Show TOC

Data Types Used in BCVLocate this document in the navigation structure

Definition

BCV data types define the fields of search connectors, BCV queries, and query views. They define the kinds of data BCV can handle (for example, retrieve from data providers), process, and display. BCV supports most of the predefined data types of the ABAP Dictionary, as well as some BCV specific ones.

Features

Numeric Data Types

BCV Data Type

Length

Decimals

DDIC Data Type

ABAP Data Type

Description

INT1

-

-

INT1

b

short integer (0...255)

INT4

-

-

INT4

i

integer (4 byte)

FLTP

-

-

FLTP

f

floating point number

DEC

1...31

0...14

DEC

p((L+1)/2)

counter/amount (without unit)

QUAN

1...31

0...14

QUAN

p((L+1)/2)

quantity

CURR

1...31

0...14

CURR

p((L+1)/2)

currency amount

  • Data of type FLTP (floating point number) is hard to process (due to rounding problems) and display (exponential notation). If the data provider contains a field of type FLTP, you should change it to another numeric type (usually, DEC, QUAN, or CURR) in the BCV query. For more information, see Definition of Queries.

  • Fields of type QUAN (quantity) should always have a reference field of type UNIT (unit of measure) assigned to them. Only in this case can BCV interpret QUAN values correctly and perform unit conversions. For more information, see Unit of Measure Conversion.

  • The Decimals setting of QUAN fields is only used for internal purposes. The system determines the concrete number of decimal places of a QUAN value from the unit of measure assigned to it. For example, the system always displays a value with unit PAL (pallet) assigned without decimals, regardless of the value you entered in the Decimals setting. Nevertheless, the Decimals setting must have the same value in the data provider, the search connector, and the BCV query to avoid numeric problems.

  • Fields of type CURR (currency amount) should always have a reference field of type CUKY (currency unit) assigned to them. Only in this case can BCV interpret CURR values correctly and perform currency conversions. For more information, see Currency Conversion.

  • The Decimals setting of CURR fields is only used for internal purposes. The system determines the concrete number of decimal places of a CURR value from the currency unit assigned to it. For example, the system always displays a value with unit EUR assigned with two decimals, regardless of the value you entered in the Decimals setting. Nevertheless, the Decimals setting has to have the same value in the data provider, the search connector, and the BCV query to avoid numeric problems.

Period Data Types

BCV Data Type

Length

Decimals

DDIC Data Type

ABAP Data Type

Description

TIMS

-

-

TIMS

t

time (HHMMSS)

DATS

-

-

DATS

d

date (YYYYMMDD)

WEEK

-

-

-

c(6)

week (YYYYWW)

MON

-

-

-

c(6)

month (YYYYMM)

ACCP

-

-

ACCP

c(6)

posting period (YYYYMM)

QRT

-

-

-

c(5)

quarter (YYYYQ)

FPER

-

-

-

c(7)

fiscal period (YYYYPPP)

YEAR

-

-

-

c(4)

year (YYYY)

Data types WEEK (week), MON (month), QRT (quarter), FPER (fiscal period), and YEAR (year) do not exist as predefined ABAP Dictionary types. Therefore, the fields the corresponding data providers usually have data type CHAR or STRG. To allow for period-related operations on these fields, and their proper display, you must change their data types to the appropriate period data types in the BCV query. For more information, see Definition of Queries.

Textual Data Types

BCV Data Type

Length

Decimals

DDIC Data Type

ABAP Data Type

Description

CHAR

1...30000

-

CHAR

c(L)

character string (fixed length)

SSTR

1...1333

-

SSTRING

string

short character string (variable length)

STRG

-

-

STRING

string

character string (variable length)

NUMC

1...255

-

NUMC

n(L)

numeric character string (fixed length)

Although values of data type NUMC (numeric character string) can only contain digits, it is not considered as numeric but as a textual data type. This is because such sequences of digits (for example, phone numbers or postal codes) are not interpreted as numbers and, thus, no arithmetic operations can be performed on them.

Other Data Types

BCV Data Type

Length

Decimals

DDIC Data Type

ABAP Data Type

Description

CLNT

-

-

CLNT

c(3)

client

CUKY

-

-

CUKY

c(5)

currency unit

ICON

-

-

-

c(60)

icon

LANG

-

-

LANG

c(1)

language

RAW

1...255

-

RAW

x(L)

byte sequence (fixed length)

UNIT

-

-

UNIT

c(3)

unit of measure

URL

1...4096

-

-

c(L)

URL (general)

URLI

1...4096

-

-

c(L)

URL (image)

  • Data of type ICON does not exist as a predefined ABAP Dictionary type. Therefore, the corresponding fields of the data providers usually have the data type CHAR or STRG. To display the graphical representation instead of the internal value, you must change the data types of these fields to ICON in the BCV query. For more information, see Definition of Queries.

  • The Length setting of RAW (byte sequence) fields specifies the number of bytes, not the number of visible characters. The system displays the contents of each byte as two characters from 0,...,9,A,...,F (hexadecimal notation).

  • Data types URL and URLI do not exist as predefined ABAP Dictionary types. Therefore, the corresponding fields of the data providers usually have the data type CHAR or STRG. To allow for display as links or images, you must change the data types of these fields to URL or URLI, respectively, in the BCV query. For more information, see Definition of Queries.