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 Creating TablesLocate this document in the navigation structure

Purpose

Use this process to create a new table in the ABAP Dictionary.

Process Flow
  1. Creating Tables and Table Fields
  2. Maintain the technical settings for the table.

    The corresponding maintenance screen is displayed with Goto → Technical settings.

    The technical settings are a separate object and can be activated and transported separately from the table.

  3. Maintain (if necessary) the foreign key relationships of the table to other tables.

    The corresponding maintenance screen is displayed if you position the cursor on the check field and choose  with the quick info text Foreign keys.

  4. Create (if necessary) secondary indexes for the table .

    To do this, choose Goto → Indexes.

  5. Choose  with the quick info text Save.

    A dialog box appears in which you have to assign the table to a development class.

    For tables with the Delivery Class G or E, you must also maintain a customer namespace (key block of the table) for the table entries. SAP cannot change table entries or import new entries in the customer namespace during upgrades. To navigate to the appropriate maintenance transaction, choose Maintain Customer Namespace on the Delivery and Maintenance tab.

  6. Choose an enhancement category. For more information, see Structure Enhancements .
  7. Choose  with the quick info text Activate.

Constraints

  • All the key fields of a table must stay at the beginning of the table. The key fields must be coherent. A non-key field must not occur between two key fields.
  • A maximum of 16 key fields per table is permitted. The maximum length of the table key is 255.
  • If the key length is greater than 120, there are restrictions when transporting table entries. The key can be specified up to a maximum of 120 places in a transport. If the key is larger than 120, table entries must be transported generically.
  • A table must not have more than 249 fields. The sum of all field lengths is limited to 1962 (whereby fields with data type LRAW and LCHR are not counted).
  • Fields of types LRAW or LCHR must be at the end of the table. Only one such field is allowed per table. There must also be a field of type INT2 directly in front of such a field. The actual length of the field can be entered there by the database interface.
Result

During activation, the system automatically creates the table and all the indexes on the table in the database (if not explicitly excluded when the index was defined). You can display the table definition in the database by choosing Utilities → Database object → Display.

At activation, the runtime object for the table is also created. You can display the runtime object by choosing Utilities → Runtime object → Display.

You can find information about the activation flow in the activation log, which you can display by choosing Utilities → Activation log. The system displays the activation log automatically if errors occur when the table is activated.

Additional Options

  • Assign a search help to a field:

    To assign a search help to a field, select the desired field on the Fields tab page and choose Srch Help. The search help can be used by all screen fields that refer to this field. For more information, see Attaching a Search Help to a Table or Structure Field .

  • Assign a search help to a table:

    You can assign a search help to a table by choosing Extras → Search Help for Table. This search help can be used by all screen fields that are checked against the table. For more information, see Attaching a Search Help to a Check Table .

  • Create documentation:

    By choosing Goto → Documentation you can create a text that describes the use of the table and maintenance of the table data more precisely.

  • Assign activation type:

    By choosing Extras Activation type you can assign the table to an activation type . This is only relevant for tables in the runtime environment.

  • Enter or display data:

    If you set the Table maintenance allowed flag, you can enter data in the table by choosing Utilities → Table contents → Create entries. You can display existing data with Utilities → Table contents Display.

See also:

Technical Settings

Indexes

Foreign Keys