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field references

Use

When material master records are maintained, the field reference determines for each field selection group if the field selection group is set to Hide, Display, Required entry , or Optional entry.

In Customizing for the Material Master, you can assign one or more of the following to a field reference:

You do this in the activity
Define Attributes of Material Types
You do this in the activity
Define Industry Sectors and Industry-Sector-Dependent Field Selection
You do this in the activity
Define Plant-Dependent Field Selection and Plant-Dependent Screen Selection

The following are already assigned to field references. These assignments cannot be changed.

The transaction field reference is normally the same as the transaction code, except for transactions for creating materials of a particular material type, all of which are assigned to the field reference MM01. If a material is created or changed by ALE, the transaction field reference MAL1 or MAL2 is used instead of MM01 or MM02 respectively.
For materials procured externally, the field reference F is always used. For materials produced in-house, the field reference E is always used.

The system determines whether a field is hidden or displayed, or whether an entry is mandatory or optional as follows:

1. It checks whether the plant, material type, industry sector, transaction, or procurement type are assigned to a field reference. It also checks the following field references:
These field references are valid client-wide and must not be changed.
This field reference is also valid client-wide, but may be changed.
2. For these field references, it determines whether the field selection group to which the field is assigned is set to Hide, Display, Required entry, or Optional entry. These settings have the following priority (1 = highest):
Setting Priority
Hide 1
Display 2
Required entry 3
Optional entry 4
1. The system uses the setting with the highest priority.
Example
The field selection group is 010 and the field references and field options are as follows:
Field reference Field option
Ind. sector M Optional field
Transaction MM03 Display
Plant 0002 Hide
In this case, all fields assigned to field selection group 010 are hidden since the field option Hide has a higher priority than Display or Optional entry.

Dependencies

Field references are defined in Customizing for the Material Master in the activity Maintain Field Selection for Data Screens .