Creating and Changing ABAP Programs (SAP Library - BC

Creating and Changing ABAP Programs

ABAP programs are objects of the R/3 Repository. Like all other Repository objects, you maintain them using an ABAP Workbench tool - in this case, the ABAP Editor.

This section provides a brief description of the ABAP Workbench and an overview of how to create and edit ABAP programs. It describes the different ways of starting the ABAP Editor. In the text below, 'open a program' always means 'start the ABAP Editor and use it to open a program'.

Starting the ABAP Editor

To start the ABAP Editor to create or change ABAP programs, the R/3 system offers three possibilities:

Using the Repository Browser

The Repository Browser in the ABAP Workbench (transaction SE80) offers a hierarchical overview of all R/3 Repository objects, ordered by development class, user name of the programmer, object type, and so on. If you enter a program name, you can directly access all of its components, such as the main program, subroutines, and global data. If you select a program object in the Repository Browser and choose Change, the system automatically opens the appropriate tool; in this case, the ABAP Editor.

This method is suitable for complex programs, since the Repository Browser always provides you with an overview of all of the program components.

Using the ABAP Editor

You can open a program directly by choosing ABAP Editor from the initial screen of the ABAP Workbench (Transaction SE38). If you want to change a program using this method, you must already know its name and environment.

This procedure is suited for maintaining or creating relatively simple or short programs, which have few or no additional components.

Using Forward Navigation

In any of the tools in the ABAP Workbench, you can open a different Repository object by positioning the cursor on it and double-clicking. The system automatically opens the object using the correct tool. This also applies to ABAP programs.

Forward navigation by double-clicking is possible wherever an ABAP program is called from another object, such as screen flow logic or another program.

Naming ABAP Programs

The name of an ABAP program can be between 1 and 30 characters long. It cannot contain any of the following characters: Period (.), comma (,), space (), parentheses (), apostrophe (‘), inverted commas ("), equals sign (=), asterisk (*), accented characters or German umlauts (à, é, ø, ä, ß, and so on), percentage signs (%), or underscores (_).

Program Attributes

Like many other Repository objects, ABAP programs have attributes, which are important in determining the function of the program within the R/3 System. For an overview of program attributes, refer to Maintaining Program Attributes.

Source Code

ABAP source code defines the processing logic of R/3 application programs. For an introduction to writing source code, refer to Editing Programs.