Maintaining Table Entries (SAP Library - Variant Configuration (LO-VC))

Maintaining Table Entries

When you maintain a table, you enter combinations of values for characteristics. You can maintain table entries with engineering change management. You can use change numbers with temporal validity (valid-from date).

Prerequisites

You have created the table structure and assigned characteristics to the table.

Procedure

From the variant configuration menu, choose Tools ® Maintain table.
Choose Maintain.
Enter the name of the table.

If you want to use engineering change management to maintain the table entries, enter a change number. The change number must be active for object type Variant table.

Confirm your entries.

Enter valid value combinations for the characteristics you entered in the table structure.

To define how the table is displayed, choose Table display (see Decision Table).

Enter a separate table line for each possible combination of values.

Do not enter several values for one characteristic in one table field, because this entry cannot be interpreted.
Do not enter intervals. This can lead to problems in dependencies and adversely affect system performance.
To check that the table entries are entered correctly, choose Table ® Standardize. If you have entered several values for a characteristic in one table line, this function multiplies out the value combinations, so that each line contains only one value for each characteristic.

Check the consistency of the table by choosing Table ® Check.

The system checks for all value assignment alternatives whether unique values can be inferred from the key fields in the variant table. (see also Value Assignment Alternatives) The fields that are not defined as key fields in a value assignment alternative are ignored. If the system finds an error, you see an inconsistency message, and the table cells that are not unique are highlighted in color.

Save the table entries.

Exporting Tables

You can display and process a table with EXCEL. You can also save the table as a PC file.

Choose Table ® Export.
You see a dialog box in which can you specify:

Whether the table is saved to a file
Whether the table is displayed in an EXCEL file

Confirm.

The table is processed according to your specifications.

For more information on the technical requirements for exporting lists, see the section BC List Export in the SAP Library ABAP Programming and Runtime Environment.