Mappings and ABAP Type Editor

Defines additional type information about properties using ABAP Type Editor and the corresponding ABAP field names and facilitating mapping between ABAP type and EDM type

Introduction

Use the ABAP Type Editor to define additional type information about properties and the corresponding ABAP field names. To facilitate the mapping between ABAP type and EDM type, you can select the determination mode, Structure Binding at Entity or Complex Type, Explicit Assignment or Determination by Runtime Object Generator, that is to be used. If you choose Structure Binding at Entity or Complex Type an ABAP structure is assigned to the entity type or complex type as appropriate. The automatic ABAP type assignment is derived from the EDM type. You can assign an ABAP structure at entity type or context type level, but not at the level of the individual properties. The ABAP structure that is assigned to the entity type or complex type is subsequently used by the generator. If an ABAP structure is not assigned at design time, the generator will subsequently generate a new structure based on the type information displayed. If you click Explicit Assignment, you can maintain the category and subsequently the fields that are applicable for this category become ready for input. Fields that are not applicable remain read only. Use the explicit assignment if you specifically do not want an automatic assignment to take place. Note that structure binding overwrites any explicit assignments that have been maintained.

Exact correlations between ABAP types and EDM types are not always possible due to their individual facets and the automatic determination of a corresponding ABAP or EDM type might not be a perfect match. Consequently, you must always review determined type mappings to ensure that you choose the best match possible. The Service Builder includes a validation check that determines possible inconsistencies and appropriate warning messages are displayed so that you can prevent the loss of data that might otherwise arise through the mapping of ABAP type to EDM type and/or vice versa. The check distinguishes between potential loss of data, possible conversion errors, and the applicability of ABAP types.

Mapping ABAP Types and EDM Types

The following example focuses on ABAP Datetime handling for properties with Edm.Datetime as just one example where inconsistencies can arise when mapping ABAP types and EDM types. For the Edm.Datetime property, in the backend, an ABAP field can be represented as a simple date or timestamp with fractional seconds or a timestamp without fractional seconds. Consequently, a property in the Service Builder with the EDM type Edm.Datetime, requires additional information to map this EDM type to the correct ABAP field type in the backend. If this is not done correctly, wrong type assignments are the result. Correct type assignments are required for MPC generation as the DPC implementation is based on generated types in the MPC class. The original solution to achieve this in the Service Builder was:

If precision = 0 & scale = 0, then internal type is type D. If precision = 8 & scale = 0, then internal type is type P length 8 decimals 0 (timestamp without fractional seconds)
If scale = 7, then internal type is type P length 11 decimals 7 (timestamp with fractional seconds)

Instead of using the precision and scale attributes in the above example, you can use the ABAP Type Editor in the Service Builder to set the internal type directly. In the ABAP Type Editor, you can set the category manually as Internal Type and:

Type Kind = Date, Length = 8, Decimals = 0 (Simple Date, internal type D)
Type Kind = Packed, Length = 15, Decimals = 0 (timestamp without fractional seconds, internal type displayed in MPC as type P length 8 decimals 0)
Type Kind = Packed, Length = 21, Decimals = 7 (timestamp with fractional seconds, internal type displayed in MPC as type P length 11 decimals 7)

Alternatively, instead of setting the internal type, you can use the ABAP Type Editor to assign a data element to a property. In the ABAP Type Editor, you can manually set the category as Date Element and enter the data element name in the Associated Type field. When using an RFC/BOR import or assigning a DDIC type, if the structure is assigned to the parent artifact (entity type or complex type), then no assignment is made at property level. When using the Import from DDIC Structure option, the date fields are handled in the following way:

If the field’s domain is of type ‘TZNTSTMPS’ then Timestamp without fractional seconds, internal type in MPC is type P length 8 decimals 0
If the field’s domain is of type ‘TZNTSMPl’ then Timestamp with fractional seconds, internal type in MPC is of type P length 11 decimals 7

Refer to the following EdmType usage and conversion to backend ABAP type.

EDM Primitive Type	XML Representation	ABAP Representation	ABAP Type
Edm.Binary	binary	Binary	XSTRING, HEX
Edm.Boolean	booleanLiteral	Boolean	CHAR LENGTH 1
Edm.String	string.Literal	STRING	STRING, CHAR, NUM
Edm.Guid	guidLiteral	Guid	CHAR LENGTH 32, HEX LENGTH 16
Edm.Byte	byteLiteral	Byte	INT1, INT, NUM, HEX, LENGTH 1
Edm.SByte	sbyteliteral	Integer (1 byte)	INT2, INT, NUM
Edm.Int16	int16Literal	Integer (2 byte)	INT2, INT, NUM
Edm.Int32	int32Literal	Integer (4 byte)	INT, NUM
Edm.Int64	int64Literal	Integer (8 byte)	PACKED LENGTH 8 DECIMALS 0, NUM
Edm.Decimal	decimalLiteral	Decimal	PACKED, DECFLOAT16, DECFLOAT34
Edm.Double	doubleLiteral	Double	FLOAT
Edm.Single	singleLiteral	Single	FLOAT
Edm.Float	singleLiteral	Single	FLOAT
Edm.DateTimeEdm.DateTimeOffset	dateTimeLiteral	DateTime as Timestamp	PACKED LENGTH 8, DECIMALS 0, PACKED LENGTH 11, DECIMALS 7
		DateTime as Date	DATE
		DateTime as Time	TIME
Edm.DateTimeOffset	dateTimeOffsetLiteral	DateTimeOffset as Timestamp	PACKED LENGTH 8, DECIMALS 0, PACKED LENGTH 11, DECIMALS 7
Edm.Time	timeLiteral	Duration in seconds	PACKED, DECFLOAT16, DECFLOAT34
Edm.Time	timeLiteral	Duration as Time	TIME

Note If an ABAP structure is bound to an entity type, then the entity type properties refer to the ABAP structure’s element types. The properties should have the same ABAP name as the element name of the ABAP structure. When using Datetime and its related properties as an optional field, set the attribute Nullable to true.