In Release 3.0A, ABAP/4 Query contains a number of enhancements and improvements which are described in the following overview.
New Features for Maintaining Queries
- Navigation
- Local fields
- New header maintenance handling
- Switch off standard title when printing
- Fixed columns and headers
- Search function for fields in functional areas
- Graphics settings for basic lists
- Delete basic list definition
- Technical documentation of fields
- Change history of queries
New Features in Query Lists
- Drill-down functionality in multiple line basic lists
- Totals display in basic lists
- Compressing statistics
- Selections display
- Display as table with table view control
- List backup improved
- New procedure for printing query lists
- New layout for selection screens
New Features for Maintaining Functional Areas
- Select options for functional areas
- Assigning functional areas to user groups
- Technical documentation of fields
- Update function in query directory
- Assignment of functional area to user groups
- Passing on attributes of data retrieval program
New Features for Maintaining User Groups
- Assigning users to user groups
- Copying user groups
New Features for Transporting Query Objects
- Transport using files
- Transporting variants of query reports
- Error handling during imports
New Features for Language Comparison
- New transaction for language comparison
New Features for Maintaining Queries
Navigation
Navigation within the component Maintain Queries
has been improved so that there are now three different copies of all screens
concerned with maintaining basic lists, statistics and ranked lists. Each
screen contains all the relevant information for the current processing step.
On the screens for defining the line structure of a basic list, this normally
includes the field names and the input fields for defining the line number,
position, sorting and summation. One screen copy contains just this
information, another screen copy contains descriptions of the input fields,
and a third screen copy contains an overview of the structure of the basic
list, statistic or ranked list just defined. The pushbuttons on each screen
allow you to toggle between these three screen copies. The screen containing
the list just defined is normally displayed first. If, however, you want to
display the screen with the descriptions first, select Settings
-> Define... and specify accordingly.
The above information does not apply to header maintenance screens or to the
graphics screen. Since header maintenance screens always contain the line
structure of the sub-list, only two screen copies exist here, one with and one
without descriptions. The screen used to define graphics settings for a
sub-list exists only in one copy.
Local fields
Previously, whenever you needed information not available in a predefined
field of the functional area, the only way to retrieve it was to extend the
functional area. If, for example, the functional area contained a field for
the number of items and a field for the currency amount, but no field for the
price of this number of items, you could not output the price in the query
until you had included an additional field for the purpose in the functional
area.
From Release 3.0A, you can generate new information for your query from the
fields which already exist in the functional area. This means that you can
specify a calculation formula known only within the query for fields you
define yourself. These fields are known as local fields.
To define the calculation formula for a local field, you must specify the
existing fields in the functional area by name. The field names used in the
query are not suitable for calculation formulae because they can consist of
several long words. Therefore, on the Select Field
screen, you can assign a short name of up to 10 characters to all fields of
the functional area. This short name must begin with a letter and can contain
only letters, digits and the character _ . You only have to assign a short
name to a field from the functional area if you are using the field in a
calculation formula of a local field or as a replacement variable in a header
(see below).
To assign a short name to a field, select Edit -> Short names
-> Switch on/off on the Select
Field screen. The system then displays, for each field of the
functional area, an additional input field where you can enter the short names
for the required fields.
To define a local field, select Edit -> Local field ->
Create on the Select Field screen. You
then see a window where you can enter all the necessary information for
defining a local field. This information includes a short name, a long text,
headers and the functional group that is supposed to contain the local field.
You must also enter information about the type of values you want to store in
the local field. To do this, you can either assign the same attributes to the
local field as to an already existing field, or specify yourself whether the
field is a text field, a calculation field, a date field, a time field, a
symbol field or an icon field. If you decide to define the attributes by
referring to an existing field, you have several advantages. Firstly, the
local field can always accept the same values as the reference field.
Secondly, the local field inherits the currency or unit assignment of the
reference field, if the reference field is a currency amount fields or a
quantity field. In this case, the local field itself becomes the currency
amount field or quantity field.
Symbol and icon fields are fields that are specially interpreted as symbols or
icons on output to the list. As a result, an appropriate graphical
representation appears in the list.
There are two ways of assigning the values to a local field. If you specify
the field value by entering it on the query selection screen, the local field
is treated like a parameter with a value defined once by entering it. However,
this option is not meant for symbol and icon fields. If you determine the
field value by means of a calculation formula, the value of the local field is
then recalculated whenever one of the fields in the calculation formula
changes its value.
Generally, a calculation formula comprises a single formula. Formulae follow
the usual mathematical rules and consist of operands and operators.
Valid operands include the short names of fields, as well as numeric constants
and character strings. There are also certain special fields availablen. These
are:
- %NAME: Name of user processing the query
- %DATE: Current date when processing the query
- %TIME: Current time when processing the query
In addition, you can define extracts from character string fields. With date
and time fields, you can choose the individual components (i.e. day, month,
year, hour, minute, second).
To define the values of symbol and icon fields, formulae can contain the names
of symbols and icons. These names begin with SYM_ or ICON_ and can be
determined using the appropriate functions. A formula that contains a symbol
or an icon can only consist of the symbol or icon, i.e. symbols and icons
cannot be linked with other operands.
Valid operators include the basic calculation types, as well as DIV and MOD.
You can also use parentheses in the usual way. For a detailed description,
please refer to the online documentation.
The calculation of the field value may depend on a condition. In this case,
the value is determined with a calculation formula only if the condition is
also satisfied. If the condition is not satisfied, the field is set to the
initial value. Conditions are formulated using boolean formulae which consist
of comparisons that can be linked with the operators NOT, AND and OR. You can
also use parentheses in the usual way. For a detailed description, please
refer to the online documentation.
In more complex cases, the calculation of the field value may depend on any
number of conditions, i.e. the value is calculated differently, depending
which condition applies. You can also specify a calculation formula for cases
where none of the conditions is satisfied. For this, you use the
Complex calculation function displayed in the window for
maintaining a local field.
When formulating the calculation formula, you can use various functions to
display the available short names, symbols and icons. You can also choose a
short name, symbol or icon from the display and transfer it to the position
withint the formula where the cursor previously was.
When you have made all the necessary specifications to define a local field in
the window, select Continue to return to the
Select Field screen. The field you have just defined
has been included in the specified functional group and can now be used in all
other screens just like any other field from the functional area.
To change or delete a local field, place the cursor on the local field in the
Select Field and choose the relevant function from
the Edit menu.
New header maintenance handling
Previously, the headers for basic lists, statistics and ranked lists were
predefined and could only be changed in a very restricted way. As a result,
column headers which were changed and then did not correspond to the standard
proposal could not be automatically adjusted if the line structure in the
query definition was changed.
In Release 3.0A, ABAP/4 Query handles headers differently. There are now two
types of header lines. Fixed header lines depend on the line structure of the
query, while lines with column headers are for the fields output in the
individual lines of the list. You can define any number of header lines. The
maintenance of column headers is such that the system can automatically modify
the column headers if the line structure changes.
Also new is the ability to define any number of footer lines at the end of a
page. Within fixed header lines and footer lines, you can access the field
values from the query again. This allows you, for example, to place a sort
criterion in the header line and thus dispense with a text at the beginning of
a sort criterion (control level).
The header maintenance screens have been adjusted accordingly. Each screen
shows the general structure of the sub-list, starting with the header lines,
then the line structure, and finally the footer lines. Standard proposals are,
of course, available for the header lines as before.
You can maintain fixed header lines on the maintenance screen just by entering
values. The Edit menu contains functions that allow
you to insert or delete lines. Alternatively, you can use the existing
function keys. Blank header lines are not output in the list. While basic
lists do not require any header lines, you must specifiy at least one with
statistics and ranked lists because, according to the previous conventions,
this must contain the title of the statistic or ranked list. The system
generates a standard proposal for this line.
In general, the rules for footer lines are the same as those for fixed header
lines. Footer lines can accept input and you maintain them by entering values.
The appropriate functions in the Edit menu and the
corresponding function keys allow you to insert and delete lines. Blank footer
lines are not output. In any case, it is not possible to vary the number of
footer lines from sub-list to sub-list for technical reasons. If, for example,
a query includes a basic list and a statistic and you define four footer lines
for the basic list but only one footer line for the statistic, five lines are
reserved for output of the page footer on every page of the list that contains
the statistic (the first line in the page footer is always an underscore).
You can define fixed header lines and footer lines so that the values of any
fields can be inserted into these lines when the query list is generated. This
means that, when you define a header line or footer line, there must be a
character string of the type &field within the line,
where field must be the short name of a field. When the list
is generated, the effect of the operator & is such that
the character sequence &field is replaced by the current
value of the field field. There are several special fields
you can use to replace values. These are:
- %NAME: Name of user processing the query
- %DATE: Current date when processing the query
- %TIME: Current time when processing the query
- %PAGE: Current page number (6-characters)
- %P : Current page number (3-characters)
For these special fields, there are also the short forms N,
D, T and P . However, this can result in multiple
meaning since the names are also used as short names for query fields. In such
cases, the field value from the query is always used for replacement
purposes.
Column headers are no longer maintained by line, but by field. This means that
you can define a query-specific header for each field, if you do not want to
use the header supplied by the functional area. The individual lines of the
column headers are then calculated from the field headers. Maintenance by
field has the advantage that the column headers can be refreshed automatically
whenever the line structure changes.
Normally, ABAP/4 Query proposes column headers for all lines. Column headers
for one line of a sub-list (basic list, statistic, ranked list) can consist of
one or two lines, since the column header for a field can cover one or two
lines. Statistics and ranked lists usually have two-line column headers.
If you do not want any column headers for a line of your query, place the
cursor on the relevant line in the Column header or
Line structure area and select Edit
-> Column header -> Delete line or press the appropriate
function key. If you require column headers, place the cursor on the relevant
line in the Line structure and select
Edit -> Column header -> Insert line or press the
appropriate function key. With basic lists, you can define the column headers
as before on the List Line Output Options
screen.
As already indicated, modifying column headers is possible only by changing
the header for each individual field. For this reason, you cannot change
column headers on the maitenance screens. If you want a different column
header for a field than the proposed header, place the cursor on the field
concerned in the Column header area and select
Edit -> Column header -> Maintain or press the
appropriate function key. You then see a window where you can define your own
field header or revert to the standard proposal. Please note that a field in a
query can only have one header. This means that when you define your own field
header, this is the header which will always be used when a column header is
needed for this field in the query. Please also note that, with currency
amount fields and quantity fields in statistics and ranked lists, the second
line of the column header is always used to specify the reference unit. You
can change the column headers for fields as described above on the header
maintenance screen. It is also possible to do this on the Select
Field screen. To do this, place the cursor on the relevant field
and select Edit -> Column header ->
Maintain.
Statistics and ranked lists may have different additional fields. These
contain information about the number of records read, the percentage
proportion, the average value, and the rank specification. You cannot change
the column header for these fields.
Please note that, although the number of header lines in the page header and
page footer is unrestricted, the total number of these lines must be smaller
than the number of lines per page. You can check this condition only partially
in the query definition because the number of lines per page can change when
you execute the query (e.g. when printing or processing in the background). If
this condition is violated at processing time, the program is terminated.
All the options mentioned for maintaining header and footer lines are
described in detail in the online documentation. The maintenance screens
contain appropriate help texts for all input and output fields.
Switch off standard title when printing
When you print a list or process it in the background, each page has two
title lines that do not appear in the screen display. These title lines
(standard title) contain the date, the title of the query and the page
numbering.
The new header maintenance options allow you to include information like the
date and the page numbering in the page header of the screen display. For such
queries, it would be inconvenient if the standard title still appeared with
printed output. Therefore, the Title, Format screen
contains a new option that allows you to suppress output of the standard title
for print output.
Fixed columns and headers
With lists wider than the window on the screen, you were previously able to
shift the entire list horizontally, i.e. a shift to the left always moved the
first characters on a line out of the visible area. However, it is often
useful in such horizontal shifts to be able to keep the first characters on a
line visible, since they contain essential information for the interpretation
of key columns. From Release 3.0A, key columns are supported for each sub-list
of a query.
With basic lists, you define key columns on the Field Output
Options screen by assigning the color attribute
Key to the fields you want to remain visible after a horizontal
shift of the list in the visible area of the screen. Please note that, when
you define a fixed area of a list, this applies to a whole page and there can
be no variation from line to line within that page. Depending on what you
specify, ABAP/4 Query thus calculates for key columns a character position
beyond which you cannot go when scrolling horizontally in the visible area of
the screen. This means that, with multiple line basic lists, only part of a
field may belong to the fixed area of a page.
With statistics and ranked lists, the key columns are determined by the query
itself. The color attribute Key is automatically
assigned to all non-numeric fields of a query according to the previous
conventions and this procedure is retained. In addition, these fields now
automatically become key columns and thus always remain visible when you
perform a horizontal shift.
In the case of horizontal shifts of lines in the page header and page footer,
fixed header lines and lines in the page footer cannot usually be shifted
horizontally. Column headers behave like assigned fields, i.e. the column
headers of fields that are key columns cannot be shifted horizontally
either.
Search function for fields in functional areas
If many functional areas are assigned to a user group and these functional
areas contain a multiplicity of fields, it can be difficult to select the
correct functional area when recreating a query. On the other hand, this
choice is decisive and cannot be reversed later (i.e. when the query already
exists).
When you recreate a query, you see as always a list of functional areas
assigned to the user group and must choose one of these. From Release 3.0A,
this screen provides you with a search function which allows you to scan
strings within the functional areas. This function determines all the fields
that contain the specified strings. The result is a list of all those
functional areas containing fields that satisfy the search condition, as well
as the fields themselves. From this list, you can choose the functional
area.
There is a similar function on the Select Field
screen. Here, you can also scan for any string, but the search is restricted
to the fields of the functional area used to define the query. The result is a
list of all the fields of the functional area that contain one of the strings
specified. In this display, you can choose fields by selecting a checkbox, so
that when you return to the Select Field screen,
they are flagged as selected.
Graphics settings for basic lists
As already possible with statistics and ranked lists, you can now set parameters for the graphical representation of basic lists. Previously, these definitions were standard. However, please note that this is possible only for one-line basic lists and that the maintenance of graphics settings only makes sense for one-line basic lists.
Deleting the basic list definition
Another new service function is Delete -> Basic list on the Basic List Line Structure screen. This allows you to delete the basic list in a query definition correctly and corresponds to the functions for deleting statistics and ranked lists.
Technical documentation of fields
By selecting Extras -> Field documentation, you can now display technical information about the field as well as documentation. Details include the type, the output length and, if relevant, the number of digits and the number of decimal places.
Change history of queries
When you select Extras -> Status info... , the system now displays the name of the last person to change the query as well as the author. Only one person per day is specified.
New Features in Query Lists
Previously, query lists only offered interactive functions allowing you to pass on a list for further processing (save, EXCEL, download to file, etc.). Interactive functions allowing you to present information from the list at different stages of compression were not supported. From Release 3.0A, ABAP/4 Query provides several such options.
Drill-down functionality in multiple line basic lists
Suppose you want to define a four-line basic list which contains the
customer address in the first three lines and that customer's sales figures
(fiscal year, sales) in the fourth line. According to the previous
conventions, the address would be output not only for each custoemer, but also
for all sales figures. You can now display a list showing only all the
addresses first (compressed format). If you then place the cursor on an
address and select Choose , press the appropriate
function key or double-click, you get another (detailed) list that contains
the address and sales figures for the selected customer. Subsequently, you can
select Back to return to the original list and then
display the sales figures for another customer.
Several degrees of compression are possible (not just two as described in the
example). The degree to which you can compress a list and the line of a
multiple line basic list output at a particular compression level depends on
the query with reference to the structure of the logical database. You cannot
alter this when defining a query unless you change the structure of the
individual lines.
Compressed format is a display option that occurs only with multiple line
basic lists. However, the fact that a basic list is a multiple line list is
not sufficient to allow compressed format. If a three-line basic list
contains, for example, only the customer's address details, the basic list
cannot be displayed in compressed format.
If a basic list allows compressed format display, you will have this option
when you display the list. You can switch between compressed and expanded
format (expanded was usual up to now) at any time by selecting
Edit -> Basic list format -> Expand <-> Compress.
When defining the query, you can define on the Basic List Line
Structure screen whether you want the first dispaly of the list
to be compressed or expanded.
You can also use the compressed format option with all the queries from
earlier Releases without having to make any changes to the query
definition.
Totals display in basic lists
If you are summing fields in a basic list, the output display always
contains an overall total and (where defined) sub-totals for the different
sort levels. Output of the totals lines is at the end of the list or after
each sort level, when all the individual values contributing to the total have
been displayed.
With lists containing totals, you can always use the Totals
only function to display a secondary list showing only the
totals lines. To return to the original list, select
Back .
Compressing statistics
The last line of statistics is always a totals line containing the overall
total. Statistics may also contain sub-totals lines. As with the totals
display for basic lists, you can display a secondary list with only the
sub-totals lines and the overall total. To do this, you place the cursor on
any line of a statistic and select Compress
statistic.
You can compress statistics progressively in several stages, depending on how
many sort levels with sub-totals have been defined. The first time you use the
compression function, all the sub-totals lines and the overall total are
displayed. If you select the function again, the sub-totals lines at the
lowest sort level in the list (i.e. the sort level with the largest sort
number) are no longer output. Every time you call the function again, the
sub-totals of another sort level are removed from the display. You can
continue this compression process until the list cotains only the overall
total. By repeatedly calling the Back function, you
can gradually redisplay the hidden lines and return to the complete statistic
on the original screen.
You can also compress statistics defined without sub-totals. In this case, of
course, you get a list containing only the overall total the first time you
call the function.
Selections display
For each query list generated, you can use the
Selections function to display the selection screen or the
values entered on the selection screen. The system outputs this information in
a dialog box. Since the function is also available for saved lists, it is easy
to determine the selections used when you first generated them.
Caution: You cannot display the selections for lists saved before Release
3.0.
Display as table with table view control
The Display as table function allows you to
output one-line basic lists, statistics and ranked lists in a special format.
When you call the function, you see a screen which displays the data of the
selected sub-list in a table view control. Totals lines and lines with control
level texts are not included in this display.
The advantage of this type of list lies in the interactive functions (column
switching, storage of settings, etc.) provided by the table view control. Yet
more functions are available when you make use of the options the table view
control offers for line and column selection.
Two important functions are those allowing you to sort in ascending or
descending order. When you select one or more columns and call one of the sort
functions, the system then sorts by the columns you selected, starting on the
left. This means that the highest selection criterion refers to the column on
the extreme left of the display. By switching and marking columns, you can
sort the data any way you like. Sorted columns are flagged.
The Sum function allows you to form totals. It
calculates an overall total for each numeric column, and sub-totals for all
selected and sorted columns. To get sub-totals for a particular sort
criterion, you must first sort by this criterion by selecting the column (as
well as other columns, if necessary) and then calling a sort function. Then,
you select the column again and call the Sum
function.
All totals lines are flagged. The Display totals
only function allows you to restrict the display to the
sub-totals and the overall total. If you select Switch off
totals , all totals lines are removed from the display.
The Find and Continue
search functions allow you to perform a search in columns you
have selected, although you cannot search in numeric columns.
The Find function requests you to enter a search
criterion and then begins the search in the first visible line or in the first
line of the table. If it finds a match, the system places the cursor on the
found term and scrolls the table so that it appears in the first visible line
at the top of the screen.
The Continue search function searches for a
criterion previously specified. The search starts from the cursor position, if
this is in the table area, or from the first visible line of the table, if it
is not. By selecting Find and then calling
Continue search repeatedly, you can scan a table for each
occurrence of a particular search criterion.
If the criterion is not found, or no more occurences are found, you get an
appropriate message.
You can use the Hide lines/columns function to
suppress selected lines and columns. This way, you can restrict the display to
the relevant sections and make it more readable. The functions for sorting,
summing, searching and printing always refer to the visible dataset, i.e. they
ignore hidden lines and columns. You can also save a setting with hidden
columns as a variant of the table view control.
The Show lines/columns function allows to re-display
hidden lines and columns.
Finally, there are two other functions you can use to fix column positions or
to release the fix. With wide lists, not all columns are visible in the table
view control, but you can scroll across using a horizontal scroll bar.
Initially, all fields move when you scroll horizontally. However, if you
select a column and then call the Fix column
function, the selected column and all columns to the left of it remain fixed
in the display when you scroll horizontally. Before you do this, all columns
to be fixed must be in their original position. To release fixed columns,
select Cancel fix .
If you select the Print function, the system prints
the table exactly as it appears on the screen. This takes into account only
visible lines and columns, as well as sorting, totals lines, column switches
and column width changes. The Display initial
function allows you to return the table to its appearance when first
displayed. This means that all preceding steps (sorting, summation, hiding
lines and columns, etc.) are cancelled.
The table view control display also includes the interactive functions
allowing you to pass the list on for further processing. However, you should
be aware in this context that hidden lines are ignored, but hidden columns are
always taken into account.
The procedure for the Graphics function is different
from that in the list display. To display a sequence of values in graphical
format, you must first select the column from which you want the numerical
values to be taken. Then, you must select all the lines from which values are
to be taken. Remember that you can select no more than 32 lines and that
values from totals lines cannot processed in the graphic.
List backup improved
List backup has been improved so that the colors assigned to lines are not lost. If a list contains fixed columns, they are flagged as fixed in the display of a saved list and cannot be scrolled horizontally. Once again, these improvements do not apply to lists saved prior to Release 3.0.
New procedure for printing query lists
Previously, if you displayed a list on the screen and then called the
Print function, the list was not re-formatted, i.e.
the page structure was the same as in the screen display. This is normal
practice when printing from a list display.
From Release 3.0, a query list is re-formatted if you print it from the screen
display. This means you can adapt it to suit any printer you are using. The
print process thus works exactly the same as when you select
Execute and print on the selection screen.
With saved lists, the old method still applies, i.e. they are not re-formatted
and are thus printed exactly as they appear on the screen.
New layout for selection screens
On the selection screens of generated reports, radio buttons are used for the further processing option instead of checkboxes.
New Features for Maintaining Functional Areas
Select options for functional areas
When defining a functional area previously, you were able to define
parameters which appear on every selection screen of a query defined using
this functional area. From Release 3.0A, you can also define selection
criteria (select options) for a functional area.
Since a selection criterion is defined for a particular field, you must always
specify the field to which the selection criterion refers. This field cannot
be a field of a linked SAP table, nor an additional field. The selection
criterion can thus only be a field from the logical database or, in the case
of a functional area without an underlying database, a field of the table used
to set up the functional area. The selection criterion can also refer to a
field defined in the DATA code of the functional area.
Once a selection criterion has been defined once for a functional area, it
appears on the selection screen for all queries which use this functional
area. As with parameters, however, it is not the definition of the selection
criterion alone which actually results in selections, i.e. the data records
are not excluded from the processing simply if they do not satisfy the
selection criterion. To achieve this, you must use the ABAP/4 statement CHECK
at the appropriate GET event or at the time of record processing to evaluate
the selection criterion.
As with defining parameters, it is possible to specify additions which allow
the ABAP/4 statement SELECT-OPTIONS permits. You can also use a sequence
number to specify the sequecen of parameters and selection criteria on the
report selection screen, i.e. this sequence number applies for both parameters
and selection criteria.
Technical documentation of fields
By selecting Extras -> Field documentation, you can now display technical information about the field as well as documentation. Details include the type, the output length and, if relevant, the number of digits and the number of decimal places. They also tell you whether the the field is a currency amount field, a currency field, a quantity field or a unit field.
Update function in query directory
In the query directory (which you access by selecting Goto
-> Query directory ), you can now regenerate the query report
for all selected queries by selecting Generate .
When you do this, the generation is not performed at once. Rather, a flag is
set for each selected query to show that the report must be regenerated the
next time the query is executed.
This function is sometimes useful if you have made changes to a functional
area. If the changes are important to the flow of the query because, for
example, the code for an additional field has changed, you can use this
function to regenerate all queries affected the next time you execute and thus
include the code change for the additional field.
Assigning functional areas to user groups
Previously, you could only assign a functional area to one or more user groups with the appropriate function in the component Maintain User Groups. This same function is now also available in the component Maintain Functional Areas. This means that, when you create or change a functional area, you can immediately call a function to assign this functional area to user groups.
Passing on the attributes of a data retrieval program
In the case of functional areas which use a data retrieval program, the attributes of this program were previously ignored when generating associated query reports, i.e. the details about the logical database were not taken over from the data retrieval program. From Release 3.0, the attributes are passed on to every generated report. This means that, in special cases, you can write a data retrieval program which uses a logical database. However, although the logical database can be used for data acquisition purposes, the data to be evaluated by the query must be made available in a (flat) table.
New Features for Maintaining User Groups
Assigning users to user groups
Previously, a user could only be assigned to different user groups by
calling each individual user group and entering or deleting the user. This
procedure can be tedious if you have users that have to be entered in several
different user groups.
Release 3.0A contains an enhanced function for assigning users to user groups.
When you enter the user name now, you see a screen containing all existing
user groups with a checkbox for each one. The checkbox tells you whether the
specified user is assigned to a user group or not. By maintaining the
checkboxes, you can change the assignment of the user.
Copying user groups
A new service function allowing you to copy user groups is also new to user group maitenance in Release 3.0A. Any copied user group contains the same users as the original and is assigned to the same functional areas. When copying, you can also specify whether you want to copy the queries as well.
New Features for Transporting Query Objects
Transport using files
You can now transport query objects by uploading/downloading files. To do
this, you use the Download and
Upload options on the initial screen of the transport
system.
The transport action Download works like the
transport action Export , except that the transport
dataset is not written to the transport table TAQTS, but to a file defined in
the dialog. Since you cannot use the transport system to transport this file,
no transport request is created as with exports. You should bear in mind that
a file can contain only one transport dataset because the upload cannot handle
more than one. If the system finds that the desired file already exists when
downloading, the file will be overwritten or you must choose a different one.
An existing file should never be extended. The transport action
Upload works like the transport action
Import, except that the transport dataset is not taken from the
transport table TAQTS, but from a file which is defined in the dialog. The
same checks are performed.
Transporting variants of query reports
Although you are already able to create and use query variants, it was not
previously possible to transport them, since query reports are temporary
objects which have different names in the target client. Now, you can include
these variants in the transport dataset and transport them with other objects.
To do this, you have to use the Export and
Import procedure. If you use
Download and Upload, variants cannot
be transported.
On the initial screen of the transport system, there is a checkbox you can
select to indicate that you are transporting variants. If this is set, all
variants of the queries to be transported are also included in the transport
dataset. This checkbox has only one meaning, if the transport action
Export is set. In all other cases, it is either ignored or
reset.
When importing, a variant is only included in the target client if it does not
already exist.
When you transport variants, they are also listed in all logs. By performing a
test export, you can thus determine which variants are included in the
transport dataset. By performing a test import, you can deetermine which
variants are actually imported and which ones cannot be imported because they
already exist.
Error handling during imports
When importing previously, the processing was always terminated as soon as the first serious error occurred. Now, with imports and uploads, the processing continues with the next object to be imported. There may, however, still be errors in this procedure.
New Features for Language Comparison
New transaction for language comparison
Release 3.0A contains a new transaction (SQ07) for language comparison of
query objects (i.e. user groups, functional areas and queries). This replaces
the three previous transactions (SQ04, SQ05 and SQ06). The new transaction
requires you to have an authorization for the authorization object S_QUERY
with the value Translate (67). This authorization is included
in the supplied authorizations S_QUERY_ALL and S_QUERY_UPD. The old
transactions should no longer be used because they cannot handle the new
features in Release 3.0A.
On the initial screen of the new transaction, you specify the source and
target languages, the type of the object to be compared and the object name.
Input help is available for this. You start the comparison by pressing
ENTER.
The next screen contains an overview of the selected object and includes all
sub-objects to which texts have been assigned (e.g. functional groups,
database fields, headers and so on). Before each sub-object, there is a radio
button which provides information about the state of the sub-object with
regard to language comparison. If this radio button is set, the texts are
compared (otherwise not). Whereas you can use the Only
differences function to display just the sub-objects which still
need to be adjusted, the All texts function allows
you to display all sub-objects (if they are not all displayed already). To
compare the texts of a sub-object, you must place the cursor on the sub-object
and select Choose . You then see a screen containing
the texts for comparison, listed in pairs. The 'older' text of a pair is
flagged if the texts have not been compared. All texts can be overwritten, but
it is not possible to delete an existing text.
The Next sub-object and Previous
sub-object functions allow you to display the next or previous
sub-object on the screen for comparison without having to return to the list
of sub-objects and make another choice. To go back to the list, you can use
the Close function.
You must save the result of a language comparison before leaving the
transaction.
When upgrading to Release 3.0A, you do not have to follow any procedure to
convert existing queries, functional areas and user groups. All the necessary
steps are performed automatically by ABAP/4 Query the first time you use the
objects in the new Release. However, conversions are required for headers,
since the handling of these has changed considerably since earlier
Releases.
The conversion of headers is performed in such a way that the layout of each
list is retained. Standard headers become column headers. Headers which do not
conform to the standard format become fixed header lines. With statistics and
ranked lists, an underscore is inserted in the header area if you use your own
headers.
The color attribute Key now has an additional meaning. Fields with this attribute are key columns and cannot be shifted horizontally when you scroll the display. This is particularly important with statistics and ranked lists where all non-numeric fields automatically have this color attribute and it is not possible to make any changes.
All the new options for defining queries, together with the relevant messages, are described in detail in the online documentation.