Complete ABAP

Kiran Bandari

• Publisher: SAP PRESS
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781493218677
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Computer Science General
• Index: Computer Science

1 Introduction to ERP and SAP

We’ll begin our journey with a basic introduction to ERP systems and SAP. From there, we’ll begin to paint a picture of what it means to be an ABAP consultant and begin looking at an overview of ABAP and system requirements.

This book is targeted for people who want to learn the ABAP programming language inside and out, irrespective of their prior programming exposure. Our aim is to start from the very basics of programming in the initial chapters and introduce you to advanced concepts in the later chapters. We’re not assuming you have any prior programming experience, so whether you’re an ABAP consultant or a seasoned SAP functional consultant, or even if you’re completely new to SAP, you should find it easy to follow this book.

This chapter begins by introducing the basic concepts of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and SAP. Section 1.1 discusses how the SAP system has evolved over the years. Then, in Section 1.2, we provide a deeper understanding of ERP systems in general, before diving into SAP-specific information in Section 1.3, including the different modules within SAP. Section 1.4 introduces the focus of this book, ABAP, before listing the system requirements necessary to work with ABAP in Section 1.5.

1.1 Historical Overview

In 1972, SAP introduced its first system, R/1 (R represents real-time data processing). This system was used for financial accounting and didn’t include the presentation, application, or database layers that you’ll find in the SAP system today. In the late 1970s, SAP introduced the R/2 system, which had two layers: the presentation layer and the application plus database layer. These systems followed a two-tier architecture.

As technology evolved, SAP moved toward a three-tier architecture with the introduction of SAP R/3 in the 1990s. The SAP R/3 system comprised three layers: the presentation layer, application layer, and database layer. With the release of SAP R/3, SAP named its releases with versions such as R/3 1.0, R/3 2.0, R/3 3.1i, R/3 4.0B (until 2001, with R/3 4.6D), with an underlying component called SAP Basis.

SAP R/3 4.7 was the first release that came with a technology platform called SAP Web Application Server, which included Business Server Pages (BSP) applications and a Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) engine. Since then, SAP has added technology platform naming to its product line. The SAP Web Application Server is a natural evolution to support web infrastructure (for the Web), so it performs all the duties of an application server, similar to the previous releases, and acts as a web server to support web infrastructure. BSP is the server pages technology developed by SAP, similar to Java Server Pages (JSP) from Sun Microsystems and Active Server Pages (ASP) by Microsoft.

SAP then started adding the platform version to the product naming. This led to some confusion when, for example, you could have your SAP R/3 4.x system (denoting the version of your SAP R/3 system) on SAP Web Application Server 6.10 (denoting the version of your platform).

With the introduction of platforms (the first being SAP Web Application Server), SAP systems began using specific components that represented the platform, such as Internet Communication Manager (ICM), SAP Gateway, and so on, and other components related to business functions that showed the functionality of the system. SAP then introduced enterprise editions along with SAP Web Application Server 6.20, such as SAP R/3 Enterprise 4.70. The enterprise editions provided new functionality to split components based on business functions and enabled the use of extensions to extend the functionality of these core business functions.

Later, SAP started to include the release year with the product names, such as mySAP ERP 2004. mySAP ERP 2004 signaled a complete architectural change in SAP R/3 Enterprise, which was replaced with SAP Enterprise Central Component (SAP ECC). SAP then introduced SAP NetWeaver 2004, which also contained SAP Web Application Server 6.40.

To add to the confusion, SAP started referring to mySAP ERP 2004 as SAP ECC 5.0, which puzzled customers when trying to refer to SAP products. For example, at that moment, both mySAP ERP 2004 and SAP ECC 5.0 could refer to the same system, and SAP NetWeaver 2004 and SAP Web Application Server 6.40 could refer to the same platform. The mySAP 2004 and SAP ECC 5.0 systems were also found under the umbrella term SAP ERP 5.0.

In 2005, mySAP ERP 2005 came out, which was refere...

Table of contents

• Dear Reader
• Notes on Usage
• Table of Contents
•   Acknowledgments
•   Preface
• 1   Introduction to ERP and SAP
• 2   Architecture of an SAP System
• 3   Introduction to the ABAP Environment
• 4   ABAP Programming Concepts
• 5   Structures and Internal Tables
• 6   User Interaction
• 7   Modularization Techniques
• 8   Object-Oriented ABAP
• 9   Exception Handling
• 10   ABAP Data Dictionary
• 11   Persistent Data
• 12   Dialog Programming
• 13   List Screens
• 14   Selection Screens
• 15   SAP List Viewer Reports
• 16   Dynamic Programming
• 17   Debugging
• 18   Forms
• 19   Interfaces
• 20   Modifications and Enhancements
• 21   Test and Analysis Tools
• A   The Author
• Index
• Service Pages
• Legal Notes