topic No boolean in ABAP? in Application Development and Automation Discussions

No boolean in ABAP?

Former Member — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 19:09:32 GMT

Hi,

I am just starting at the tip of the ABAP / SAP iceberg. Any particular reason why the one-bit-length boolean data type not featuring in ABAP?

Thanks.

Re: No boolean in ABAP?

Former Member — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 19:16:05 GMT

declare:

type-pools: abap.

data: my_flag type boolean.  "default false.

......
my_flag = abap_true.

if my_flag eq abap_true "(or abap_false).

Re: No boolean in ABAP?

Former Member — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 19:23:49 GMT

Apparently no reason, if you don't want to create your own variable to use as boolean you can use type-pools abap and check abap_true and abap_false variable.

Regards,

Felipe

Re: No boolean in ABAP?

naimesh_patel — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 19:23:54 GMT


> type-pools: abap.
> 
> data: my_flag type boolean.  "default false.
> 
>

Any idea, why SAP has different "Definition" of Boolean (X=True, -=False, Space=Unknown) rather than industry standards True and False.

Regards,

Naimesh Patel

Re: No boolean in ABAP?

brad_bohn — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 20:38:17 GMT


Any idea, why SAP has different "Definition" of Boolean (X=True, -=False, Space=Unknown) rather than industry standards True and False.

Have you ever known SAP to follow a logical development standard used by others? Maybe '-' is the German abbreviation for 'false'.

Personally, I just always use XFELD...

Re: No boolean in ABAP?

former_member214857 — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 00:37:40 GMT

Actually ABAP does not support the boolean type, You can use some pre-defined types like Character length 1 to use as boolean.

ABAP_BOOL importing the ABAP TYPE-POOLS.

And to define the true and false ABAP_TRUE and ABAP_FALSE.

Kind regards

Re: No boolean in ABAP?

Former Member — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 04:08:49 GMT


Any idea, why SAP has different "Definition" of Boolean (X=True, -=False, Space=Unknown) rather than industry standards True and False.

Are 7 bits not any more costly?

Or migth be, for the SAP application, we use the boolean rarely?

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Re: No boolean in ABAP?

naimesh_patel — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 14:20:05 GMT


Have you ever known SAP to follow a logical development standard used by others? Maybe '-' is the German abbreviation for 'false'.

Not always

 Personally, I just always use XFELD...

I use XFELD too, because it behaves like a boolean but not a "correct" boolean as per SAP definition....

Regards,

Naimesh Patel

Re: No boolean in ABAP?

Former Member — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 14:36:36 GMT

That's because we're not really programmers; we just pretend to be one.

Re: No boolean in ABAP?

Former Member — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 17:02:33 GMT

Maybe it's just that performance at byte level are not the main target of the programming language.

Still, I don't get it why the '-' char...it's just confusing for those who use to consider space a 'FALSE' boolean.

Re: No boolean in ABAP?

Former Member — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 17:23:38 GMT

In a database table, status flags are traditionally represented as character "X" which resembles a checkmark. I guess that is the origin of ABAP bools.