SAP NEWS-610-OTHERS documentation, setup help and example usage

Further Changes in Release 6.10

1 Dynamic pass by parameter in CALL FUNCTION
2 New comparison expression IS BOUND
3 Negated relational operators
4 Unconditional exit from a processing block
5 Extended/advanced search of/in the keyword documentation
6 Runtime analysis
7 Calling predefined arithmetic functions
8 Transformation of XML data into ABAP variables
9 Displaying the generation limits in the program check
10 Increase in line length in ABAP Editor
11 Enhancement of the MESSAGE statement
12 Displaying exceptions for runtime errors
13 Separate logical units of work for application and generation
14 Minimum and maximum values for elementary data types
15 Name for a component in the structure buffer
16 Reading a program title
17 New medium for data clusters
18 Selecting and deleting data clusters
19 New additions for INSERT REPORT


ABAP_MODIFICATION_1 Dynamic Pass by Parameter in CALL FUNCTION

The addition PARAMETER-TABLE itab can be used to fill the interface of a function module with parameters dynamically. The addition EXCEPTION-TABLE itab is used to pass a table of exceptions to the called function module. At the same time, the numeric value to be assigned to the system field SY-SUBRC after the exception is raised is passed to the component VALUE .


ABAP_MODIFICATION_2 New Comparison Expression IS BOUND

The comparison expression IS BOUND indicates whether a reference variable contains a valid reference.


ABAP_MODIFICATION_3 Negated Relational Operators

A new word order has been introduced for the negation of the following relational operators. Instead of IF NOT (f IS INITIAL) , the spelling IF f IS NOT INITIAL is now possible. This word order is available for the following relational operators:

[NOT] BETWEEN
[NOT] IN
IS [NOT] INITIAL
IS [NOT] ASSIGNED
IS [NOT] REQUESTED
IS [NOT] SUPPLIED


ABAP_MODIFICATION_4 Unconditional Exit from a Processing Block

The new statement RETURN can be used to exit a processing block explicitly.


ABAP_MODIFICATION_5 Extended/Advanced Search of/in the Keyword Documentation

The keyword documentation has been enhanced in such a way that more general terms like RADIOBUTTON , INNER JOIN , or FOR ALL ENTRIES are now also processed. Until now the system only searched for keywords like DATA or CLASS . If a number of documents contain the same term, the search can be limited in the hit list . A further improvement is that the system displays the found document at the relevant point.


ABAP_MODIFICATION_6 Runtime Analysis

From now on, the runtime analysis can also be called within a program unit by calling the methods ON/OFF from the class CL_ABAP_TRACE_SWITCH . Additionally, the measurement restrictions now have an input help for program types and the Tips and Tricks interface has been completely redesigned and now includes a tree structure and a text editor.


ABAP_MODIFICATION_7 Calling Predefined Arithmetic Functions

In expressions, the arithmetic functions can be used at the same positions as
functional methods . The following cases are supported:
Source fields of the MOVE statement
Arithmetic expressions of the COMPUTE statement
Logical expressions
The CASE statement of the CASE control structure
The WHEN statement of the CASE control structure
The WHERE condition in the LOOP AT
statement


ABAP_MODIFICATION_8 Transformation of XML Data into ABAP Variables

Another new addition is the CALL TRANSFORMATION statement, which enables the transformation of XML data into ABAP variable content. The following transformations are possible:
XML to ABAP
ABAP to XML
ABAP to ABAP
XML to XML


ABAP_MODIFICATION_9 Displaying the Generation Limits in the Program Check

When choosing Program - Check - Generation Limits in the ABAP Editor menu, the system displays the load size and the available kernel resources for the selected program.


ABAP_MODIFICATION_10 Increase in Line Length in ABAP Editor

From now on, ABAP programs support a line length of 255 characters instead of 72 characters. Literals or statement lists that exceed a line with 72 characters now produce a syntax error. However, this only affects programs that are modified in an editor with a line length of more than 72 characters.


ABAP_MODIFICATION_11 Enhancement of the MESSAGE Statement

The form MESSAGE msg TYPE t is a new in the statement MESSAGE . It produces direct output of character strings or other strings. This option is designed for exception classes that have exception texts of data type STRING .
The new addition DISPLAY LIKE can also be used to modify the icons in the display of the message .


ABAP_MODIFICATION_12 Displaying Exceptions for Runtime Errors

The display of runtime errors now includes the columns Name of Runtime Error and Exception . The same fields are also displayed and explained in the short dump , immediately after an uncaught runtime error.


ABAP_MODIFICATION_13 Separate Logical Units of Work for Application and Generation

If a program was not modified by its own logical unit of work (
LUW ), generation is started in a separate work process when the program is used. The the program is generated in the same work process only if no other work process is free.

If, for example, modified programs were used in a background process, these were only accessible to other users after the background process was finished. After the program was generated, the system could not trigger a COMMIT WORK , since this may have caused inconsistencies in the background processing data. The separation of application and generation now ensures that a program is available to other applications immediately after it is generated.


ABAP_MODIFICATION_14 Minimum and Maximum Values for Elementary Data Types

The class CL_ABAP_EXCEPTIONAL_VALUES
provides the methods GET_MAX_VALUE and GET_MIN_VALUE , which are used to establish the value ranges of the elementary data types . These methods replace the function module MAXIMAL_VALUE_GET .


ABAP_MODIFICATION_15 Name for a Component in the Structure Buffer

Previously, if ASSIGN COMPONENT was used to access components of a dictionary structure, the statement DESCRIBE FIELD ... HELP-ID was used to return the name of the associated data element. The name of the component of the dictionary structure is now returned instead. The following program now produces the value TRDIR-NAME instead of PROGRAMM .

PROGRAM test_struc.
DATA: mydir TYPE trdir,
hlpid(61) type c.
FIELD-SYMBOLS <(><<)>fs>.

ASSIGN mydir TO <(><<)>fs>.
ASSIGN COMPONENT 1 OF STRUCTURE <(><<)>fs> TO <(><<)>fs>.
DESCRIBE FIELD <(><<)>fs> HELP-ID hlpid.
WRITE / hlpid.


ABAP_MODIFICATION_16 Reading a Program Title

Previously, the program title was read from the ABAP text elements using the statement READ TEXTPOOL . For performance and buffering reasons, the program title is now read from the table TRDIRT .


ABAP_MODIFICATION_17 New Medium for Data Clusters

The medium SHARED MEMORY has been added to the statements EXPORT and IMPORT . Unlike the variant
SHARED BUFFER , whose memory is automatically modified after a displacement, memories must be managed explicitly if this type of repository is used. To do this, the statement
DELETE FROM SHARED MEMORY or a method of the class CL_ABAP_EXPIMP_SHMEM can be used.


ABAP_MODIFICATION_18 Selecting and Deleting Data Clusters

There are new methods in the following classes for selecting and deleting data clusters:
CL_ABAP_EXPIMP_MEM
CL_ABAP_EXPIMP_SHMEM
CL_ABAP_EXPIMP_SHBUF
CL_ABAP_EXPIMP_DB


ABAP_MODIFICATION_19 New Additions for INSERT REPORT

The following new additions are available for the statement INSERT REPORT :
... KEEPING DIRECTORY ENTRY
... DIRECTORY ENTRY trdir
... UNICODE ENABLING uc
... FIXED-POINT ARITHMETIC fp
... PROGRAM TYPE pt
... MAXIMUM WIDTH INTO w