Create an ABAP Table Type

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Create an ABAP Table Type

Details

Create an ABAP Table Type

2020-03-17

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 done one of the following:
- You have a valid instance of SAP Cloud Platform, ABAP Environment. For more information, see Tutorial: Create Your First ABAP Console Application, steps 1-2
- You have a valid instance of an on-premise AS ABAP server, version 7.52 or higher. (The text-based Table Editor is not available for earlier ABAP server versions). For a free AS ABAP server, 7.52, SP04, see SAP Developers: Trials and Downloads - 7.52
You have installed ABAP Development Tools 3.0, latest version
You have downloaded or pulled the ABAP Flight Reference Scenario. To pull this reference scenario from Github, see Downloading the ABAP Flight Reference Scenario
Tutorial: Create a Database Table

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 Project or 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).

Enter the exact name. The Browse function may not work in some environments.

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

In ABAP on-premise systems, this is not an issue.

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, using Auto-complete (Ctrl+Space):

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 ZCL_GET_ACCOUNT_DATA_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.

Add the implementation for the main method of this interface by selecting the interface name and choosing Add implementation… from the context menu.

Done

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Step 7: Implement the method

View Full Instructions

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_accounts with the table type that you just created, ZTT_ACCOUNTS_XXX.
```
DATA: lt_accounts type ZTT_ACCOUNTS_XXX.
```
Select data from the database table from the previous tutorial ZTBOOKING_XXX and add it to the internal table.
```
select * from ZACCOUNTS_XXX
into table @lt_accounts.
```

Output the internal table to the console.

out->write( EXPORTING
data = lt_accounts
name = 'Accounts:' ).

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_get_account_data_xxx DEFINITION
  PUBLIC
  FINAL
  CREATE PUBLIC .

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

CLASS zcl_get_account_data_xxx IMPLEMENTATION.
  METHOD if_oo_adt_classrun~main.
    DATA: lt_accounts type ZTT_ACCOUNTS_XXX.

    select * from ZACCOUNTS_XXX
    into table @lt_accounts.

    out->write( EXPORTING
    data = lt_accounts
    name = 'Accounts:' ).

  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