This book shows advanced ABAP programmers new concepts, technologies, techniques, and functions that have been introduced to ABAP ("Release 7.0") in the last few years. Based on a single real-world example that runs throughout the book - a university upgrading from SAP R/3 4.6C to SAP NetWeaver 2004s - you'll follow along with the university's lead ABAP developer as he develops a custom course booking system. This unique approach allows readers to view the entire process of design, development, and testing - right through the eyes of a developer. You'll quickly familiarize yourself with all of the new possibilities in ABAP while discovering a series of actual scenarios that could easily be encountered in a real-life project. In certain areas the author also provides you with a glimpse towards upcoming ABAP releases, as well as references to former releases, as required.

Highlights

• New ABAP Workbench possibilities
• Strings and Binary Strings in Transparent Tables
• Web Service Proxies, Exposing Web Services
• Persistent Objects, ZIP Compression, Shared Memory Objects
• ABAP Unit
• Web Dynpro ABAP, Web Dynpro Debugger View
• Adobe Interactive Forms, BSP, AJAX
• Visual Composer, Portal Eventing, Guided Procedures

Additional Resources

Table of Contents

1. Workbench Tools and Package Hierarchy ... 23
... 1.1 Log on and Explore ... 24
... 1.2 Package Hierarchy for the Project ... 39

2. Data Dictionary Objects ... 43
... 2.1 Designing Data Relationships ... 43
... 2.2 Data Dictionary Fixed Value Domains ... 47
... 2.3 Data Dictionary Text Tables ... 49
... 2.4 Data Dictionary Data Tables ... 61
... 2.5 Search Helps ... 66

3. Data Persistence Layer ... 71
... 3.1 Persistent Objects ... 72
... 3.2 Exception Classes ... 82
... 3.3 Business Object Classes ... 89
... 3.4 Data Load Programs ... 107

4. Consuming a Web Service ... 119
... 4.1 Proxy Generation ... 121
... 4.2 Logical Ports ... 130
... 4.3 Extended Protocols ... 140

5. Shared Memory Objects ... 143
... 5.1 Getting Started ... 144
... 5.2 Automatic Preloading ... 155
... 5.3 Implementing into the Business Object Layer ... 157

6. Model Class ... 163
... 6.1 Class Overview ... 163
... 6.2 Transactional Methods ... 168
... 6.3 Utility Methods ... 175
... 6.4 Emailing ... 177
... 6.5 Regular Expressions ... 189

7. ABAP and SAP NetWeaver Master Data Management ... 193
... 7.1 What Is Master Data Management? ... 194
... 7.2 Configuring the SAP MDM ABAP API ... 201
... 7.3 Coding with the MDM ABAP API ... 206

8. ABAP Unit ... 221
... 8.1 Overview of ABAP Unit Tests ... 221
... 8.2 Creating ABAP Unit Tests ... 227
... 8.3 Executing the ABAP Unit Test ... 232

9. Exposing a Model as a Web Service ... 235
... 9.1 Web Service Definition ... 235
... 9.2 Testing the Web Service ... 243

10. Exposing a Model as a Web Service Using SAP NetWeaver Process Integration ... 249
... 10.1 Modeling a Service in SAP NetWeaver Process Integration ... 250
... 10.2 Implementing the Service as a Server Proxy ... 264
... 10.3 Creating a Service Definition ... 270

11. Classic Dynpro UI/ALV Object Model ... 273
... 11.1 ALV Object Model Overview ... 273
... 11.2 Getting Started ... 276
... 11.3 Modifying the ALV Output ... 281
... 11.4 Making the ALV Interactive ... 287
... 11.5 Object Orientiation with Classic Dynpro ... 294

12. Web Dynpro ABAP ... 303
... 12.1 Overview of the Components ... 304
... 12.2 Component Usage ... 309
... 12.3 General UI Features ... 311
... 12.4 ALV Component ... 320
... 12.5 Dialog Popup Window ... 325
... 12.6 Table Popins ... 332
... 12.7 File Upload/Download ... 336
... 12.8 Web Dynpro Debugger ... 341

13. Business Server Pages ... 345
... 13.1 Internet Facing BSP Application ... 346
... 13.2 BSP Extensions ... 363

14. Adobe Forms ... 375
... 14.1 Infrastructure and Setup ... 376
... 14.2 Function Module Based Forms ... 381
... 14.3 Web Dynpro Based Forms ... 395
... 14.4 Offline Forms ... 402

15. SAP NetWeaver Portal ... 407
... 15.1 Creating a System Configuration ... 407
... 15.2 Creating Portal Content ... 416
... 15.3 Portal Eventing ... 424
... 15.4 SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer ... 429
... 15.5 SAP NetWeaver Business Client ... 443

16. RSS Feed Using an ICF Service Node ... 449
... 16.1 What Is an ICF Service Node? ... 450
... 16.2 Handler RSS Feed ... 451

17. Closing ... 465

A. Code Samples ... 469

B. The Authors ... 473