Mapping of ABAP and Java Data
Types
A data structure is made up of individual fields and each field is assigned to a particular data type. Because ABAP uses different data types to Java, it is necessary to create a link between these data types (mapping). The table displayed below shows the different data types in ABAP and Java and their mapping.
Data Type Mapping
ABAP Type
|
Description |
Data Type |
Java Type Code |
C
|
Character |
String |
JCoMetadata.TYPE_CHAR |
|
N
|
Numerical Character |
String |
JCoMetadata.TYPE_NUM |
|
X
|
Binary Data |
Byte () |
JCoMetadata.TYPE_BYTE |
|
P
|
Binary Coded Decimal |
Big Decimal |
JCoMetadata.TYPE_BCD |
|
I
|
4-byte Integer |
Int |
JCoMetadata.TYPE_INT |
|
B
|
1-byte Integer |
Int |
JCoMetadata.TYPE_INT1 |
|
S
|
2-byte Integer |
Int |
JCoMetadata.TYPE_INT2 |
|
F
|
Float |
Double |
JCoMetadata.TYPE_FLOAT |
|
D
|
Date |
Date |
JCoMetadata.TYPE_DATE |
|
T
|
Time |
Date |
JCoMetadata.TYPE_TIME |
|
decfloat16
|
Decimal floating point 8 bytes (IEEE 754r) |
BigDecimal |
JCoMetadata.TYPE_DECF16 |
|
decfloat34
|
Decimal floating point 16 bytes (IEEE 754r) |
BigDecimal |
JCoMetadata.TYPE_DECF34 |
|
g
|
String (variable length) |
String |
JCoMetadata.TYPE_STRING |
|
y |
Raw String (variable length) |
Byte () |
JCoMetadata.TYPE_XSTRING |
In most cases, handling of data types does not represent a problem. However, the ABAP data types for date and time have some special features. ABAP has two different data types for processing date and time information:
● ABAP data type T is a 6-byte string with the format HHMMSS.
● ABAP data type D is an 8-byte string with the format YYYYMMDD.
Both data types are used in RFMs (including BAPIs). When a BAPI uses a time stamp two fields are used, one of type D and one of type T.
Java, however, only uses one class (Date) to represent both date and time information. In Java, a time stamp can therefore be displayed in one variable.
SAP JCo automatically performs the conversion between ABAP and Java data types. Fields of the ABAP data types D and T are represented as Java Date objects, whereby the part of the Date object that is not used retains its default value. Java developers need to distinguish between whether a particular field contains an ABAP date value or an ABAP time value.