ARTICLE
Data Types and Constants
Data Types
Independent Types
You can use the TYPES statement to
define any number of your own ABAP data types within a class. Types are
not instance-specific and are only available once for all the objects in
the class.
In particular, it is possible to define data types in the public
visibility section of global classes, which makes the use of
type groups in this context obsolete.
Bound Data Types
Bound data types that occur as
properties of instance or static attributes also belong to the static
attributes of a class. After a LIKE addition, the class name can
be used to access the properties of instance attributes (exceptions to
this rule are the statements ASSIGN ... CASTING and
SELECT-OPTIONS ... FOR ). In addition, a reference variable can be
used with an object component selector without the object having
previously been generated.
Constants
Constants are special static attributes
for which values are specified when they are declared. These values
cannot be changed later. Use the CONSTANTS
statement to declare constants. Constants are not instance-specific -
they are only available once for all the objects in the class.
In particular, it is possible to declare constants in the public
visibility section of global classes, which makes the use of
type groups in this context obsolete.
Documentation extract taken from SAP system, � Copyright SAP AG. All rights reserved