Columns with Special Technical Meaning

Definition

As a rule, columns from the internal data table are displayed directly in the ALV output. However, you are able to define columns that have a special technical function. These columns are then either not displayed at all or their content is presented in a special way. You are able to use the following types of special columns:

Control columns These columns are technical columns, which means they are usually not displayed. They contain information on how the contents are being displayed in another column. Examples of control columns are:
- Color column (technical column)
- Currency column (visible column)
  
  Note
  Many of the properties that you assign to specific cells using control columns can also be assigned to a whole column (for example assigning a currency to a whole column).
Graphic columns To display icons, exceptions and symbols, you use specific notation (for example @AB@). So that these character strings are interpreted as IDs for a graphic and not as text, you define the column accordingly as an icon-, exception or symbol column.
Columns with special function These columns include functions that are only useful in very specific situations. Examples of these columns include:
- Expansion column for the hierarchical-sequential list
- Text Column for Labels in Results Rows for Intermediate Results
- Counter Column to Determine the Number of Rows

Use

Depending on how you use a special column, you need to be aware of different things.

Using Control Columns

With control columns you assign specific properties to one or more cells.

Note

An entry in the control column always refers to cells from those rows that include the entry as well.

There are two types of control columns:

Control columns that are fixed and assigned to a specific column.
Control Columns That Contain Information for Any Number of Columns

Control Columns That are Assigned to a Specific Column

Specifications in the control column exclusively refer to the current column. The cells of this control column each can only contain one value that controls the content of the linked cell.

For this type of control columns, use the following methods:

Control column	Class	Method
Currency column	CL_SALV_COLUMN	SET_CURRENCY_COLUMN GET_CURRENCY_COLUMN
Column for decimal places	SET_DECIMALS_COLUMN GET_DECIMALS_COLUMN
Column for units of measure	SET_QUANTITY_COLUMN GET_QUANTITY_COLUMN
Rounding column	SET_ROUND_COLUMN GET_ROUND_COLUMN

ALV Tool	Display type	Function available
Simple, two-dimensional table	Classic ABAP List	Yes
Fullscreen	Yes
In the Container	Yes
Hierarchical-sequential list	Classic ABAP List	Yes
Tree Structure	Fullscreen	Yes
In the Container	Yes

Note

In hierarchical-sequential lists you also have to specify in which of the two hierarchy columns the control column is located. To do this, use one of the SET_*_COLUMN_LEVEL methods in the class CL_SALV_COLUMN_HIERSEQ.

Control Columns That Contain Information for Any Number of Columns

The cells of this control column contain whole tables:

Each of these tables exclusively refers to cells in the same row of the ALV output.
If this table contains multiple rows, each of these rows controls a specific column of the ALV output.
Every row then contains the name of the column in the ALV output to which the settings refer (in the graphic below, rows 1 and 2).
If no column name is specified, all columns of the ALV output get the settings (in the graphic below, row 3).

For this type of control columns, use the following methods:

Control column	Class	Method
Column for cell types	CL_SALV_COLUMNS_LIST	SET_CELL_TYPE_COLUMN GET_CELL_TYPE_COLUMN
Color column	SET_COLOR_COLUMN GET_COLOR_COLUMN
Hyperlink column	SET_HYPERLINK_ENTRY_ COLUMN GET_HYPERLINK_ENTRY_ COLUMN
Dropdown column	SET_DROPDOWN_ENTRY_ COLUMN GET_DROPDOWN_ENTRY_ COLUMN

ALV Tool	Display type	Function available
Simple, two-dimensional table	Classic ABAP List	No
Fullscreen	Yes
In the Container	Yes
Hierarchical-sequential list	Classic ABAP List	No
Tree Structure	Fullscreen	No
In the Container	No

Note

In the tree structure you are able to assign colors to nodes or to an individual item .

Use Graphic Column

In list-type ALV outputs, you are only able to display icons or symbols in columns that are specifically defined for this purpose. They may only contain entries that uniquely identify an icon or symbol in your system.

ALV Tool	Display type	Function available
Simple, two-dimensional table	Classic ABAP List	Yes
Fullscreen	Yes
In the Container	Yes
Hierarchical-sequential list	Classic ABAP List	Yes
Tree Structure	Fullscreen	No
In the Container	No

Note

In the tree structure you can display an icon in any item. To do this, use the method SET_ICON in the CL_SALV_ITEM class.

Function	Class	Method
Defining the column as a lead column	CL_SALV_COLUMN_LIST	SET_ICON
Check whether the current column is an icon column	IS_ICON
Define the column as a symbol column	SET_SYMBOL
Check whether the current column is an symbol column	IS_SYMBOL

Exception Column

The exception column is a special form of the graphic column:

It displays a status of the current data record with specific icons.

Example

The most common display of exception icons is the traffic light: You can display , and the release status, for example, with these icons.

As opposed to regular graphic columns, the exception column has additional properties:

The values in the exception column must be between 1 and 5
It can only display a specific set of icons. You are able to choose the icons you wish to display from several exception groups. In the exception column itself, only the values allowed in this exception group are available
Users cannot hide the exception column
In list-type ALV outputs, the exception column is always displayed as the first column

ALV Tool	Display type	Function available
Simple, two-dimensional table	Classic ABAP List	Yes
Fullscreen	Yes
In the Container	Yes
Hierarchical-sequential list	Classic ABAP List	Yes
Tree Structure	Fullscreen	Yes
In the Container	Yes

Function	Class	Method
Specify exception column	CL_SALV_COLUMNS_LIST CL_SALV_COLUMNS_TREE	SET_EXCEPTION_COLUMN
Get exception group	GET_EXCEPTION_COLUMN
GET_EXCEPTION_SETTINGS (Parameter GROUP)

Note

Results rows from aggregations remain empty in the exception column by default. In list-type ALV outputs, however, you are able to display exception icons. To do this, in the class CL_SALV_COLUMNS_LIST, use the method SET_EXCEPTION_COLUMN (Parameter CONDENSED). You check whether the results row is displaying an exception icon using the method IS_EXCEPTION_CONDENSED or GET_EXCEPTION_SETTINGS (Parameter CONDENSED).

Note

You cannot use every exception group in every display type of simple, two-dimensional tables or hierarchically-sequential lists. The following table shows which exception group you can use and where:

Exception group	Icon Representation	Cl. ABAP list	Fullscreen	Container	Hierarch.-Seq. List
1	LIGHTS	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2	LED	No	No	Yes	No
3	STATUS	No	No	Yes	No
4	TREND	No	No	Yes	No
5	MESSAGE	No	No	Yes	No
6	ALERT	No	No	Yes	No
7	FAILURE/INCOMPLETE/ CHECKED	No	No	Yes	No

Columns with Special Function

With some special columns, you control functions that are only useful in very specific situations.

Expansion Column

This column is only available in the hierarchical-sequential list. You use it to specifically display and hide position rows for specific headers. Here you only check whether an entry in a row of this column is included: if the cell is empty, only the position rows for the associated header are displayed. If the cell gets a value, the position rows for the associated header are hidden.

ALV Tool	Display type	Function available
Simple, two-dimensional table	Classic ABAP List	No
Fullscreen	No
In the Container	No
Hierarchical-sequential list	Classic ABAP List	Yes
Tree Structure	Fullscreen	No
In the Container	No

Function	Class	Method
Define expansion column	CL_SALV_COLUMNS_HIERSEQ	SET_EXPAND_COLUMN
Get current expansion column	GET_EXPAND_COLUMN

Text Column for Labels in Results Rows for Intermediate Results

You are able to display intermediate results for aggregations. These intermediate results are displayed in a special results row in the column the values of which are used in the aggregation. All other columns in this row are empty by default. You are able to specify a column the values of which are also transferred to the results row.

ALV Tool	Display type	Function available
Simple, two-dimensional table	Classic ABAP List	Yes
Fullscreen	Yes
In the Container	Yes
Hierarchical-sequential list	Classic ABAP List	No
Tree Structure	Fullscreen	No
In the Container	No

Function	Class	Method
Define text column	CL_SALV_COLUMN_LIST	SET_TEXT_COLUMN
Get current text column	GET_TEXT_COLUMN

Counter Column to Determine the Number of Rows

You are able to determine and output the number of data records of the ALV output. To do this, you need a special column, the count column. The rows of this count column never display data. The results row, however, contains the number of data records.

ALV Tool	Display type	Function available
Simple, two-dimensional table	Classic ABAP List	Yes
Fullscreen	Yes
In the Container	Yes
Hierarchical-sequential list	Classic ABAP List	Yes
Tree Structure	Fullscreen	No
In the Container	No

Function	Class	Method
Define count column	CL_SALV_COLUMNS_LIST	SET_COUNT_COLUMN
Get count column		GET_COUNT_COLUMN