ABAP Text Pool
Numbering
All texts that are defined in a program have to be stored in the text pool provided with a number. Otherwise, they cannot be translated.
Length
The length of the texts should be identified by an end mark (;;).
The end mark shows the translator the position at which the text must end.
Since the Basis department does not yet support the end mark, the texts may currently only be written by specifying the length.
WRITE: /(35) TEXT-001
Logically Related Texts
Texts that are logically related should also be stored as such in the text pool so that the relation can be recognized.
Delete A01 object. ;;
A02 Do you really want to delete ;;
object A03? ;;
Create object B01;;
B02 Do you really want to create ;;
object B03? ;;
It is better to store texts twice (A02 = B02) than to define them as continuous texts that cannot be interpreted at runtime.
In this example, it is very dangerous to use the partial string A02 for both sentences. This results in complications in the foreign language.
Even if the texts can be translated, it is very difficult in almost all cases to create a syntactically correct sentence. The following example illustrates this.
English Example
Do you want to delete Do you want to create
this object? this object?
Here, the second part of the sentence is identical, compared to the first part in the original German sentence. If the partial string A02 was used for both sentences, the translator would be forced to stick to the German word order. It would be unreasonable to expect foreign language users to read such irregular (German) word orders in the foreign language:
Do you really want this object Do you really want this object
to delete? to create?
Compounds
Sentences that are put together by developers from several independent partial strings can never be translated correctly because, on the one hand, the translator does not know the context (at least, if the texts are scattered across the text pool) and, on the other hand, the word order cannot be changed.
Even in one-line sentences, the following text output could not be translated as the English translation shows:
Text 001 = 'Wollen Sie das Objekt'. 'Do you want object'
Text 002 = 'löschen?'. 'to delete?'
WRITE: Text 001, object name, text 002.
The following would be correct:
Text 001 = 'Do you want &1 to delete the object ?'.
Help field = text 001.
REPLACE '&1' WITH object name INTO help field.
WRITE: Help field.
Text Numbers That are Available Again
Text numbers that are available for reuse should never be used for other texts during the program enhancement. Please always create a new text with a new number, because it cannot be guaranteed that the standard foreign language has the same status as the current German version.
Continuous Text
If possible, you should not store continuous text in the ABAP text pool.
In future, the display of continuous text within a list will be supported by the development environment. However, another clipboard will be used for this.
Data Element Keywords
The direct output of data element keywords (WRITE: DTEL-KEYWORD) within a list is currently not possible.