Encapsulation Levels

The package concept allows strict encapsulation that would not work for most existing packages initially. To facilitate migration, for each package, it is possible to specify how stringently that package wants to be encapsulated against its clients. The encapsulation levels are:

• Not encapsulated: All of the package's contents can be accessed without limitations. The package will have an implicit default interface (which exactly contains all of the package's content) so that client packages can refer to it in their dependency control list.
• Weakly Encapsulated: All of the package's content that is not exposed through a package interface can still be accessed, but each access gives a warning or is subject to logging (this logging will be done with special tools, so that it needs only be activated when needed and won't affect performance else). One of the package's interfaces can be selected explicitly as the default interface, so that clients that referred to the implicit default interface before can be migrated. This level will be used during migration from a non-encapsulated package to an encapsulated package. (Packages that had "Package Check as Server" activated with SAP NetWeaver 04and before will be converted to this level.)
• Encapsulated: No object that is not exposed through an interface can be accessed from outside the package. This level should be the default for new developments.
  Tip

  The old option to specify the package check's stringency for a package's own access to other packages is no more supported. This means that only the server package's encapsulation level is relevant.

To ensure the function of a system even after faulty changes to package properties (which, for example, may be caused by conflicts when importing a support package into a system modified by the customer) and to allow resolution of the problem, it is possible to switch off the package check in an emergency mode.