Tables
Tables can be defined independently of the database in the ABAP Dictionary. The fields of the table are defined with their (database-independent) data types and lengths.
When the table is activated, the system creates a physical table definition in the database for the table definition stored in the ABAP Dictionary. The system translates the table definition from the ABAP Dictionary to a definition of the particular database. You can see these relations between the ABAP Dictionary and the database in the following figure.
A table definition in the ABAP Dictionary contains the following components:
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Table Fields :
Table fields define the field names and data types of the fields contained in the table
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Foreign keys :
Foreign keys define the relationships between the table and other tables.
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Technical settings :
Technical settings control the creation of the table in the database.
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Indexes :
To speed up data selection, secondary indexes can be created for the table.
The customer can modify SAP tables with append structures and customizing includes . This kind of modification ensures that the customer enhancements are automatically merged with the new versions of the SAP tables when there is a release upgrade.
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