-wide
Only if maintained

Screen-specific
Only if maintained
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ABAP Dictionary

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ABAP Dictionary integration

Execute
transaction

If a change is made to an ABAP Dictionary field (for example, 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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Notice change
in Category
field length

ABAP Dictionary

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Demonstration / Practice
Creating a screen with fields having reference to the ABAP Dictionary.

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ABAP Dictionary

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Summary of the lesson learnt so far

1. 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.
2. 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>.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. The ABAP Dictionary is integrated throughout the SAP system.

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ABAP Dictionary

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Answer a few questions

1. What is the menu path for referring ABAP Dictionary fields to the screen?
2. When a screen field is painted from the ABAP Dictionary, does it point to the
data-elements documentation?

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ABAP Dictionary

IBM Corporation 2013

IBM Global Business Services

Module summary
Now that we have completed the module, we should 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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ABAP Dictionary

IBM Corporation 2013

IBM Global Business Services

Thank You

17

ABAP Dictionary

IBM Corporation 2013