asXML - Mapping of Elementary ABAP Types - ABAP Keyword Documentation

ABAP - Keyword Documentation → ABAP - Reference → Data Interfaces and Communication Interfaces → ABAP and XML → Transformations for XML → asXML - Canonical XML Representation → asXML - Mapping of ABAP Data Types →

asXML - Mapping of Elementary ABAP Types

The asXML representation of elementary ABAP types is used in XSL transformations and in Simple Transformations. In both cases, the elementary values or the elementary components of complex structures are converted in accordance with this mapping.

For elementary data objects with built-in ABAP types, the as representation is based on the representation of XML schema data types from the namespace xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema", where dates and times are represented in accordance with ISO-8601 and binary data is represented in accordance with Base64. The mapping of ABAP types to the XML schema data types is not fully bijective, due to the different value ranges. For example, a time zone can be specified for the XML schema data type xds:date, which is not possible for the ABAP type d.

Mapping Tables

Numeric Data Types

Character-Like Data Types

Byte-Like Data Types

Date Types and Time Types

Differences in Serialization

Differences in Deserialization

Notes

Some of the mapping rules can be overridden by specifying format, decimals, regime, and noError in the option attribute of the ST command tt:value.

Exceptions from mappings cannot be handled directly. Instead, the exception CX_TRANSFORMATION_ERROR (or one of its subclasses) from statement CALL TRANSFORMATION can be handled. The attribute PREVIOUS then contains a reference to the original exception.

The exceptions that occur when mapping the data types displayed here can in some cases be suppressed by specifying noError in the option attribute of the ST command tt:value.

Mapping Tables

Numeric Data Types

ABAP Type	ABAP Representation	XML Schema Type	XML Representation
b	123	xsd:unsignedByte	123
s	-123	xsd:short	-123
i	-123	xsd:int	-123
int8	-123	xsd:long	-123
p	-1.23	xsd:decimal	-1.23
decfloat16	123E+1	precisionDecimal, totalDigits = 16	1.23E+3
decfloat34	-3.140...0E+02	precisionDecimal, totalDigits = 34	-314.0...0
f	-3.140...0E+02	xsd:double	-3.14E2

Notes

In the ABAP type p, a number with more decimal places than available places (twice the length minus one) is considered to be invalid and cannot be serialized to asXML.

If noError is specified in the option attribute of the ST command tt:value, an invalid sign byte for type p is interpreted as a positive sign, which prevents the corresponding exception.

The type precisionDecimal is not yet an official XML schema type.

Character-Like Data Types

ABAP Type	ABAP Representation	XML Schema Type	XML Representation
c	" Hi"	xsd:string	_Hi
string	" Hello "	xsd:string	_Hello_
n	"001234"	xsd:string (pattern [0-9]+)	001234

Byte-Like Data Types

ABAP Type	ABAP Representation	XML Schema Type	XML Representation
x	ABCDEF	xsd:base64Binary	q83v
xstring	456789AB	xsd:base64Binary	RweJqw==

Date Types and Time Types

ABAP Type	ABAP Representation	XML Schema Type	XML Representation
d	"20020204"	xsd:date	2002-02-04
t	"201501"	xsd:time	20:15:01

Differences in Serialization

In serializations, ABAP values are converted to the appropriate character-like XML format. Deserializations operate in the opposite direction. Note the following differences to the usual conversion rules that apply in ABAP.

In serializations of decimal floating point numbers, the same format is created as for their conversion to type string.

When data objects with the type x are serialized, trailing bytes with the value hexadecimal 0 are handled in the same way as trailing blanks with data type c and are ignored.

When the following ABAP data objects are serialized to asXML, partial checks are made to see whether the ABAP data object has a valid value:

A data object with the type n can contain only digits.

A data object with the type p must represent a valid packed number.

A data object with the type d or t cannot contain any leading or closing blanks or the corresponding separator ("-" or ":").

Any violations of these rules raise handleable exceptions, some of which can be bypassed by specifying a transformation option after the OPTIONS addition of the CALL TRANSFORMATION statement.

Notes

To check the validity of dates and times, the domains XSDDATE_D and XSDTIME_T can be used instead of the data types d and t.

If noError is specified in the option attribute of the ST command tt:value, leading and trailing blanks are ignored for type n, which prevents the corresponding exception.

Differences in Deserialization

For deserialization to decimal floating point numbers, the conversion rule for source fields of the type c is used.

Serializations to an ABAP data object must retain the precision of the XML value:

Numeric types cannot lose any places.

In character-like or byte-like data types with fixed lengths (c, n, x), the target object must have enough places for the entire content, unless only leading and trailing blanks in data type c and leading zeros in data type n are affected.

Structures cannot be converted to elementary data objects.

Deserializations fill data objects of the type c or x with blanks or hexadecimal 0 on the right (as usual) if fewer characters or bytes are passed than can fit in the data object.

If the required XML element does not exist when the system is deserializing in an elementary data object, the elementary data object keeps its previous value. If an empty element is assigned to an elementary data object, it is set to its type-dependent initial value. To initialize the data object in either case, the transformation option clear can be used with the value "all".

Any violations of these rules raise handleable exceptions such as CX_SY_CONVERSION_DATA_LOSS, some of which can be bypassed by specifying a transformation option after the OPTIONS addition of the CALL TRANSFORMATION statement.

Executable Example

asXML, Mapping of Elementary Data Types