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ABAP News for 7.40, SP08 – ABAP Core
Data Services (CDS)
October 10, 2014 | 12,166 Views |
Horst Keller
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ABAP Development
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Recap
With ABAP 7.40, SP05 the ABAP Core Data Services, short ABAP CDS,
were introduced. The ABAP Core Data Services implement the general
CDS concept of SAP (that is also available for HANA as HANA CDS) for AS
https://blogs.sap.com/2014/10/10/abap-news-for-740-sp08-abap-core-data-services-cds/ 1/50
12/09/2017 ABAP News for 7.40, SP08 – ABAP Core Data Services (CDS) | SAP Blogs
ABAP. They use a DDL to define CDS views that implement a semantic data
model in the ABAP Dictionary.
The power of ABAP CDS is, that it is open, meaning database independent
(with some exceptions if the databases do not yet cover all the
functionalities as e.g. views with parameters). You can use the DDL of
ABAP CDS in Eclipse based ADT to create rather complex views that
exceed the capabilities of the classical database views created in SE11 by
far. Technically, from the source code of a CDS view, a classical database
view is generated. We call this the CDS database view. You can display the
fields of this view in SE11 but not change them. Especially, you can see the
real database object – the SQL view – that is created from the view
definition on the database in SE11. But this CDS database view serves
mainly the internal technical purpose to realize the view in the dictionary.
You can, but you should not use it in ABAP programs. Instead, you work
with the CDS entitiy, whose name is defined behind DEFINE VIEW. Only
the entity carries the full capabilities of the CDS view, like semantical
information, client handling, connection to authority checks (planned), and
so on. You can use the CDS entity behind TYPE for declaring work areas
and in Open SQL in ABAP programs.
You use these views for the famous code push down in order to put more
analytic work to the database. If the functionality of a view is only needed
once, of course you can still use Joins, SQL expressions, subqueries, … in
Open SQL for this code push down. But if you want to reuse a view, need
semantical or technical capabilities of CDS that exceed those of Open SQL
(but we try to keep the technical capabilities on the same level, e.g., CDS
knows UNION, Open SQL will know UNION with an upcoming release) or
you just want to push down the full data model to the database, you use
CDS. And in fact I’ve seen very, very extensive sophisticated views already
now (oh boy …).
But I’m a simple mind, not a business modelling guru. In order to understand
the basics, I work with simple examples. Just to give you two of those:
@AbapCatalog.sqlViewName: ‘DEMO_CDS_JOIN’
define view demo_cds_scarr_spfli
(id, carrier, flight, departure, destination)
as select from spfli
join scarr on scarr.carrid = spfli.carrid
{ key spfli.carrid,
key scarr.carrname,
key spfli.connid,
spfli.cityfrom,
spfli.cityto }
This is a simple join as you could also define it in classical SE11. The name
of the CDS entity is demo_cds_scarr_spfli and the name of the
generated CDS database view is DEMO_CDS_JOIN. One difference to a
classical view is the fact, that a CDS entity that uses client dependent data
sources is client dependent by default but never has a client field. The client
handling is done implicitly without shining through here.
Another view, that does exactly the same as the above one but shows a
new kind of modelling capability:
@AbapCatalog.sqlViewName: ‘DEMO_CDS_ASSOC’
define view demo_cds_association
(id, carrier, flight, departure, destination )
association [1..1] to scarr as spfli_scarr
on $projection.carrid = spfli_scarr.carrid
{ key spfli.carrid,
key spfli_scarr.carrname,
key spfli.connid,
spfli.cityfrom,
spfli.cityto }
The join is replaced by an association, which is a more elegant way to code
reusable joins. Associations can be adressed inside the view using path
expressions (spfli_scarr.carrname is the most simple one) and can be
published (not shown here) for usage in other views and in Open SQL
(planned for SP12).
In an ABAP program you can read the views with Open SQL:
SELECT *
FROM demo_cds_association
ORDER BY id, carrier, flight
INTO TABLE @DATA(result1).
SELECT *
FROM demo_cds_scarr_spfli
ORDER BY id, carrier, flight
INTO TABLE @DATA(result2).
ASSERT result1 = result2.
To find out more, see the CDS documentation (it contains an authorization
concept already, but the release of that was postponed to SP12).
After this recap, now the most important
News for CDS with 7.40, SP08
Besides many smaller enhancements, the most important news are:
Many new builtin functions
Besides the function already introduced with SP05, you can use standard
functions as COALESCE, CONCAT, REPLACE, ABS, DIV, DIVISION,
FLOOR, MOD and ROUND now and as in Open SQL the searched CASE
was introduced.
Special functions CURRENCY_CONVERSION, UNIT_CONVERSION und
DECIMAL_SHIFT allow you to deal with data of the (in)famous SAP specific
dictionary types CURR, CUKY, QUAN and UNIT.
@AbapCatalog.sqlViewName: ‘DEMO_CDS_CRRCNV’
define view demo_cds_currency_conversion
with parameters to_currency:abap.cuky(5),
exc_date:abap.dats
as select from demo_prices
{ id,
currency_conversion( amount => amount,
source_currency => currency,
round => ‘X’,
target_currency =>
:to_currency,
exchange_rate_date =>
:exc_date,
error_handling =>
‘SET_TO_NULL’ ) as amount,
:to_currency as currency }
Parameter views
On databases that support it (not all up to now, but SAP HANA does) you
can add importing parameters to a view that can be used in the SELECT
statement of the view and that can be supplied when using the view in Open
SQL.
Example for such a view:
@AbapCatalog.sqlViewName: ‘DEMO_CDS_PARA’
define view demo_cds_parameters
with parameters p_distance_l:S_DISTANCE,
p_distance_o:S_DISTANCE,
p_unit:S_DISTID
{ key carrid,
key connid,
cityfrom,
cityto,
distance,
distid }
where distid = :p_unit and
distance between
:p_distance_l
and
:p_distance_o;
Usage in Open SQL:
IF cl_abap_dbfeatures=>use_features(
EXPORTING
requested_features =
VALUE #( (
cl_abap_dbfeatures=>views_with_parameters ) ) ).
SELECT *
FROM demo_cds_parameters( p_distance_l =
@from_distance,
p_distance_o =
@to_distance,
p_unit = @unit
)
ORDER BY carrid, connid
INTO TABLE @DATA(result).
cl_demo_output=>display( result ).
ELSE.
cl_demo_output=>display(
‘Database system does not support views with
parameters’ ).
ENDIF.
Extending views
Classical views delivered by SAP or partners can be extended with the well
known clasical append views. In order to achieve the same for CDS views a
new DDL statement is introduced:
@AbapCatalog.sqlViewAppendName: ‘DEMO_CDS_EXTENS’
extend view demo_cds_original_view with
demo_cds_view_extension
{ spfli.distance,
spfli.distid as unit };
It adds new fields to the existing view fields. Technically, a classical append
view – its name defined behind the annotation
@AbapCatalog.sqlViewAppendName – is generated in the ABAP
Dictionary for that purpose.
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96 Comments
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Paul Hardy
October 25, 2014 at 5:15 am
In regard to parameter transactions, up until now if we define a view in SE11 which
joins, say, VBAK and VBAP and call the view ZV_SALES_ORDERS.
We could then write the following:
SELECT *
FROM zv_sales_orders
INTO lt_sales_orders
WHERE werks EQ p_werks
AND erdat IN s_erdat.
I take it you cannot do this with a CDS view ?
Is this because it is not a “real” SE11 view?
You have to do the trick with the parameters instead?
Cheersy Cheers
Paul
Peter Inotai
October 27, 2014 at 12:42 pm
You can pass parameters without any problem for the select statement.
This is an example in 7.40 SP4 (so very limited functionality):
CDS definition in Eclipse:
Actually it can be displayed in SE11:
And you can write SELECT with WHERE condition:
Peter
Jacques Nomssi
October 27, 2014 at 1:22 pm
it is recommended to only use the CDS entity ZPI_TEST in
Open SQL statements (instead of the CDS database view
ZPI_TEST_CDS).
In your simple case, the only difference is that the CDS
entity does not have a MANDT field; you can select with
WHERE conditions directly on the CDS entity ZPI_TEST.
regards,
Jacques Nomssi
Peter Inotai
Hi Jacques,
Thanks for the info.
Do you mean “SELECT * FROM zpi_test ….”
statement?
In our system (only SP4) it doesn’t seem to
work.
Thanks,
Peter

Jacques Nomssi
Hi Peter,
I am on SP05 and the following
works:
Definition
@AbapCatalog.sqlViewName:
‘Y_CDS_PO_DATA’
define view y_po_view
as select from ekko as po
inner join ekpo as item
on po.ebeln = item.ebeln
left outer join lfa1 as vendor
on po.lifnr = vendor.lifnr
{ key po.ebeln as ebeln,
key item.ebelp as ebelp,
po.bukrs as bukrs,
po.bstyp as bstyp,
vendor.name1 as vendor_name
}
Comsumption
REPORT y_cds_consumption.
DATA gs_sel TYPE ekko.
SELECTOPTIONS so_bstyp
FOR gs_sel–bstyp.
DATA lt_result TYPE STANDARD
TABLE OF y_po_view WITH
NONUNIQUE key ebeln.
SELECT * UP TO 100 ROWS
FROM y_po_view
INTO TABLE @lt_result
WHERE bstyp in @so_bstyp.

cl_demo_output=>display_data(
lt_result ).
DATA lt_data TYPE STANDARD
TABLE OF y_cds_po_data WITH
NONUNIQUE key ebeln.
SELECT * UP TO 100 ROWS
FROM Y_CDS_PO_DATA
INTO TABLE @lt_data
WHERE bstyp in @so_bstyp.

cl_demo_output=>display_data(
lt_data ).
best regards,
JNN
Peter Inotai
Hi JNN,
Thanks a lot for the detailed
answer.
Probable testing in SP04 is not a
good idea, I should somehow get
to SP05 or even better to SP08,
Cheers,
Peter
Horst Keller Post author
November 13, 2014 at 5:54 pm
CDS for ABAP was released with
SP05. Before it was an
undocumented prerelease for
SAPinternal use only. And yes,
no access to the CDS entities
before SP05. As of SP05 this
access is possible and the
generated database views visible
in SE11 are regarded as internal
technical necessities but shouldn
´t be used in Open SQL.
A mixing of CDS entities with
classical SE11 databases and
views in one Open SQL
statement will be possible in an
upcoming SP and the usage of
the CDS DB views in Open SQL
will be declared as obsolete.
Pls see the comprehensive
explanation here:
http://help.sap.com/abapdocu_74
0/en/index.htm?
file=abenddic_cds_views.htm
Peter Inotai
November 14, 2014 at 8:12 am
Hi Horst,
Thanks for the info.
Peter
I´ve chosen a simple example.
You can use the parameters at many operand positions in CDS view
definitions, not only behind WHERE. E.g., you can pass parameters to
functions of the view in order to control their behavior.
In fact, I´ve shown that in the currency conversion example above …
Prasenjit Singh Bist
off the topic sorry but Paul thanks for an amazing book. i really liked
reading your book.
Paul Hardy
And whilst I am asking questions…..
A CDS view is written in “DDL” (data defintion lanaguage)
whilst a stored procedure is written in SQLScript?
Have I got that correct?
They look a bit the same, but I presume that SQLSCript has a much greater depth of
functionality available than something written in DDL?
Cheersy Cheers
Paul
Jacques Nomssi
October 25, 2014 at 10:58 pm
Hello Paul,
1) you can restrict the selection from a CDS view with additional
conditions in the WHERE conditions (I tested this on SP05).
2) you should be able to use both parameters and WHERE conditions in
a HANA system with SP08 (I have not tested this).
3) CDS is database indepedent. My understanding is that you should be
able to do:
– DDL (Data Definition)
– QL (Query)
– DML (Data Manipulation)
– DCL (Authorization)
on any supported database in the same way, with the aim is to
eventually cover the SQL92 functionality. (cf. opensap course ABAP on
HANA slides)
4) AMDB is stored in the language of the database. Currently only
HANA DB is supported, i.e. the language is SQLScript or the SAP
internal L language.
So in my view it is native SQL, but with a much better ABAP integration:
– it is in your transport request
– you just call an ABAP method (with VALUE parameters)
Special Disclaimer: I am not Horst Keller, so I might be wrong on all
counts.
regards,
JNN
Paul Hardy
First off, thanks very much for responding.
I had hoped that you could use WHERE conditions when
referring to a CDS view. My undertanding is that a CDS
view has two faces – the name that appears in SE11 which
is the SQL view, and the “entity” name which is the one you
are supposed to use in your SELECT statements in your
ABAP programs.
It would seem logical that when referring to the SQL view
you could use extra WHERE coditions, but in all the
examples I have thus far seen, when referring to the “entity”
in an ABAP SELECT no parameters are even supplied.
If you can in fact use WHERE conditions when referring to
the “entity” (sounds like an alien monsters) or a mixture of
WHERE conditions and parameters, then I am finding it
difficult to work out the reason for the parameters in the first
place – why not just use more WHERE conditions? Could
this be something to with referring to a CDS view within a
stored procedure or something? I am just guessing.
In a presentation by Rich Heilman from SAP he seemd to
imply that the CDS view was the DDL subset of
SQLSCRIPT (which might explain why you create an
artifact called a “DDL” from the ABAP in Eclipse when
creating a CDS view) but I may have totally misunderstood.
Again, in all the examples I have seen of CDS views they
look like one big SQL statement, albeit with tons of fancy
features. And Horst seems to imply that one day the new
extended Open SQL capabilities in ABAP will catch up with
wat is possible in a CDS view, which would seem to make it
redundant in the long term. Again, I have probably got all
this wrong.
Now, moving on to ADMP, I thought the only language
possible was SQLSCRIPT at this time but you mention also
the internal SAP “L” language.
On reading this I thought “what the L?”
Is this just a language SAP use inhouse?
Hi Paul,
Most of your questions are answered by JNN and Peter.
To summarize:
CDS views are entities of the ABAP CDS in the ABAP Dictionary that
are much more advanced than the classical SE11 views. E.g., you
can influence CDS views with parameters that can be used at
different positions of the DCL. As for classical SE11 views, for a CDS
view a platform dependent runtime object is generated at the
database that you can examine in SE11. When accessing a (CDS)
view with Open SQL, the database interface accesses this runtime
object. As always ST05 can be used to analyze such accesses
further. A CDS view is created with a source code based editor in
Eclipse using a DDL (that has nothing to do with SQLScript). For
technical reasons, from the source code a classical DB view is
generated in SE11 that you can access like any classical view, but
you shouldn’t. Instead the so called CDS entity should be accessed
because it carries more meaning than the mere technical DB view
and involves new kind of client handling. In an upcoming release the
direct acces to the DB view of a CDS view will be declared as
obsolet.
You use CDS to model large parts of your application in the
Dictionary and use simple Open SQL SELECTs in ABAP for read
access instead of having to create the respective joins and
subqueries in each ABAP program over and over again. One day
Open SQL might have the same power like CDS but it doesn’t
mean that those are redundant. Already before CDS you had the
choice between creating a reusable view in SE11 or programming
a join in Open SQL. As a rule of thumb you created a view if it is
used in more than one program and programmed a join when you
needed it only once. That is very similar for CDS, but with much
more possibilities for modeling semantically rich models for reuse
in ABAP programs.
CDS is mainly open. It is not restricted to HANA (but performance
can be different!).
AMDP is simply a frame work that facilitates the handling of Native
DB procedures. Up to now only DB procedures of HANA written in
SQLScript are supported (the low level language L is for SAPinternal
use only; parts of SQLScript are implemented in L). Other platforms
might follow.
Have a look at my From ADBC to AMDP example, that shows the
evolution. From generating a DB procedure yourself wih ADBC
over calling it with CALL DATABASE PROCEDURE we finally can
generate and call it purely in ABAP. Of course, the functionality of
that example is nonsense, because you can do the same with the
same or even better performance in Open SQL. Another example
is more realistic in showing how a SQLScript currency conversion
function is used on the database instead of calling an ABAP
function module. It is clear, that working directly on the database
should perform better here.
Best
Horst
Jacques Nomssi
thanks to Horst Keller, documentalist extraordinaire!

and some questions
1) Will CDS view with parameter be supported on all
certified DB soon?
I mean, checking the underlying database for available
features is idiosyncratic for custom developments.
2) Should I expect a change in performance while fetching
data from a base CDS entity when I
a) consume the base CDS entity in an ABAP SELECT
statement with WHERE clause, compared to when I
b) extend the CDS entity with a WHERE restriction and
then consume the extended CDS entity without WHERE
clause.
best regards,
JNN
1) The database colleagues are working on it
and it seems that with the next major release
7.40, SP12 all database systems will support
parameter views.
2) I do not expect different performance. I
expect the database systems do carry out the
same SELECT in both cases.
Paul Hardy
October 28, 2014 at 12:21 pm
OK, from the replies that Jacques and Peter have been kind enough to share it looks
like – in the higher levels of 740 – we can address the “entity” (view name) with not
only variables in the WHERE parameter, but in SP08 view parameters as well.
The question I still have is why do we need both? SAP would not have introduced
parameters to CDS views as a joke (I hope) so there must be some sort of use case
for them which cannot be acheived by the normal WHERE parameters in ABAP.
My guess remains that this is something to fo with using a CDS view in a stored
procedure.
Also I am still wondering about this “L” language…..
Peter Inotai
October 28, 2014 at 12:31 pm
Even before CDS you had the possibility to add conditions to the view in
SE11 (Selection Conditions tab) or do it via ABAP WHERE condition in
the SELECT statement, so it doesn’t really bother me.
CDS views are also used for naive HANA development, this could be
also a reason why parameters are added.
Guidelines would be good, which case to use them as in CDS or which
case outside the CDS.
Peter Inotai
>Also I am still wondering about this “L” language…..
It’s mentioned in the “ABAP Development for SAP HANA” book.
Once it’s mentioned that it’s for SAP internal use only (just like
Language R).
Somewhere it’s mentioned that it’s an intermediate representation for
translating SQLScript into C++ language.
Jacques Nomssi
Hi Peter,
information about L and even a code sample can be found
in the AMDB section of the online help (Thanks Horst
Keller).
OTOH the R environment is a powerfull suite for data
manipulation and display. It is a free GNU project not
related to SAP. I understand you can install an R server on
a linux machine and connect it to a HANA system.
My understanding is that the DDL part of CDS (Views) will
completely replace the definition of views in SE11. You can
extend views (Append), create associations (joins on
demand) and use expressions, so I can imagine a use case
where the parameter is not part of the projection list, so you
cannot pass it as a WHERE condition.
best regards,
JNN
Peter Inotai
Hi JNN,
Thanks for the info!
Cheers,
Peter
Paul Hardy
So, when you define a CDS view you start off
with a list of the fields for export, which
matches the list of fields you would define on
the left hand side of an SE11 view.
Thereafter these fields are available for use in
WHERE condtiions after a SELECT
statmement against the “view entity”.
If you declared a parameter that was NOT in
that list, then that parameter could be used
somehow inside the “code” of the CDS view in
a way that a value passed in via a WHERE
clause could not?
If so, could you be kind enought to give some
sort of example, even if this is not actually
possible at the moment in the current level of
HANA?
Jacques Nomssi
October 31, 2014 at 12:07 am
from the ABAP on HANA online
course (Week 03, Filtered
Association):
1) normalized view of the EPM
text table
‘ZDDLS_CDS_33A’
define view
zcdsv_adv_filter_example_base
as select from snwd_texts
{
parent_key as product_text_guid,
language,
text
}
2) Association between the
product table and the text
information encoded in first view
‘ZDDLS_CDS_33B’
define view
zcdsv_adv_filter_example_l1
as select from snwd_pd as pd
association [1..*] to
zcdsv_adv_filter_example_base
as texts
on texts.product_text_guid =
$projection.text_guid
{
key pd.product_id,
pd.desc_guid as text_guid,
texts
}
3) consume the association texts
exposed in second view, filtering
the language to the given input
parameter value or a default
value
‘ZDDLS_CDS_33C’
define view
zcdsv_adv_filter_example_l2
with parameters lang : abap.lang
as select from
zcdsv_adv_filter_example_l1 as
product
{
$parameters.lang as
langu_filter_param,
coalesce (
product.texts[1: language =
$parameters.lang ].text,
product.texts[1: language = ‘E’
].text
) as product_description
}
The following is untested, but I
assume the consumption of the
3rd view could look like
SELECT * FROM
zcdsv_adv_filter_example_l2(
lang = p_langu )
WHERE product_id IN so_prod
INTO TABLE @DATA(lt_result)
where P_LANGU and SO_PROD
could be selection screen
parameter / selectoptions.
Paul Hardy
October 31, 2014 at 10:35 pm
As I suspected, the parameter
gets passed into some sort of
fucntion, which naturally cannot
be the case with a value in a
WHERE clause.
You say this is a standard SAP
example – it has to be said they
are struggling to find a practical
use for this, examples should
really be along the lines of
1. Here is how we do it now
2. Here is a new way to do it
3. The new way is better because
of XYZ
The SAP language example does
not cut the mustard as you can
pass in SYLANGU in a WHERE
clause.
If the example is trying to do
something more than just pass
back the product description
twice then maybe I am barking up
the wrong tree.
Jacques Nomssi
For each selected product the
example should return a single
product description in the desired
language if maintained, otherwise
the product description in the
default language english.
Since SP08 you can use SQL
expressions in the CDS view to
implement logic that cannot be
achieved with a mere WHERE
clause. COALESCE( A, B )
returns A if not NULL, otherwise
B.
I guess we could use
COALESCE( ) again on the result
to return a Constant text if the
description is not maintained in
any language.
This is IMO a very practical
example. I can remember having
to implement this logic for MARA
– MAKT queries more than once.
With this the ABAP logic is much
simpler and Code Push Down is
achieved.
JNN
Aaron Batchac
If I understand correctly – I am a bit unsure, so please confirm – transporting of the
CDSobject and the ABAP coding accessing it remain separate?
What about the other way around, i.e. the possibility to utilize a classical ABAP
dictionary object in HANA SQL?
In my particular case I am working with an .hdbprocedure and would like to declare
a table of a type already existing in the ABAPdictionary. Is that possible?
Great post BTW
Hi,
A CDS view as an ABAP program or any reposiory object is a normal
transport object governed by the classical transport tools. Of course they
are different objects but they can be transported together. Nothing has
changed here compared to classical dictionary objects. In fact, that´s
one reason, why ABAP CDS is embedded in the ABAP Dictionary.
Also the same as before. In Native SQL you cannot access the ABAP
Dictionary as a meta data repository, but you should be able to access
the runtime object generated from the dictionary definition on the
database.
Horst
Aaron Batchac
Horst,
thank you for your answer and clarification.
Unfortauntely it is not clear to me what you mean with “you
should be able to access the runtime object generated from
the dictionary definition on the database”.
Does it mean that local variables can be declared in the
procedure based on e.g. the types of the procedure
parameters? Would it thereby be possible to declare local
table variable based of type BOOKINGS and
CONFIRMATIONS in the example below?
PROCEDURE DEMO (IN p1 BOOKINGS, OUT p2
CONFIRMATIONS)
LANGUAGE SQLSCRIPT
SQL SECURITY INVOKER
READS SQL DATA
AS
BEGIN
END;
Thanx
Hello,
Database tables and database views defined
in the ABAP Dictionary are created on the
database in the database schema SAPsid. For
this, native DDL statements are passed from
AS ABAP to the database by the Database
Interface (DBI).
You can examine these objects using the
database’s tools and interfaces and you can
use the programming language(s) of the
database to access them. In case of
SQLScript, please refer to the respective
documentation (
http://help.sap.com/hana/SAP_HANA_SQL_S
cript_Reference_en.pdf), how you can access
the native views generated from an CDS
source.
But maybe it is a better idea to use AMDP in
that case. When creating an AMDP method, in
ABAP, you have direct access to the
Dictionary types used in an CDS view and you
can let the AMDP framework generate the
actual database procedure for you.
Best
Horst
Aaron Batchac
Thanks for your answer Horst.
please refer to the
respective
documentation (
http://help.sap.com/hana
/SAP_HANA_SQL_Scrip
t_Reference_en.pdf),
how you can access the
native views generated
from an CDS source.
I searched the guide for ‘CDS’
and ‘native’ but found nothing.
Are you refering to ADBC?
Also: I am not using AMDP
because I have understood that
from an AMDP generated
procedures only other AMDP
generated procedures can be
called (i.e. not stored
procedures). This is one of the
reasons why I am not going down
the AMDProute.
I searched the guide for
‘CDS’ and ‘native’ but
found nothing.
Of course. SQLScript is DB level.
DB level is native from the ABAP
point of view. DB level doesn’t
know anything about ‘native’ and
CDS, since it is native itself so to
say. You have to look up the
artifact generated by the AS
ABAP in HANA studio and find
out, how to handle it with DB
means if you really want to do so.
But this is not a question to
ABAP.
I have understood that
from an AMDP
generated procedures
only other AMDP
generated procedures
can be called (i.e. not
stored procedures).
Who told you so? An AMDP
procedure can call other DB
procedures.
When calling another AMDP
procedure, the latter must
be listed behind USING.
When calling a native DB
procedure of the same DB
schema, it must be in the
name space /1BCAMDP/
(see example). But his
should be restricted to
temporary procedures.
There are no syntactical
restrictions in calling native
DB procedures of other DB
schemas. But of course, you
have to take care yourself,
that the procedures are
available in any system and
that’s why it should be done
in exceptional cases only.
So the questions remains, why
you want to access ABAP
features from DB level at all and
why you do not want to use a
supporting framework (AMDP) for
doing so.
Aaron Batchac
Thanks for your many answers to
my questions.
The scenario I am struggling with
is: I have several BWDSO tables
(ABAP generated artifacts, right?)
whose content I need to
manipulate by AFL/PAL functions
(thru calls to catalog procedures).
There are various of these
procedures requiring different
combinations of input and output
parameters (always at least an IN
and an OUT table).
The reason behind my questions
is that I am searching for a
solution where I can avoid
defining the structure of the DSO
tables manually on a DB level.
Why? Double work AND if the
DSOs changes their structure in
BW (ABAP AS) somebody must
remeber to make the change also
on a DB level.
Initially I tried AMDP, but found it
a bit limited for the reasons you
mentioned above AND the fact
that the syntax seems to be
restricted visavis normal
procedures (e.g. no local
temporary tables permitted and
other restrictions). This was the
reason that I have been looking
for an alternative by using stored
procedures (thru BW’s HANA
Analysis Process) from which the
idea was to call the AFL/PAL
procedures.
I will take a look at the simplest
option: userexit logic in BW
transformation with loop over an
ITAB inside which I first prepare
the data and then execute calls to
the AFL/PAL functions (which are
located in another schema) by
means of AMDP. As you state
this should be done only in
exceptional cases (I normally try
to avoid those), but in my case it
seems as if it could be the ‘right
thing’ to do.
Thanks again for your assistance.
Uwe Fetzer
January 9, 2015 at 8:12 pm
I’m currently playing with the association example of the ABAP Keyword
Documentation and getting a warning “Association & can influence the cardinality of
the resulting set”. This also happens in all of my own examples.
Do you know what this warning means and how to prevent it?
(I’m on 7.40 SP9)
January 12, 2015 at 7:28 am
The purpose of such warnings in CDS source code is to point out
properties of a view that might be unexpected for the programmer.
Warnings can come either from the syntax but also from the ABAP
Dictionary, where the respective database view is generated. An
example for the latter would be “all fields are key fields”. Unfortunately
up to now, there is no way to hide such warnings (no CDS pragmas yet)
but the problem is known and work is in progress.
Anita Dixit
March 30, 2015 at 6:22 am
Hi,
I have created a simple ABAP CDS view, using one input parameter for date. But I
need to use it in 2 different places in the ‘where’ condition. But I am getting this error.
Can anyone help here please?
Dominik Rosch
April 2, 2015 at 10:41 am
Hi everyone,
I’m having cosmetic problems with my CDSViews. I created them with EN as my
default language; though I work for a german company in which everyone signs in
using DE as default language.
I provide the short description for my views using the following annotation:
@EndUserText.label: ‘<Short Description>’
When I try to look up my views in SE11 using F4Help in DElanguage, there are no
short descriptions (due to them being written in English?), whereas when displaying
the view in SE11, the short description is available.
Do you have any idea on how to provide said F4Help short descriptions in DE?
Best,
Dominik
Hi,
You shouldn’t look up your views in SE11, at least not the semantical
properties …
The database views created from the CDS source code are merely “for
technical” reasons. The CDS source code and the CDS entity defined
there should be the “real thing”.
Nevertheless, the behavior should be improved in an upcoming release.
Horst
Ulrich Brenner
Does MaxDB support views with parameters? If not, is this feature planned?
Uwe Fetzer
No, not (yet) implemented for AnyDB. And noone will talk about planned
features here (but wait a couple of weeks and you’ll know , enough
said, running away now…)
Christiaan Edward Swanepoel
So Uwe, now you can say it more directly: With SAP
NetWeaver AS ABAP 7.5, ABAP CDS views with
parameters are supported on AnyDB .
Uwe Fetzer
See also my session proposal for SAP Inside
Track Walldorf 2015
October 23, 2015 at 12:51 pm
Given this news, I just signed up
for #sitWDF ! Will be fun!
October 23, 2015 at 10:33 am
or here,
And yes, CDS views with parameters,
introduced with ABAP 7.40, SP08,
are supported by all databases with
ABAP 7.50.
Andreas J.A. Schneider
Hello,
sadly I just fail to see the advantage of a “CDS view” when it comes to SAP HANA
compared to an “informatioon view” in SAP HANA built with “SAP HANA Studio”.
Sure, if one only knew the SE11 Transaction to create a view…
So what are the benefits of using “CDS views” in an SAP HANA environment
compared to using the “SAP HANA Studio” for modeling and creating the views
instead, please?
Dear colleague,
The CDS concept is far more than simple view building but describes a
DDL for building a meta model repository involving database tables, database
views, functions, and data types.
CDS was invented by SAP, because the modeling capabilities of the
ABAP Dictionary and of the “SAP HANA Studio” are not sufficient for the
needs of all fully blown business applications with nowadays needs.
With “HANA CDS”, CDS is availbale for SAP HANA in the SAP HANA
studio. With “ABAP CDS”, the CDS concept is also made available for
the AS ABAP, where the features of CDS surpass the modelling
capabilities of SE11. ABAP CDS is open and not restricted to SAP
HANA.
See also CDS One Concept Two Flavors.
If you don’t need a meta model as it can be build with CDS for your
application, well, don’t use it. Others seem to need it. Meanwhile there
are 10,000s of CDS entities around in SAP S/4 HANA applications …
Thanks for clarifying, still trying to get my head around CDS
concept.
Leaving my comfort zone of modeling confortably with SAP
HANA Studio.
Hans Bellens
March 1, 2016 at 5:41 pm
Hello,
I am (was) assuming that CDS could do all things I can in ABAP OPEN SQL, and
more. But I am starting to doubt this …
In an ABAP program I can use this OPEN SQL:
select *
from tablex as a
where a~field1 = ( select max( field1 ) from … )
In the DLLS/CDS it seems I am not able to use a subquery on the righthandside of
the wherecondition.
In CDS I get these errors …
where a.field1 = ( select max( field1 ) from … ) ==> Unexpected word (
where a.field1 = select max( field1 ) from … ==> Unexpected word SELECT
Is this (still) a limitation of CDS, or am I doing something wrong?
PS: I am working on 7.40 SP9
kr,
Hans
March 1, 2016 at 5:52 pm
As documented, up to now conditional expressions but no support of
subqueries in ABAP CDS.
Horst
Hans Bellens
March 1, 2016 at 6:20 pm
Wow Horst, very swift reply. Thanks!
I encountered that docupage but just couldn’t believe
subqueries would not be supported (yet). Anyway,
something to look forward at.
Thanks again.
kr,
Hans
March 3, 2016 at 11:13 am
Hi Andreas,
maybe offtopic ;), but you can “simulate”
subqueries using “views on views”. This
makes sense when you want to model your
data for reuse or expose your model via
OData etc.. If you only require a onceoff, ad
hoc query, then stick to OPEN SQL.
Cheers
Chris
Hans Bellens
March 3, 2016 at 11:32 am
indeed, that is how I ‘corrected’
the issue I ran into.
March 2, 2016 at 7:41 am
And what about HANA CDS views? Do they support
Subqueries?
Sorry, but I could not find it in the vast help files : (
March 2, 2016 at 8:12 am
Now that’s a question, that should be posed in
the SAP HANA Developer Center.Of course
the answer should also be retrievable from the
respective documentation.
Hans Bellens
March 2, 2016 at 8:29 am
I also do not find immediate ‘proof’ of
subqueries in HANA CDS in the docu
I do find the usage of subqueries in the SAP
HANA SQL and System Views Reference
(HANA Native SQL), on 2 places: Comparison
Predicates and SELECT (scroll down to the
WHERE clause)
When reading Horst’s CDS – One Concept, Two
Flavors: << The DDL of CDS allows you to
define database tables, database views, data
types by wrapping the according native HANA
SQL statements and enriching them with
semantical properties. >>
So in the end it think it should be possible to
use subqueries in HANA CDS.
I cannot verify this currently, as I am not into
HANA CDS (yet ;), but only into ABAP CDS
kr,
Hans
March 2, 2016 at 9:12 am
Well, well, I asked the HANA
CDS colleagues …
No, subqueries are not yet
supported in HANA CDS either.
They are planned in an upcoming
HANA SP (a fact that might raise
the ambitions of the ABAP CDS
colleagues ).
Hans Bellens
March 2, 2016 at 10:05 am
Horst, thanks for asking around.
Getting proof/confirmation of
things that are NOT possible is
never easy.
For me that always comes down
to searching/scanning all things
that ARE possible, and when not
found, throw in the towel and
admit/conclude it will (probably)
not be possible.
kr,
Hans
Paul Hardy
March 2, 2016 at 9:16 pm
When I was in SAP TECHED in Las Vegas in October 2015 there were
lots of talks about CDS views, by Karl Kessler and many other speakers.
More than one speaker indicated there seemed to be some sort of
unofficial contest going between the team that were enhancing the Open
SQL in ABAP so that it could reach the 1992 standard, and the team
adding features to CDS views.
It seems that if a new feature is added to a CDS view then the Open
SQL guys will then try to not be outdone and add that to the next release
of their functionality.
I would imagine then that as a corollary if there is a feature in Open SQL
that is not available in a CDS view as yet, the CDS team will do a tit for
tat, and try and get that feature in their next release.
This sort of healthy competition is good for everyone involved, and for us
ABAP developers most of all!
Cheersy Cheers
Paul
March 2, 2016 at 9:59 pm
In fact, it is one team …
March 3, 2016 at 11:22 am
Sounds to me like a very motivated team that
keeps wanting to outdo itself … or maybe it is
“continuous improvement” to the extreme … or
maybe … just some old fashioned
agile/incremental development?
What did Venus Williams say again?
“Everyone makes their own comments. That’s
how rumors get started.”
Regards
Chris
P.S. Disclaimer here … these are my personal
thoughts and have nothing to do with SAP
March 3, 2016 at 11:56 am
Oh my …
Richard Harper
March 3, 2016 at 1:11 pm
<chuckles>
Now see what you’ve started!!
March 12, 2016 at 10:43 am
Hi very off the topic and sorry to every one because I have no intentions to interrupt
the ongoing conversation but I am very curious to knoe waht will happen to the
classical
SAP ALV and dynpro stuffs in future, will they be deprecated or in future we shall see
even more powerful ABAP dynpro capabilities.
Please help address my question.
Regards,
Prasenjit
Paul Hardy
March 13, 2016 at 12:11 am
It is 100% off topic but I cannot stop myself replying.
I cannot say for sure, but I would guess the last enhancement to the GUI
based DYNPRO was round about 1999 and ever since 4.6 came out
SAP have been trying to migrate us away from using this, with a notable
lack of success, until UI5 came along.
The ALV on the other hand keeps getting new features added e.g. the
IDA SALV class designed to work with HANA and CDS views (whoo
hoo, I managed to get back on topic), so the ALV is in with the in crowd,
and poor old DYNPRO is a dead parrot.
Web Dynpro, IMHO, was dead on arrival, but in the very recent past
SAP have strapped it to the operating table, shouted “CLEAR” and
pumped ten billion volts through it in an attempt to bring it back to life,
this time looking like UI5 rather than the uglier version of the GUI
DYNPRO which it has been thus far.
March 13, 2016 at 7:34 am
Hi Paul, Thanks for the reply and sorry yes i was off the
topic.
I am taking a forced liking to the Fiori apps and the UX
given it’s the way forward but in my humble opinion dynpros
are a killer tool, and very recently from 2011 2014 i was
involved in an implementation project where we had
hundreds of complex dynpro screens and honestly i
enjoyed writing those screens. May be my comments are
because of my relative inexperience with fiori and ui5 in
general but i find dynoros more suited to handle complex
transactional needs of companies because not every
business needs fancy fiori apps that have so many views
and separate apps when i can do so much in any ecc
system with classical dialog programming. With a little
screen personas we made many classical transactions look
cool without sacrificing the raw power.
Thanks for your expert comment because that’s how
people like us get to learn from your experiences rather
than reinventing the wheel.
Regards,
Prasenjit
Paul Hardy
March 13, 2016 at 7:05 pm
I like writing DYNPRO screens as well, but
your exact question was along the lines of “are
SAP adding new features to classical
DYNPROS” and the answer is no they are not.
Amazing as it may seem SAP has come under
fire for many years for having a hideous user
unfriendly user interface. They tried to address
this with the wrongly named “enjoy”
transactions back in the year 2000, and when
it turned out noone actually enjoyed these
along came Web Dynpro which was even
worse to look at.
From a purely technical point of view the
problem with DYNPROS is the business logic
all being tied up with the UI logic, but noone
can doubt that you can do a lot with such
technology a la VA01.
It may be easy to disparage new things like
UI5 as “fancy” but as the saying goes you
need to use the right tool for the right job. On a
desktop an SAP GUI type screen may be
perfect, on a smart phone maybe twenty tabs
with a hundred fields each might not work so
well.
Moving to UI5 is scary for a lot of people as it
is outside of the “comfort zone” but, as
someone somewhere once said “the sleeper
must awake”. The future is here whether we
like it or not, and to be honest the learning
curve for things like JavaScript is not actually
that steep.
Volker Wegert
March 14, 2016 at 6:50 am
Paul Hardy wrote:
From a purely technical
point of view the
problem with DYNPROS
is the business logic all
being tied up with the UI
logic, but noone can
doubt that you can do a
lot with such technology
a la VA01.
Sorry, but this is simply not true.
Nothing prevents one from using
a clean MVC approach with
Dynpros (BTDT), just like nothing
prevents one from sticking
business logic into WebDynpro or
UI5 UIs – and I’ve seen a lot of
that, especially with WebDynpro
applications. Don’t blame the
toolkit for the incompetence of
some of its users.
March 14, 2016 at 7:02 am
Interestingly enough, there are UI
annotations for CDS views that
allow you to mix (UI5) screen
properties directly into the data
model layer
March 14, 2016 at 7:03 am
Yes we are learning that in the
open SAP course and with smart
templates i guess a lot of ABAP
ers without JavaScript foundation
can take a leap but they should
have strong Odata and SAP
gateway knowledge. Just my 2
cents.
Regards,
Prasenjit
Volker Wegert
March 14, 2016 at 7:17 am
“Disruptive” in a whole new
context, isn’t it?
Hendrik Neumann
March 14, 2016 at 3:57 pm
Horst Keller link to the wdf –
internal ABAP Help page?
on topic: The new pattern of
layers is CDS layered
BR
Hendrik
March 14, 2016 at 4:02 pm
link to the wdf – internal
ABAP Help page?
What?
Hendrik Neumann
March 14, 2016 at 4:15 pm
The link “are UI annotations for CDS”
leads to no result outside the corporate
WDF net:
http://dewdfth12408.wdf.sap.corp:1080/
NW7.5/DE/63/0ce9b386b84e80bfade9
6779fbaeec/frameset.htm
BR
Hendrik
March 14, 2016 at 4:23 pm
Corrected, thx …
March 14, 2016 at 7:02 am
Hello Volker, Hello Paul
I agree, even with my limited knowledge I tried to keep the business logic and
presentation in separate classes in our design and then implement the calls accordingly,
but that grows complex without native support like web dynpros and may be Paul being a
purist won’t call it a pure MVC stuff.
But for me I have got the message loud and clear, can’t keep treating UI5 as the step
child need to embrace it as that is our future and that is good for us the developers
with long careers ahead of us and the company i.e. SAP because many great
technological products like Nokia’s Symbian failed not because of bad core technology
rather it was miles ahead but the UI failed them and UI5 addresses that challenge for us
in our SAP ecosystem.
Paul thanks for entertaining my off the topic question.
Thanks to all.
Regards,
Prasenjit
Ioan Radulescu
February 28, 2017 at 4:54 pm
SAPUI5 is an intermediate solution – i believe there will be support for
native application floorplans to be downloaded as straight to the OS’s of
the corresponding devices. Each OS should have an application floor
plan support, where you can download sets of the applications that plug
into a floor plan pattern and the interfaces are very strict.
March 3, 2017 at 10:35 am
Right I guess the Fiori promise is now broken as SAP
brings iOS SDK with swift, soon something for android.
Vaibhav Goel
March 29, 2016 at 9:42 pm
Hi Horst,
Is it possible to create ABAP CDS views dynamically ?
Like in HANA, we were able to create a procedure and we were creating SQL views
(definitions) dynamically by passing the source and target schema to that procedure.
So, can we achieve same kind of functionality in CDS views as well ?
Requirement:
Say we are creating CDS in DDL with this code:
@AbapCatalog.sqlViewName: ‘ZV_ABAP_ZT96’
@AbapCatalog.compiler.CompareFilter: true
@AccessControl.authorizationCheck: #CHECK
@EndUserText.label: ‘DDL Source for ZT96 Table’
define view ZDDL_ZT96 as select from zt96 {
mandt,
vendor,
baselifnr,
land1,
name1,
name2,
comments,
reqname,
reqdate,
chgnam,
chgon,
chgtim,
addr1,
addr2,
addr3,
ort01,
regio,
pstlz,
fc_typ,
fc_ctgy,
inactive
}

So, basically, even say we have generated this code dynamically by concatenating
strings. How to execute that code ??
Please do let me know.
Thanks,
Vaibhav
March 30, 2016 at 6:23 am
It is not possible to create ABAP CDS Entities dynamically.
For “dynamic view building” in ABAP you can use the dynamic FROM
clause of Open SQL.
Horst
Vaibhav Goel
April 6, 2016 at 6:23 pm
Thanks Horst for the confirming the same.
I was thinking like we have ADBC. So, via ADBC I am able
to execute DDL commands like CREATE VIEWS, TABLES
in SAP HANA.
So, there is no such way to create ABAP CDS views from
ABAP coding ?
Regards,
Vaibhav Goel
April 6, 2016 at 6:53 pm
ABAP CDS are generated in eclipse ADT
using a DSL.
April 7, 2016 at 5:51 am
So, there is no such way to create ABAP
CDS views from ABAP coding ?
No
ananthachari enjarapu
April 7, 2016 at 5:12 am
Hi,
Useful. Thank you
Regards,
E.Ananthachari
Vipin Nagpal
April 8, 2016 at 5:01 am
Hi Horst,
Can I consume ABAP CDS view in ABAP Custom report via Secondary database
connection?
Thanks for your support on this topics.
April 8, 2016 at 5:55 am
An ABAP CDS View is an ABAP Dictionary Object. Therefore, yes of
course.
Vipin Nagpal
April 8, 2016 at 9:01 am
Thanks a lot for your confirmation.
Tim Jaschik
May 19, 2016 at 11:48 am
Hi Horst,
thanks very much for the detailed description. So far it was possible to create a CDS
View (which could be seen in se11) but after that how do we connect to this view with
Lumira or Analysis for Office? We don’t see our CDSView, although there’re a lot of
Content views…
Could you help?
Regards,
Tim Jaschik
May 19, 2016 at 2:04 pm
Hi Tim,
Basically a CDSView is an entity that can be adressed by its name
in ABAP as a type
in Open SQL as a data source
Seeing a CDSView in SE11 is kind of a technical artifact and you should
not address the database view that is shown there in your ABAP
programs. From SE11 you can also navigate to the database object that
is generated from the definition. This database object can even be
accessed directly with Native SQL.
This means you can access your CDS Views directly in ABAP programs
or from elsewhere. For evaluating the semantic properties (annotations)
of a CDS View (stored in system tables) one should use an appropriate
API (CL_DD_DDL_ANNOTATION_SERVICE if available in your
system).
And that’s as good as all from the technical foundation’s point of view.
Connecting to CDS Views with “Lumira” or “Analysis for Office” is a task
of the corresponding framework. If you cannot access your CDS views
with frameworks that should do so, you must check with those.
Horst
Paul Hardy
May 19, 2016 at 9:12 pm
Lumira is an SAP framework for data exploration and
visualisation. At TECHED in Las Vegas in October 2015
one of the evening events was all about using Lumira to
save the world. And they gave us free beer as well.
In short SAP is pushing this really hard.They would not give
out free beer otherwise.
If Lumira does not recognise CDS views that is a serious
communication failure between two groups within SAP.
“Analysis for Office” is part of BW/BI (whatever it is called
this week). Surely the SAP Business Warehouse must be
able to recognise CDS views? If it does not that is even
worse.
Cheersy Cheers
Paul
May 20, 2016 at 5:46 am
If Lumira does not recognise CDS views
that is a serious communication failure
between two groups within SAP.
I wouldn’t say so. I’d rather say, if you want to access
CDS views using a framework you have to check if it
is possible in the framework and the framework’s
prerequisites. SAP Basis offers the ability to create
CDS views , to annotate them, and to use them in an
ABAP program. But how to annotate a view for usage
in a framework and how to consume them by a
framework is a question to the framework and must be
looked up there.
According to What’s new in SAP Lumira 1.30
Lumira 1.30 supports connecting to SAP
S4HANA. You can Acquire data from CDS
Views via Transient BEX Queries on BW
Analytic Engine
If you work with Lumira 1.30 and your CDS views
don’t show up automatically, I’d guess you have to use
the appropriate functions of the framework and your
views might also need some @Analytics or other
annotations for that. But I’m not a framework expert.
Those things ought to be described in the respective
framework documentation.
Horst
Tim Jaschik
May 20, 2016 at 9:20 am
Hi Horst, hi Paul,
it was possible to solve my
problem. Some annotations in
CDSview were missing, so that
odp has not been created
automatically. After adding the
missing entries, it is possible now
to connect via Analysis or Lumira
to the CDSViews.
Regards
Tim
May 22, 2016 at 9:51 am
Well, that was my guess
Georgi Aleksandrov
January 2, 2017 at 9:42 am
Hello Tim,
Could you please provide an
example/screenshot of the
missing annotations ?
Thanks.
Paul Hardy
June 1, 2016 at 9:22 pm
You want him to send you a copy of his book for nothing, whereas everyone else has
to buy it using money?
If that works, can I please have a sports car, fifty bedroom mansion, private jet,
private island why not, all for nothing please? Surely that is not too much to ask?
Mohammed Pavanna
June 25, 2016 at 7:14 am
Hi Horst and other experts,
I have a trivial doubt. Can someone explain to the difference between an ABAP CDS
view and a HANA CDS view, am not able to differentiate them clearly. Will be nice if
someone can explain them with an example with screen shots.
Thanks in advance…!
Shai Sinai
June 26, 2016 at 8:51 am
Well, that’s exactly why you have Horst’s post: CDS – One Concept,
Two Flavors.
Mohammed Pavanna
June 26, 2016 at 8:59 am
Hi Shai,
I have read the post which you have shared the link, but
that doesn’t give an example, its very vague to me as a
beginner. For me an example of both the cases will make
things clear.
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