Create an ABAP Table Type

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Create an ABAP Table Type

Details

Create an ABAP Table Type

2019-11-05

Beginner

20 min.

Create a table type and use it to retrieve data from a database table.

You will learn

How to create and edit a table type for an internal table in the new, form-based Table Types editor
How to use this table type to retrieve data from a database table

Prerequisites

You have a sub-account with the entitlement SAP Cloud Platform, ABAP environment, release 1902 or higher. For more details, see Getting Started with a Customer Account: Workflow in the ABAP Environment.
You have installed ABAP Development Tools 3.0.
You have created an ABAP Cloud Project pointing to this ABAP environment. For more details, see Connect to the ABAP System.
Tutorial: Create a Simple Database Table for ABAP Environment

Table types can also be defined in, for example, an ABAP program or class. The differences between the two approaches include:
- Table types in the ABAP Data Dictionary are maintained in a form-based editor, table types in ABAP in a text-based editor
- Reuse: Table types can only be used by other Dictionary types if they are defined in the Data Dictionary
- Modularization: Table types in the Dictionary are stand-alone objects, whereas table types in ABAP are always part of another Repository object

Throughout this tutorial, objects have the suffix XXX. Remember to always replace this with your initials or group number.

Step 1: Create a table type

Open your ABAP Cloud Project from the previous tutorial, then open the package in which you created the database table.
Select your package and choose New > Other ABAP Repository Object > Dictionary > Table Type from the context menu.
Enter a name and description and choose Next.
Create or assign a transport request and choose Finish.

The table type appears in a new editor.

Image depicting step1e-table-type-editor

Done

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Step 2: Define a type

Choose the category Dictionary Type For the type name, choose the database table you created in a previous tutorial, for example Z_BOOKING_XXX (replacing XXX with your group number or initials).

.
Image depicting step2-define-type

Note that, in the ABAP Environment, you can only work with whitelisted objects. The majority of tables you might expect, such as SFLIGHT are not whitelisted. For a complete list of whitelisted objects, see the folder Released Objects. To sort objects by object type, not package, use a Duplicate Tree:

Done

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Step 3: Define a primary key

You cannot define your own primary key for a standard table. First, change the access type to Sorted Table.
Change the Primary Key type to Key Components.
You can now choose the key fields from a drop-down list, by choosing Auto-complete (Ctrl+Space).
Choose each key field in turn:

This is for test purposes only. The access type you choose in real life affects performance. For more information, see:

Done

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Step 4: Define a secondary key

Users may want to query a database table using something other than the primary key. To enable this, create a secondary key.

First, select Secondary Key and choose Create… from the context menu:
Enter a name and choose the component(s) (or fields):

The keys are listed.

Image depicting step4c-keys-list

Done

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Step 5: Create an ABAP class

Finally, you will test your table type by using it to:

define an internal table
get database data into this table
output the table content to the console

First create the ABAP Class, by selecting your package and choosing New > ABAP Class from the context menu:
Enter a name, such as ZCL_OUTPUT_BOOKINGS_XXX and description for your class (replacing XXX with your group number or initials).
Assign a transport request and choose Finish.

The class appears in a new editor.

Done

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Step 6: Add an interface

View Full Instructions

Add the following interface to your class:

 interfaces if_oo_adt_classrun.

This interface provides a light-weight solution for executing an ABAP program without launching a full user interface.
It also lets you display text or data in the Console View.

Done

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Step 7: Implement the method

You will now add the following code to the main method, remembering to rename the table type and database table to your own (for example, replacing XXX with your group number or initials)..

Create an internal table lt_bookings with the table type that you just created, ZTT_BOOKING_XXX.

DATA: lt_bookings type ZTT_BOOKING_XXX.
Select data from the database table from the previous tutorial ZTBOOKING_XXX and add it to the internal table.

select * from ZTBOOKING_XXX

into table @lt_bookings.
Output the internal table to the console.

out->write( EXPORTING

data = lt_bookings

name = 'Bookings:' ).
Then save and activate your class using Ctrl+S, Ctrl+F3.

Done

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Step 8: Check your code

View Full Instructions

The complete class should look like this:


CLASS zcl_output_bookings_xxx DEFINITION
  PUBLIC
  FINAL
  CREATE PUBLIC .

  PUBLIC SECTION.
    INTERFACES if_oo_adt_classrun.
  PROTECTED SECTION.
  PRIVATE SECTION.
ENDCLASS.

CLASS zcl_output_bookings_xxx IMPLEMENTATION.

  METHOD if_oo_adt_classrun~main.
     DATA:
         lt_bookings type ZTT_BOOKING_XXX.

  select * from ZTBOOKING_XXX
  into table @lt_bookings.
  out->write( EXPORTING
                  data = lt_bookings
                  name = 'Bookings:' ).
  ENDMETHOD.

ENDCLASS.

Done

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Step 9: Test your class

Run your class in the console by choosing F9. Your output should look like this:

Image depicting step9-console