Generic Table Types (SAP Library

Generic Table Types

A generic table type does not define all the attributes of an internal table in the ABAP Dictionary; it leaves some of these attributes undefined.

A table type is generic in the following cases:

Index table or not specified is selected for the access type,

Not specified is selected for the key definition,

Not specified is selected for the key category.

Generic table types are used to define the types of generic table parameters in function modules and forms.

Example

If a generic table type with the index table access type is used as the parameter of a function module, you can pass either a sorted table or a standard table in the call.

Generic table types offer a degree of freedom in the arguments passed in the corresponding calls.

Since generic table types do not define all the necessary attributes of an internal table, they cannot be used to define data objects (with DATA) or types (with TYPE).