Maintaining Program Attributes 

The most important program attribute in this process is the type, which you can use to determine how an ABAP program is executed.

Furthermore, you can determine in the program attributes which application a program is assigned to, and determine the logical database for executable programs (reports) accordingly.

Take care to enter the correct program attributes, otherwise the system will not be able to run the program properly. You maintain the program attributes on the ABAP: Program Attributes screen.

You can obtain the list of possible program types by selecting the F4 input help function.

If you select an executable program (report), the system automatically fills the input fields for specific attributes. Only now are the additional input fields Logical Database and Selection Screen visible.

Overview of All Program Attributes

The following sections provide a short overview of the program attributes. Note that some of these attributes only apply to executable programs (reports), and not to other ABAP program types. The field help and possible values help for the fields on the ABAP: Program Attributes screen provide further information.

Title

In the required entry field Title enter a program description that describes the function of the program.

 In programs containing lists for which no list heading is specified in the text elements, this title is used instead of the missing heading.

Maintenance Language

The maintenance language is the logon language of the user who creates the program. The system fills this field automatically. You can change the maintenance language, if you maintain the program or its components in another logon language.

Type

In the field Type you must specify the program type.

From within the ABAP Editor, you can only choose from the following program types:

·        Executable program

·        Module pool

·        Subroutine pool

·        Include program

All other program types are not created directly from within the ABAP Editor but with the help of special tools such as the Function Bilder for function groups or the Class Builder for class pools.

Status

This optional entry describes the status of the program development; for example, Test Program or Productive Customer Program.

Application

This optional field contains the name of the application that is required in the program, for example Financial Accounting.

Authorization Group

In this field, you can enter the name of a program group. This allows you to group different programs together for authorization checks. The group name is a field of the two authorization objects S_DEVELOP (program development and program execution) and S_PROGRAM (program maintenance). Thus, you can assign authorizations to users according to program groups. For more information about authorizations, refer to the Users and Rolesdocumentation.

Package

The package is important for transports between systems. You combine all Workbench objects assigned to one package in one transportation request.

If you are working in a team, you may have to assign your program to an existing package, or you may be free to create a new package. All programs assigned to the package $TMP are private objects and cannot be transported into other systems. You can enter the package directly into this field. Otherwise, the system prompts for it when you save the attributes.

Choosing Local object is equivalent to entering $TMP in the field Package. You can change the package of a program afterwards.

Logical Database

Only for Executable Programs

These attributes determine the logical database used by the executable program (report) to read data.

Selection Screen Version

Only for Executable Programs

If you do not specify a selection screen version, the system automatically creates a selection screen based on the selection criteria of the logical database and the parameters and select-options statements in the program.

If you want to use a different selection screen of the logical database, enter a number in this field. The number must be smaller than 1000 and correspond to an additional selection screen of the logical database. The possible values help displays a list of available selection screens. You can also look in the selection include of the logical database (program DBxxxSEL, where xxx is the name of the logical database).

Editor Lock

If you set this attribute, other users cannot change, rename, or delete your program. Only you will be able to change the program, its attributes, text elements, and documentation, or release the lock.

Fixed Point Arithmetic

If the attribute Fixed point arithmetic is set for a program, the system rounds type P fields according to the number of decimal places or pads them with zeros The decimal sign in this case is always the period (.), regardless of the user’s personal settings. We recommend that you always set the fixed point arithmetic attribute.

Start Using Variant

Only for Executable Programs

If you set this attribute, other users can only start your program using a variant. You must then create at least one variant before the report can be started.