Long Text Editor 

Purpose

Long texts are individual text objects. They consist of several, usually complete sentences that belong together. They can contain links to glossary entries, transactions, and other long text objects. You need to check these links to ensure they work correctly. You must also ensure that the formatting characters in the long text editor are correct. They determine the layout of the text when it is output. Your aim is to ensure that the contents and formats of the source and target versions are identical.

Unlike the short text editor, the long text editor does not have a proposal pool. The translation status is determined by comparing the source and target text versions in the system instead. The system regards a long text object as new if no target text exists for the source text. The system regards a long text object as modified if the source text version does not match the existing target text version. This situation can sometimes arise as a result of a purely technical change with no effect on the contents of the source text itself.

The long text editor actually consists of two editors, the split screen editor and the fullscreen editor:

·        Split screen editor

When you access a long text object, the long text editor is divided into two sections. The source text is displayed in the upper section. You enter your translation of the source text in the lower section of the screen. A column of formatting characters is displayed to the left of the source text and translation. They determine the layout of the text when it is output. For more information, see Functions in the Split Screen Editor.

·        Fullscreen editor

To use various monolingual word processing functions, access the fullscreen editor from the split screen editor. To do so, click the Fullscreen Editor pushbutton or choose Translation ® Target Text ® Fullscreen Editor. You can only see the target text on this screen. For more information, see Functions in the Fullscreen Editor.

Integration

ABAP-based Texts

In the ABAP environment, long text objects are translated in the long text editor.

To access the long text editor and translate long texts, you can:

·        Perform sequential processing in a worklist

·        Double-click a specific object in a worklist

For more information on these two options, see Translating Objects via a Personal Worklist.

·        Access an object directly from the initial screen of SE63

To do this, choose Translation ® ABAP Objects ® Long Texts. This takes you to a dialog box that enables you to select the required object type. In the dialog box that is now displayed, enter the technical name of the object and, depending on the object type, additional technical information and choose Edit. The long text editor is opened. If you know the technical ID for the object type, you can enter it directly in the command field and access the object this way instead. (See Translating Objects Directly).