Repeat Field Screen Structures (Type LINE)

Definition

Type LINE screen structures contain all repeat fields that require representation on the user interface in table format. Therefore, if repeat fields are to be contained in the screen structure, then a type LINE screen structure should be applied. However, if no repeat fields are to be contained within the screen structure, then a type MAIN screen structure should be applied instead.

Note Note

To ensure the complete definition of type LINE screen structures in this topic, a brief description of repeat fields is warranted and provided below.

Repeat fields are fields that are represented on the user interface of an infotype and that can contain several values. Because repeat fields can contain several values, a given repeat field may be represented several times on the user interface of the corresponding infotype. To illustrate, the Basic Pay infotype (0008) features the repeat field Wage Type Amount (with technical names BET01 through BET40) on its user interface. As the repeat field Wage Type Amount demonstrates, the technical names of any repeat field consists of a three-character stem – in this case, BET – and a series of consecutive two-digit numbers – in this case, 01 through 40. Because the Wage Type Amount field has forty repetitions, forty is also the maximum number of values that this repeat field is permitted to store.

End of the note.

Multiple type LINE screen structures can exist per combination of infotype and infotype version.

Type LINE screen structures observe the naming convention HCMT_BSP_PA_yy_Rnnnn_LIN_z , where:

yy

denotes the Version ID – for example, FR for France , UP for the United States Public Sector , US for the United States , and XX for the international version,
nnnn

denotes the four-digit number that is assigned to the infotype, and
LIN_z

indicates (via suffix LIN ) that the screen structure is of type LINE , and therefore contains repeat fields. In addition to suffix LIN , an arbitrary and unique one-character suffix _z – for example, _A , _B , _C , and so on – must be applied to each type LINE screen structure. (Under some circumstances, a two-character suffix – for example, _A1 or _A2 – may instead be applied.) This second suffix serves to distinguish among the multiple type LINE structures that can exist per combination of infotype and infotype version.

As with other customer-specific objects that observe a naming convention with the initial letter Z… , type LINE screen structures for customer-specific infotypes observe the naming convention ZHCMT_BSP_PA_yy_Rnnnn_LIN_z .

Note Note

If a name range prefix is desired, then the name of the screen structure must be shortened accordingly. Therefore, customers should observe the naming convention /custcust/ZHCMT_yy_Rnnnn_LIN_z if they wish to apply a name range prefix to customer-specific type LINE screen structures.

End of the note.

Use

In the de-coupled framework , type LINE screen structures are used to represent, in table format, the values of a repeat field on the user interface of an individual infotype record. Where multiple repeat fields exist on a single infotype, a single type LINE screen structure in principle can contain all of the repeat fields that the infotype requires. However, each repeat field is stored in the type LINE screen structure only once.

Note Note

In the user interface of certain infotypes, groups of repeat fields may exist that do not logically belong together. In such cases, a separate type LINE screen structure is required for each divergent group of repeat fields.

End of the note.

To illustrate, the international and country-specific type LINE screen structures that represent the Basic Pay infotype (0008) do not in fact contain the forty Wage Type Amount repeat fields that are represented on the user interface; these screen structures instead merely contain the Amount field (BETRG), which is subsequently used to represent all forty repetitions.

At runtime, the de-coupled framework applies a table to process all of the repeat field values. Within the de-coupled framework, the type LINE structure defines the technical structure of that table. Each line of the table contains the value of the corresponding repeat field. To illustrate, if three values are to be represented in the Wage Type Amount field of the Basic Pay infotype (0008), then the corresponding type LINE screen structure will define the technical structure of the table that is used to represent the repeat fields (in this case, BET01, BET02 and BET03). However, the type LINE screen structure itself will contain the Amount field (BETRG), rather than the Wage Type Amount repeat fields.

As with type MAIN screen structures, standard functionality is available in the de-coupled framework to process type LINE screen structures, provided that Customizing has been performed in Mapping for Conversion of Repeat Structure/Tables (tables T588AUTO_MAP and T588AUTO_TABLE) in the manner indicated below. By extension, if no unusual user requirements exist, then the default conversion class can be used and assigned to the type LINE screen structure, as described in the topic Assigning Conversion Classes to Screen Structures .

In contrast, if standard functionality is neither suitable nor possible for the type LINE screen structure in question, then methods OUTPUT_TABLE_CONVERSION and INPUT_TABLE_CONVERSION of the corresponding conversion class must be implemented.

Structure

Type LINE screen structures are composed of the following elements:

Component OBJECT_KEY

In the de-coupled framework, component OBJECT_KEY is strictly reserved for internal use, and is not relevant for user interfaces. Never change or clear the value of this component!
Fields to be represented on the user interface, including editable fields (for data entry) and read-only fields.
Include CI_yy_Rnnnn_LIN_z (for standard infotypes only)

… where yy , nnnn and LIN_z adhere to the naming convention explained above.

As discussed in the topic Screen Structures , this include enables customer-specific fields to be represented on standard infotypes that customers wish to enhance.

The remainder of this topic discusses the structure of tables T588AUTO_MAP and T588AUTO_TABLE, as well as the manner in which these tables are customized to enable standard functionality for type LINE screen structures.

Table T588AUTO_MAP

In Mapping for Conversion of Repeat Structure/Tables (table T588AUTO_MAP), the link is established between the repeat fields of the infotype structure and their representation in the corresponding type LINE screen structure. The following chart summarizes the three fields that, taken together, comprise the structure of table T588AUTO_MAP.

T588AUTO_MAP Fields

Field	Short Description
SCREENSTRUCTURE	Name of UI Structure
TABLE_FIELD	Name of UI Table Field
REPEAT_FIELD01	Name of First Repeat Field

Among these three fields, only the Name of UI Structure field (SCREENSTRUCTURE) is a key field. This field contains the technical name of the corresponding type LINE screen structure.

In contrast, Name of UI Table Field (TABLE_FIELD) contains the name of the repeat field in the type LINE screen structure, while Name of First Repeat Field (REPEAT_FIELD01) reflects the name of the first enumeration of the repeat field in the infotype structure.

The following example demonstrates the five standard entries that are delivered in table T588AUTO_MAP for the international type LINE screen structure (HCMT_BSP_PA_XX_R0008_LIN_A) of the standard Basic Pay infotype (0008).

Standard T588AUTO_MAP Entries for Screen Structure HCMT_BSP_PA_XX_R0008_LIN_A

SCREENSTRUCTURE	TABLE_FIELD	REPEAT_FIELD01
HCMT_BSP_PA_XX_R0008_LIN_A	ANZHL	ANZ01
HCMT_BSP_PA_XX_R0008_LIN_A	BETRG	BET01
HCMT_BSP_PA_XX_R0008_LIN_A	INDBW	IND01
HCMT_BSP_PA_XX_R0008_LIN_A	LGART	LGA01
HCMT_BSP_PA_XX_R0008_LIN_A	OPKEN	OPK01

Table T588AUTO_TABLE

Once the link between the repeat fields of the infotype structure and their representation in the corresponding type LINE screen structure fields has been established in table T588AUTO_MAP, additional properties must be defined for the type LINE screen structure. Therefore, for each type LINE screen structure to be used, a corresponding entry must be defined in Mapping for Conversion of Repeat Structure/Tables (table T588AUTO_TABLE). The following chart summarizes the four fields that, taken together, comprise the structure of that table.

T588AUTO_TABLE Fields

Field	Short Description
SCREENSTRUCTURE	Name of UI Structure
REPEAT_RECORDS	Repeat Records in Infotype
INITIAL_LINES	Blank Rows
REPEAT_PLACES	Size of Repeat Number

As with table T588AUTO_MAP, among the four fields in this table, only the Name of UI Structure field (SCREENSTRUCTURE) is a key field. This field contains the technical name of the corresponding type LINE screen structure.

The Repeat Records in Infotype field (REPEAT_RECORDS) defines the maximum number of repetitions supported for that type LINE screen structure – that is, the maximum number of field values in the infotype.

The Blank Rows field (INITIAL_LINES) defines the number of additional initial lines that will be displayed on the user interface, at the end of the table, to permit new values to be entered. Depending upon the application used, the value defined in this field may have great impact … or no impact at all, if the application defines its own means of processing the insertion of new values.

The Size of Repeat Number field (REPEAT_PLACES) defines the number of suffix characters that denotes the repeat number within the repeat field names.

The following example demonstrates the standard entry that is delivered in table T588AUTO_TABLE for the international type LINE screen structure (HCMT_BSP_PA_XX_R0008_LIN_A) of the standard Basic Pay infotype (0008).

Standard T588AUTO_TABLE Entry for Screen Structure HCMT_BSP_PA_XX_R0008_LIN_A

SCREENSTRUCTURE	REPEAT_RECORDS	INITIAL_LINES	REPEAT_PLACES
HCMT_BSP_PA_XX_R0008_LIN_A	40	1	2

Prerequisites

A complete set of prerequisites must be fulfilled in order to use the standard functionality to process repeat fields in type LINE screen structures in tandem with Customizing for tables T588AUTO_MAP and T588AUTO_TABLE and the default conversion class. These prerequisites are summarized below.

The repeat field number must be an integer; other characters are not permitted.
The repeat field number must be represented in the field name as a suffix.
The suffix must have the same length for all repetitions of the repeat field.
The repeat field number of the first repetition must be 1 , with an arbitrary amount of leading zeros – for example, 1 , 01 , or 001 , and so on.
The repeat field number must increase successively and without gaps.
All repeat fields within one group – that is, within one type LINE screen structure – must have the same number of repetitions.

If even one of these prerequisites cannot be fulfilled, then the standard functionality to process repeat fields cannot be applied. In such cases, output table conversion and input table conversion for the type LINE screen structure must be performed manually, by composing the appropriate source code in methods OUTPUT_TABLE_CONVERSION and INPUT_TABLE_CONVERSION of the assigned conversion class.

Example

The following tables refer to the Basic Pay infotype (0008) as an example to illustrate the conversion of repeat fields.

In the following table, which represents an infotype record as it exists within the infotype structure, the values of the repeat fields Wage Type (LGA01 through LGA40) and Wage Type Amount (BET01 through BET40) are summarized. As one can see, only the first two repetitions (01 and 02) in this example are filled with values. All other repetitions are not used, and therefore are filled with initial values. When repeat field conversion is performed, the two value pairs of this infotype record are converted into a table with two lines. An additional empty line is appended to the table to enable new data to be entered, as demonstrated above by value 1 in the INITIAL_LINES field of the standard T588AUTO_TABLE entry for screen structure HCMT_BSP_PA_XX_R0008_LIN_A.

SampleBasic PayInfotype (0008) Record (Infotype Structure)

	LGA01	BET01	LGA02	BET02
	MA10	910	MA30	720

On the user interface, these entries would be displayed in the following manner.

SampleBasic PayInfotype (0008) Record (Screen Structure)

…	LGART	BETRG	…
	MA10	910
	MA30	720

In summary, by customizing tables T588AUTO_MAP and T588AUTO_TABLE and using the default conversion class, one can perform repeat field conversion without the need to compose dedicated source code. Moreover, by using this generic functionality, once can simultaneously employ the automatic retrieval of descriptive texts for key values within the type LINE screen structure, along with other generic functionality provided by the de-coupled framework.