1. Enter an explanatory short text in the field Short text.

You can for example find the view at a later time using this short text.

2. Enter the primary table of the view under Tables in the Tables/Join conditions tab page.

Only tables that are linked with the primary table (indirectly) with a foreign key can be included in the view.

3. Save your entries.

You are asked to assign the help view a development class. You can change this development class later with Extras ® Object directory entry.

4. If required, include more tables in the view. In a help view you can only include tables that are linked to one another with foreign keys.

Position the cursor on the primary table and choose Relationships. All existing foreign key relationships of the primary table are displayed. Select the foreign keys and choose Copy. The secondary table involved in such a foreign key is included in the view. The join conditions derived from the foreign keys (see Foreign Key Relationship and Join Condition) are displayed.

You can also include tables that are linked with a foreign key to one of the secondary tables already included. To do this, place the cursor on the secondary table and choose Relationships. Then proceed as described above.

For maintenance and help views, there are certain restrictions on the foreign keys with which the tables can be included in the view (see Restrictions for Maintenance and Help Views). The foreign keys violating these conditions are displayed at the end of the list under the header Relationships with unsuitable cardinality.

5. On the View fields tab page, select the fields that you want to copy to the view. The key fields of the primary table were automatically copied to the view as proposals.

Choose Table fields. All the tables contained in the view are listed in a dialog box. Select a table. The fields of the table are now displayed in a dialog box. Select the required fields in the first column and choose Copy.

6. On the Selection conditions tab page, you can (optionally) formulate restrictions for the data records to be displayed with the view (see Maintaining Selection Conditions for Views).

The selection conditions define the data records that can be selected with the view.

7. Choose .

The view is now activated. At activation, a log is written; it can be displayed with Utilities ® Activation log. If errors or warnings occurring when the view was activated, they are displayed directly in the activation log.

• Create documentation: You can create information about using the view with Goto ® Documentation. This documentation is output for example when you print the view.
• Change data element of a view field: Select column Mod (modification) for the view field. The Data element field is now ready for input. Enter the new data element there. You can enter a data element that refers to the same domain as the data element of the assigned table field here. Cancel the Mod flag if you want to use the data element of the assigned table field again.
• Check functions: With Extras ® Runtime object ® Check you can determine whether the definition of the view in the ABAP Dictionary maintenance screen is identical to the definitions in the runtime object of the view. With Extras ® Runtime object ® Display you can display the runtime object of the view.

Help Views