METHODS
Short Reference
ABAP Syntax:
General Instance Methods
1 METHODS meth [ABSTRACT|FINAL]
[IMPORTING parameters [PREFERRED
PARAMETER p]]
[EXPORTING parameters ]
[CHANGING parameters ]
[{RAISING exc1|RESUMABLE(exc1) exc2|RESUMABLE(exc2) ...}
|{EXCEPTIONS exc1 exc2 ...}].
Functional Instance Methods
2 METHODS meth [ABSTRACT|FINAL]
[IMPORTING parameters [PREFERRED
PARAMETER p]]
[EXPORTING parameters ]
[CHANGING parameters ]
RETURNING VALUE(r) typing
[{RAISING exc1|RESUMABLE(exc1) exc2|RESUMABLE(exc2) ...}
|{EXCEPTIONS exc1 exc2 ...}].
Instance Constructors
3 METHODS constructor [FINAL]
[IMPORTING parameters [PREFERRED
PARAMETER p]]
[{RAISING exc1|RESUMABLE(exc1) exc2|RESUMABLE(exc2) ...}
|{EXCEPTIONS exc1 exc2 ...}].
Event Handlers
4 METHODS meth [ABSTRACT|FINAL]
FOR EVENT evt OF {class|intf}
[IMPORTING p1 p2 ... [sender]].
Redefinition of Instance Methods
5 METHODS meth [FINAL] REDEFINITION.
Test Methods
6 METHODS meth [ABSTRACT|FINAL]
FOR TESTING
[{RAISING exc1|RESUMABLE(exc1) exc2|RESUMABLE(exc2) ...}].
What does it do? The statement METHODS declares or redefines an
instance method meth . For the name meth , the
naming conventions apply.
Instance methods are bound to objects. To use instance methods, an
object of the class must first be created. In instance methods, all
components of the same class can be accessed without a component
selector.
Use the variants of statement METHODS to distinguish between
the following kinds of method declarations:
General Instance Methods
The general form of the METHODS statement allows the definition
of instance methods with any input and output parameters.
Functional Instance Methods
Functional methods have exactly one
return value and any number of formal parameters.
Instance Constructors
Instance constructors are methods with the given name constructor
, which are called automatically when their class is instantiated.
Constructors have any number of input parameters and no output pa
rameters.
Event Handlers
Event handlers are methods that, although they can be called directly
with or in statements , are mainly called when
an event of a class or an interface is triggered. The only possible
formal parameters of an event handler are input parameters, which have
been defined as the output parameters of the event.
Redefinition of Instance Methods
A method declared in a superclass can be redefined in a subclass as long
as it is not flagged as final in the superclass. In a
redefinition , the interface of the
method is not changed.
Definition of a Test Method
Test methods can be declared in test classes. They have no interface
parameters and are called during ABAP Unit
tests by the ABAP runtime environment.
Documentation extract taken from SAP system, � Copyright SAP AG. All rights reserved