topic Re: Dictionary in Application Development and Automation Discussions

Dictionary

Former Member — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 09:11:08 GMT

Hi all,

What is exactly difference between Tables & Structures.

Re: Dictionary

Former Member — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 09:13:03 GMT

Tables can hold data, Structures cannot hold data.At the max, they can hold one record at run time.

Re: Dictionary

Former Member — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 09:14:27 GMT

Hi,

Tables can store multiple records whereas structure can save only a single record at any given point of time.

Structure does not store data in database. It only stores data during runtime, whereas you can store data in database through tables.

Best regards,

Prashant

Re: Dictionary

Former Member — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 09:14:27 GMT

Hi,

A Table can hold more than one record at a time, where as structure can hold only one record at a time.

Regards,

Sowjanya

Re: Dictionary

Former Member — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 09:15:28 GMT

Tables are:Tables can be defined independently of the database in the ABAP Dictionary. The fields of the table are defined with their (database-independent) data types and lengths.

When the table is activated, a physical table definition is created in the database for the table definition stored in the ABAP Dictionary. The table definition is translated from the ABAP Dictionary to a definition of the particular database.

Structures are:

Append structures are used for enhancements that are not included in the standard. This includes special developments, country versions and adding customer fields to any tables.

An append structure is a structure that is assigned to exactly one table. There can be more than one append structure for a table.

When a table is activated, all the append structures of the table are searched and the fields in these append structures are added to the table. If an append structure is created or changed, the table assigned to it is also adjusted to these changes when the append structure is activated.

Since the order of the fields in the ABAP Dictionary can differ from the order of the fields in the database, adding append structures and inserting fields in such append structures does not result in a table conversion.

The customer creates append structures in the customer namespace. The append structure is thus protected against overwriting during an upgrade. The fields in the append structure should also lie in the customer namespace, that is the field names should begin with ZZ or YY. This prevents name conflicts with fields inserted in the table by SAP.

The new versions of the standard tables are imported after an upgrade, and the fields contained in the append structures are added to the new standard tables at activation.

Re: Dictionary

Former Member — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 09:15:53 GMT

hi,

A Structure is similar to a Table that do not have any contents. It is like Table or View without any records.

The basic difference between Structure and the Table is that the Structure does not exist at the underlying data base level. Structure exists as Definition in the Dictionary.

A Table is a two dimensional data matrix.

A Table contains Rows and Columns.

Rows contain Records while Column contains Fields.

A Table contains zero or multiple Records.

Regards,

Sailaja.

Re: Dictionary

Former Member — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 09:16:19 GMT

Hi Praveen,

Structures are just a skeleton of the data. It is how the data is being stored. The structure consists of fields with certain data characteristics. Tables actuall store the data in the database, in some cases, tables can "include" structures, which is just defining how the table looks.

Regards,

Laxmi.

Re: Dictionary

hymavathi_oruganti — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 09:21:59 GMT

u can say that structure is an user defined data type

Re: Dictionary

Former Member — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 08:59:52 GMT

hi,

1) Memory is allocated for Tables.

2) Contains data specific only to that table.

3) Tables Hold available data.

1) Structure does not hold any memory.

2) Structure had contain a combination of tables.

3) Does not hold any data, jus the structure is obtained when we use the keyword STRUCTURE.

Thx

Re: Dictionary

Former Member — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 09:24:31 GMT

HI ,

1) Tables can hold data .

2) Tables can have another structure appended

1) Structures cannot hold data.

2) Structure can be a combination of different tables.

Re: Dictionary

Former Member — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 16:46:29 GMT

HI,

Tables

Tables can be defined independently of the database in the ABAP Dictionary. The fields of the table are defined with their (database-independent) data types and lengths.

A table definition in the ABAP Dictionary contains the following components:

Table fields define the field names and data types of the fields contained in the table

Foreign keys define the relationships between the table and other tables.

Technical settings control how the table should be created in the database.

Indexes: To speed up data selection, secondary indexes can be created for the table

The customer can modify SAP tables with append structures and customizing includes. This kind of modification ensures that the customer enhancements are automatically merged with the new versions of the SAP tables when there is a release upgrade.

Structure

A structure (structured type) comprises components (fields). Types are defined for the components A component can refer to an elementary type (via a data element or by directly specifying the data type and length in the structure definition), another structure or a table type. A structure can therefore be nested to any depth.

Structures are used to define the data at the interface of module pools and screens and to define the parameter types of function modules.

The central definition of structures that are used more than once makes it possible for them to be changed centrally. The active ABAP Dictionary then makes this change wherever required. ABAP programs or screen templates that use a structure are automatically adjusted when the structure is changed (see Runtime Objects). This ensures the greatest possible consistency of the data definition, also for complex programs.

There are Flat, nested and deep structures. A flag structure only references elementary types. A nested structure references at least one further structure, but not a table type. A deep structure references at least one table type.

In a database table, you can only include flat structures as substructures.

Regards,

Vara

Re: Dictionary

Former Member — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 08:35:08 GMT

A table consists of columns (data values of the same type) and rows (data records).A Table can hold more than one record at a time, where as structure can hold only one record at a time.Tables can be defined independently of the database in the ABAP Dictionary. The fields of the table are defined with their (database-independent) data types and lengths.

Structures are used to define any user-defined types in the ABAP Dictionary. A structure has components that can themselves be structured, that is they can obtain their type from a structure or a table type.

A structure is a sequence of any elementary types, reference types, or complex data types. You use structures in ABAP programs to group work areas that logically belong together. Since the elements of a structure can have any data type, structures can have a large range of uses

Tables are lines of Structures.The basic difference between Structure and the Table is that the Structure does not exist at the underlying data base level. Structure exists as Definition in the Dictionary.Tables will access database,but structures cannot access database.

Please go through these links:

STRUCTURES:

<a href="http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04/helpdata/en/ac/3547360f2ea61fe10000009b38f839/frameset.htm">http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04/helpdata/en/ac/3547360f2ea61fe10000009b38f839/frameset.htm</a>

<a href="https://www.sdn.sap.comhttp://www.sdn.sap.comhttp://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/advancedsearch?query=structures&cat=sdn_all">https://www.sdn.sap.comhttp://www.sdn.sap.comhttp://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/advancedsearch?query=structures&cat=sdn_all</a>

TABLES:

<a href="https://www.sdn.sap.comhttp://www.sdn.sap.comhttp://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/advancedsearch?query=what%20is%20table&cat=sdn_all">https://www.sdn.sap.comhttp://www.sdn.sap.comhttp://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/advancedsearch?query=what%20is%20table&cat=sdn_all</a>

Regards,

Gunasree.

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