ABAP (Advance Business Application Programming) is a fourth generation language developed by SAP Germany in 1980 for SAP ERP Development and Customization in Standard SAP Programs. ABAP is a fourth generation language and part of Netweaver Suite for building business applications, which also supports JAVA.
ABAP stands for Allgemeiner Berichtsaufbereitungsprozessor, which means “generic report preparation process.” ABAP was initially developed for building reports. However, later it turned in to a very strong programming language, which covers all the aspects of programming language. The syntax of ABAP is somewhat similar to COBOL. Like many other languages i.e. C++, Java it also supports Object Oriented Paradigm.
ABAP programs reside in the SAP database and are edited using the ABAP Workbench tools. They are compiled, debugged and run within the context of the SAP basis component, which is a part of the SAP Web application server.
SAP customers can create custom reports and user interfaces using the ABAP programming language. ABAP is easy to learn for programmers, less so for non-programmers. Programmers learning ABAP are assumed to have working knowledge of relational database design and object oriented programming concepts.
ABAP programs can be categorized into reports and module tools. The term “report” is freely used to denote programs that manipulate data in a list-oriented manner.
Types of ABAP Programs:
- Reports
- Module Pool Programming
- Interfaces
- Forms
- Data conversions
- User Exits & BADIs
The ABAP Workbench is used by SAP for the development of standard and custom application software. The ABAP Workbench is also used to create dictionary objects. It consists of the following components −
ABAP Editor is used to maintain programs.
ABAP Dictionary is used to maintain Dictionary objects.
Repository Browser is used to display a hierarchical structure of the components in a package.
Menu Painter is used to develop graphical user interfaces including menu bars and toolbars.
Screen Painter is used to maintain screen components for online programs.
Repository Information System contains information about development and runtime objects, such as data models, dictionary types and table structures, programs, and functions.
Test and Analysis Tools, such as the Syntax Check and the Debugger.
Function Builder, which allows to create and maintain function groups and function modules.
Data Modeler, a tool which supports graphical modeling.
Workbench Organizer, which maintains multiple development projects and manages their distribution.
Reporting
Report programs produce lists and can be divided into classical reports and interactive reports.
Classical reports do not allow interaction by the user; therefore, the basic list contains extensive information that the user must often sort through to find relevant data.
Interactive reports allow interaction by the user; therefore, the user can produce secondary, detailed lists of the basic list by choosing the relevant data and requesting more information.
SAP Query or Ad-hoc Query or InfoSet Query is a tool that allows the end-user to design different queries based on different input and output parameters in the SAP system according to the requirement. This is one of the reporting tools majorly used in the HR Module to pull data from relational databases. InfoSet Query is suitable for reporting in all areas of the SAP R/3 system.
Ad-Hoc query provides three different kinds of reports −
- Basic List − Simple reports.
- Statistics − Reports with statistical functions such as average, percentage
- Ranked List − For analytical reports.
Transaction code used to access ad-hoc Queries −
- SQ01 − Maintain Queries
- SQ02 − Display InfoSet
- SQ03 − Maintain User Groups
Data Entry
The SAP database has to be filled before the end-users can start working over the business process for analyzing and reporting purpose. Various methods are used to transfer data into the system at various stages depending upon the complexity and data volume to be transferred.
Data can be transferred from SAP to SAP or SAP to non-SAP systems (legacy system). Data can also be transferred through manual entries. The tools used for data transfer are as follows −
- BDC (Batch Data Communication
- IDOC (Intermediate Document)
- LSMW (Legacy System Migration Workbench)
- Interfaces through upload of .txt or Excel files holding data
- Manual data entry using transaction codes
Printing
SAP generates a variety of documents such as purchase orders, sales orders, invoices, pay-slips, etc. You can take a print of these documents whenever required. The following illustration shows how the printing process works in a SAP system.
Different kinds of print methods are needed in a SAP system, such as −
- Local printing
- Remote printing (network)
- Front-end printing (SAP GUI for Windows)
- Front-end printing (SAP GUI for HTML)
