Introduction to Lesson 3 (SAP Library - BC ABAP Workbench Tutorial)

Introduction to Lesson 3

In the previous lesson, you created a table that described your application’s data. Lesson 3 teaches you how to create a screen where an end-user can enter data. A screen is an arrangement of graphical elements that appear in a window. After you complete this lesson, you will be able to:

Identify major concepts associated with an ABAP screen.

Create an initial screen.

Arrange the elements in a screen.

Characterize screen elements.

Run a prototype of a screen.

Screens and menus make up the graphical user interface (GUI) for an ABAP application. Lesson 4 teaches you how to create menus. Before you complete this lesson, you must have successfully completed Lesson 2.

Screen Concepts

To create a screen, you must understand what components underlie a screen’s graphical elements and the screen itself. Some examples of screen elements are push buttons, radio buttons, labels, and boxes. Each element has associated with it:

attributes	Describe a screen. Screen attributes include things like a description, a type, and position.
layout	Refers to the arrangement of elements on a screen.
field attributes	Describe an element. For example, a particular field accepts only character input.
flow logic	Describes the relationship between a screen element and its underlying application. Flow logic is a series of instructions.

You create and maintain all ABAP screen elements in the Screen Painter.

The Screen Painter has a fullscreen editor. You use this editor to layout screens. The fullscreen editor works in two modes: graphical and alphanumeric. In graphical mode, you use dialogs and a mouse to identify and create elements. Graphical mode is available only on Unix/Motif, Windows 95, and Windows NT platforms.

Alphanumeric mode, the default, is available on all platforms. This lesson uses the graphical mode.