In the program attributes, you set the runtime environment of a program, and thus determine how it runs. The most important attribute is the program type. This specifies how the program can be executed.

The program attributes also tell you the application to which the program belongs, and, in the case of executable programs (reports), the name of any associated logical database.

Take care to enter the correct program attributes, otherwise the system will not be able to run the program properly. You maintain the program attributes on the ABAP: Program Attributes screen.

The following section provides information about program attributes. Note that some of these attributes only apply to executable programs (reports), and not to other ABAP program types. The field help and possible values help for the fields on the ABAP: Program Attributes screen provide further information.

These fields are used for version administration. The system fills them.

In the required entry field Title enter a program description that describes the function of the program. The system automatically includes the title into the text elements of the program. Thus, you can edit the title when maintaining the text elements.

The maintenance language is the logon language of the user who creates the program. The system fills this field automatically. You can change the maintenance language, if you maintain the program or its components in another logon language.

In the Type field, you must specify the execution mode of your program.

Use Type 1 (report) to declare your program as executable.. This means that the program can run on its own, and that you can start it in the R/3 system without a transaction code. You can also run executable programs (reports) in the background.

Use Type M to declare your program as a module pool. This means that your program cannot run on its own, but serves as a frame for program modules used for dialog programming. These program modules contain the application logic of a transaction and are called by a separately programmed screen flow logic (programming screens using the Screen Painter tool). The screen flow logic itself can be called via a transaction code only.

Apart form type 1 (for executable programs (reports)) and type M (for module pools), you should also know Type I for include programs. An inlcude program is an independent program with two main functions: On one hand, it contains program code that can be used by different programs. On the other hand, it modularizes source code, which consists of several different, logically related parts. Each of these parts is stored in a different include program. Include programs make your source code easier to read and maintain.

This entry describes the status of the program development; for example, T for test program.

In this field, you can enter the name of a program group. This allows you to group different programs together for authorization checks. The group name is a field of the two authorization objects S_DEVELOP (program development and program execution) and S_PROGRAM (program maintenance). Thus, you can assign authorizations to users according to program groups. For more information about creating function modules, refer to the Users and Authorizations documentation.

The development class is important for transports between systems. You combine all Workbench objects assigned to one development class in one transportation request.

If you are working in a team, you may have to assign your program to an existing development class, or you may be free to create a new class. All programs assigned to the development class $TMP are private objects and cannot be transported into other systems. You can enter the development class directly into this field. Otherwise, the system prompts for it when you save the attributes.

If you do not want the ABAP Editor to change the case of your code when you display the program, leave this field empty. If you select it, the program code (apart from literals and comments) is converted to uppercase. The screen display depends on the Editor mode.

If you set this attribute, other users cannot change, rename, or delete your program. Only you will be able to change the program, its attributes, text elements, and documentation, or release the lock.

If the attribute Fixed point arithmetic is set for a program, the system rounds type P fields according to the number of decimal places or pads them with zeros. The decimal sign in this case is always the period (.), regardless of the user’s personal settings. We recommend that you always set the fixed point arithmetic attribute.