Suggested Values for Input Fields

Use

For users who do not know the possible values for InputFields, you can provide input help with which users can select entries using search criteria.

With a suggested values list, valid values are displayed beneath the InputFields where the user is entering a value. Each time the user enters a new character, the list of valid values is adjusted.

The suggested values list is provided by the SAP system. These may be values that the user has entered before in this InputField (history), or they may be values that the SAP system tries to find using a search help. For more information, see Controlling Input History for Input Fields.

The suggested values list contains a maximum of ten values, regardless of how many values are in the history and the results list of the input help. If there are more values in the results list, you can display them by pressing the F4 key or clicking the link beneath the results list.

Prerequisites

The suggested values list for an InputField is available if the following conditions are met:

Property valueSuggest of the InputFields is set.
Property value of the InputFields is bound to a context attribute for which an ABAP Dictionary value help or value set (ValueSet) is available.
Application parameter WDALLOWVALUESUGGEST is set for your system or application.
The Accessibility mode is deactivated. This means that in accessibility mode no suggested values are available.

Notes on Use

The selection of an entry from the suggested value list for an InputFields must relate specifically to this InputField. Other InputFields are not updated if they are bound to an ABAP Dictionary search help with output parameters.
Not all ABAP Dictionary search helps are suitable for the suggested values. With complex ABAP Dictionary search helps the proposals may not be very clear.

For example, if the key column of the suggested values list is not a key field of the underlying database table, search help is not appropriate. In this case it can result in multiple entries in the key colmun of the sugggested value list. The Web Dynpro ABAP framework selects only one entry for the suggested values list.

Example

For example, you are using one ABAP Dictionary search help with two fields for employee and home town. The search help is based on a database table that lists all employees and their home town. In this case suggested values work well for an InputField that is bound to an employee. If however the home townWohnort is displayed in the InputField, the result for the suggested values is a list of towns with some employee or other who lives there as the description text. This can be confusing for the user.
Suggested values do not support data elements with domains that differentiate between upper and lower case.
Displaying the suggested value list increases the network workload and uses extra processing time on the server.
Suggested value lists are not displayed for OVS-programmed and user-programmed value helps.
The history of an InputFields is not dependent on any value help. It is available for every InputField, including input fields that have an OVS or user-programmed value help.
There is no input history or suggested values for the passwordField.
Patterns or wild cards (e.g. "*", "+") for ascertaining default values are not supported.

Example

You can find an example in the system in the DEMO_VALUE_SUGGEST component.

More Information

Use of Search Help Exits for Suggested Value Lists

Input Help