Display Area
The AFB offers three different views in the display area of the current data object or the archive file currently being displayed.
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The Data Object view represents all of the tables entries for the data object.
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The Table view represents an individual table of the archiving object.
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The Hex Display represents the content of the archive file in a highly technical form without additional formatting.
For an overview of the screen areas in AFB, see User Interface.
Data Object
In the Data Object view, the system formats the archive file content in such a way that the content of all table entries for the current data object is visible. The table entries are displayed in the same form as they are found in the archive. You receive a list where the table name is in the first field, followed by the content of the relevant entry formatted as a character string.
The list is displayed using the SAP List Viewer and offers its standard functions.
Note that the standard functions of the SAP List Viewer refer only to the current data object. A search is then made using only the data of the current data object.
For the display, the system formats every table entry as an individual character string. This means special attributes for the individual fields are lost. You may find that a table is too wide to be displayed in its entirety. By double-clicking you can obtain field-by-field formatting of the corresponding record.
If you want a different format for a particular table, select an entry for the required table and switch to the Table view. The system then automatically displays all entries for this table from the current data object.
The table entries are displayed in this view in the same order as they were written to the archive, unless the data was saved using archiving classes. Data for archiving classes is displayed with the other data for the current data object in accordance with the entries that were not saved using archiving classes.
Table
The Table view displays the entries for the current data object that relate to a particular table. The data is formatted field-by-field. The view of the table is similar to that of the Data Browser (transaction SE16).
The list is displayed using the SAP List Viewer and offers its standard functions.
Note that the standard functions of the SAP List Viewer refer only to the current data object. A search is then made using only the data of the current data object.
In the Table Name field, you enter the name of the table for which you want to see the entries. You will usually find this field has already been defined if you have already selected a data object.
You can use the input help to receive a selection of all tables that are archived with the archiving object for the current file. In the event that no data object has been selected, you receive all tables for all archiving objects in the archive file overview. If you enter the table directly, you have to choose data release to refresh to list.
Choose
Settings 
Technical Field Names 
or
Field Labels to switch between the display of technical names and field labels, as required. This affects all parts of the AFB in which field labels occur, for example, in a search.
Depending on the view with which you previously looked at the current data object, the table name is predefined as follows:
· In the Data Object view, one entry is usually selected. The table for this entry is displayed with the Table view.
· The search switches automatically to the Table view at the first hit. The table, which is also used in the search criteria, is displayed.
· In all other cases, the table name is predefined in such a way that the table is suitable for the archiving object of the current data object. If the table no longer matches the archiving object through navigation to a data object for a different archiving object, then the system selects a new table.
If you branch from the Table view to the search but have not yet selected a table for the search criteria, the system automatically transfers the table being displayed.
Hex Display
The system presents the content of the archive file in raw format in the hex display,
This view is particularly useful if you want to look at the archive file header, or if the file is defective and this is the only way you are able to display it.
The data in the file is represented in hex format (00 to FF for every byte). In the first column you see the offset in the archive file for the first byte in each line. 32 bytes then follow in every line, in eight groups each having four bytes. In the area on the right, you can see the equivalents in plain text. The respective character coding is taken into account (including unicode). This means it is possible that only 16 characters (for example) relate to the 32 bytes As the data in the archive file is present in compressed form, the header can only be recognized from the plain text representation at the beginning of the archive file. It is not possible to recognize the data itself this way.
The part of the archive file that is displayed is determined by the offset and the number of displayed bytes. The system uses the offset displayed in the header information. In this way, all navigation functions can also be used for the hex display.
The hex display recognizes the data object with the number 0 that represents the beginning of the file.
You can enter the number of bytes displayed in the Area Displayed field on the Hex Display tab page.
Analysis of Defective Files
You can use the hex display to analyze defective files that you are not able to display with the other views. To do this, you have to have detailed and extensive knowledge of the structure of the archive files. The hex display bypasses the usual mechanism for accessing files (meaning the function modules for the ADK). However, no files can be analyzed this way that are found in the archive store ( SAP ArchiveLink).