With Release 4.0 and the debut of ABAP Objects, SAP is replacing the classical distinction between reporting and transaction programming with an integrated view, recognizing the simple fact that all application logic is programmed in ABAP and that the application can communicate with the user via screens and with the database via a common interface. Changing between programming types (i.e., doing reporting during a transaction) is a simple and natural part of the language — one that should be exploited if you want to use ABAP efficiently. This article provides new ABAP programmers with a fresh, integrated overview of the language, and experienced ABAP programmers, who may be used to reporting or dialog programming, with the necessary insights to overcome the gap between these classical programming types and ultimately better prepare you to work with ABAP Objects.
Horst Keller
Horst Keller holds a PhD in physics from the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany. He joined SAP in 1995 after spending several years involved in research projects at various international institutions. As a Knowledge Architect within the SAP NetWeaver Application Server ABAP department, he is mainly responsible for the documentation and rollout of ABAP and ABAP Objects, while also developing the programs for formatting and presenting the ABAP documentation, including the related search algorithms. Horst is the author of the books ABAP Objects – An Introduction to Programming SAP Applications (Addison-Wesley Professional, 2002), The Official ABAP Reference (SAP PRESS, 2005), and the ABAP Quick Reference (SAP PRESS, 2005). Numerous other publications and workshops on this subject round off his work.
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