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 Interactive Multiple-Line Basic Lists

Background

Up to Release 4.6A, you are able to use the SAP Query interactive functions (EXCEL, table display, display as an interactive list, graphics, and so on) only with single line basic lists, statistics, and ranked lists. From Release 4.6A, almost all multiple-line basic lists are interactive. This means that the system treats them as single-line lists and allows you to use them in conjunction with all of the functions listed above.

For this type of list you can specify that you want the interactive function to be called directly, that is without the list being displayed first.

Functions

For a multiple-line basic list to be interactive, the data displayed in the list must be stored in a (flat) internal table. The structure of a line in this table is determined by ordering all the fields from all the lines one after the other. Each time a line from a list is displayed, the lines in are transferred to the corresponding fields in the table lines. A new line is added to the internal table whenever all the fields within a table line are filled, or when it is apparent from the list that any fields that are still missing are not going to be displayed.

If, for example, a basic list has been defined with two lines (line 1 and line 2) and any number of line 2s can belong to line 1, you must distinguish between the following cases:

  • Exactly one line 2 belongs to every line 1 in the list.

In this case, exactly one line is inserted in the internal table containing the values of both lines.

  • Multiple line 2s belong to every line 1 in the list.

In this case, multiple lines are added to the internal table; the fields found in line 1 repeat themselves and the fields from line 2 are new for each new table line.

  • No line 2s belong to any line 1s

In this case, exactly one line is added to the internal table; in it the fields for line 2 are initial.

If a basic list contains more that two lines, the process described above occurs on multiple levels.

In general, all basic lists that do not retrieve their data from a logical database are interactive. If the data in a list is retrieved from a logical database, all the fields used in the list must lie on a single path in the database. In other words, those multiple-line basic lists that process fields from parallel tables are not interactive.