MINS298c

ABAP/4 Programming

Introduction to Data Types Chapter 4

Fall 1998

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Overview
Introduction Declaration

Data Types

elementary complex

Working with Data Types

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Data Objects
Data Object

Fixed

Variable

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Data Objects
Data Object

Fixed

Variable

Literals

Constants

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Fixed Data Objects

(Constants and Literals)

CONSTANTS: company_name(3) type c value SAP.

Literals are inside quotes

WRITE: Happiness is SAP.

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Hierarchy

Variable Data Objects

Table Record Field

Table is made up of Records(s) is made up of have a structure Field(s) is made up of characters have a type

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Fields are Variables

may be declared at any point within the program may use up to 30 characters in name

may use hyphen, but prefer dash for readability

may not use an ABAP reserved word follow rules of scope definition

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Normal Scope
Line 1 2 Program DATA A, B, C Write A Write F Form DATA X, Y, Z Write A Write F Form DATA D, E, F Write A Write F

3 4

According to normal rules of scope, which Write statements are legal and which are not?

5 6

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Data Types

Pre-defined (p,i,f,c,n,d,t,x)

User defined

Elementary

Structured

Structured type

Table type

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Data Types

Pre-defined (p,i,f,c,n,d,t,x)

User defined

Elementary

Structured

Structured type

Table type

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Pre-defined Types
(with default length and value)

Character

Default 1 1 4 8 8 8 6 1 space 0 0 0 0.0 000000 00

Justify left left right right right left left

c n Numbers

i p f

Date (d) Time (t) Hexadecimal (x)

00000000 left

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Data Types

Pre-defined (p,i,f,c,n,d,t,x)

User defined

Elementary

Structured

Structured type

Table type

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Three Ways to Declare Types

pre-defined elementary types non-elementary types

existing fields

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Types and Data Statement

DATA var[(length)] [TYPE type] [DECIMALS num] [VALUE init]

TYPES BEGIN OF rec-name [fieldname]

END OF rec-name

DATA var LIKE table-field [VALUE init]

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Similar Declarations
Data: customer_name(25) type c, vendor_name(25) type c.

TYPES name(25) type c. DATA: customer_name type name,

vendor_name type name.

DATA: customer_name(25) type c, vendor_name LIKE customer_name.

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What are the defaults here?

What are the default type and length of flag and of my_number?

DATA: flag, my_number.

What is contained in c_alpha and n_alpha?

DATA: c_alpha(3) type c value 5,

n_alpha(3) type n value 5.

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Character: C vs N
C = justifies left and has trailing blanks N = justifies right and has leading zeroes

What happens with:

DATA: var-1(4) type c value 1234, var-2(4) type n value 1234. WRITE:/ var-1, var-2.

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What are the defaults here?

What is contained in c_alpha and n_alpha?

DATA: c_alpha(3) type c value 5,

n_alpha(3) type n value 5.

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Numbers
i - cannot have explicit length

p - 15 digits, can explicitly define decimal places

DATA Dollars TYPE p DECIMALS 2.

f - handles exponential, subject to rounding errors sometimes (1.0/3.0)*3.0 is not 1.0

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Dates and Times

Date = d stored as YYYYMMDD with initial value of 00000000

Time = t stored as HHMMSS with 000000

Why store in this format?

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Which is easier to sort?

01/01/58 01/20/58 19580101 19580120

01/01/60
12/01/97 01/20/00

19600101
19971201 20000120

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Computations on Dates
DATA my_date LIKE sy-datum. MOVE 19580420 to my_date.

my_date = my_date - 1.
Write:\ my_date.

Displays 19580419

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Offset and Length Format

One may address sub-parts of elementary data objects by specifying the offset and length !!!

MOVE sy-datum+6(2) to hold_day

1 9
sy-datum(0)

8 0

sy-datum(6)

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Parameter Statement
Parameter statement creates a set of variable fields which are presented to the user for input on the selection screen. PARAMETERS var TYPE type [DEFAULT value]

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Data Types

Pre-defined (p,i,f,c,n,d,t,x)

User defined

Elementary

Structured

Structured type

Table type

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Records
records or structures are called field strings in ABAP use BEGIN OF and END OF

nesting is allowed
use TYPES command

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Field String Types

TYPES : BEGIN OF ADDRESS, street(20) type c, city(20) type c, state(10) type c, zip type I, END OF ADDRESS.

How large (in characters) is the record ADDRESS?

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Using Field String Types

TYPES : BEGIN OF ADDRESS, street(20) type c, city(20) type c,

state(10) type c,
zip type I, END OF ADDRESS.

DATA: Old_Address TYPE Address,

New_Address TYPE Address.

MOVE Old_Address to New_Address.

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Using Field String Types

TYPES : BEGIN OF ADDRESS, street(20) type c, city(20) type c,
Old_Address Street City State Zip

state(10) type c,
zip type I, END OF ADDRESS. DATA: Old_Address TYPE Address, New_Address TYPE Address.
Old_Address-Zip Old_Address-City

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Data Types

Pre-defined (p,i,f,c,n,d,t,x)

User defined

Elementary

Structured

Structured type

Table type

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Creating Tables
Use the occurs statement not necessary to identify the amount, may use zero (0).

Format
TYPES tablename TYPE type OCCURS 0. Example TYPES Address_Table TYPE ADDRESS OCCURS 0.
Really creates the structure which will be allocated and maintained dynamically.

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Declarative Statements
DATA TYPE

CONSTANTS
PARAMETERS

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Assignments
Create program(s) to

demonstrate the justification difference between the n and c types determine whether or not our system has a rounding error in the fixed point arithmetic

find the difference between the current date and your birthday
prove that one day before 01/01/98 is 12/31/97 using the ABAP date types

use the parameter statement to interactively ask for two dates and display the difference between them.

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