Delete append search help

bharath_padmanabhan · ‎2023 Apr 12

Experts,

My requirement is to attach an elementary search as an append search help to Standard search help MAT1(for Material). I created an append search help for MAT1. But realized that its not desirable. I want to delete this search help from the Included search help tab for search help MAT1. I am unable to do this. Many threads in SCN directed me to SAP Note 1276007. This is an older note and my SAP Basis version in 754(SAPK-75401INSAPBASIS).

I saw a post from Uwe where he had suggested to go to the package in SE80 and delete the elementary srch help which is expected to delete the search help entry from the Included search help tab for MAT1.

But the issue is that when you try to delete the elementary search help, it says that its still in use and can't be deleted. When you click where used list, it shows MAT1. Now in MAT1, when you click edit mode, it says, inconsistent object in task. only display allowed. This message makes sense as MAT1 is a standard SAP object.

Looks like catch 22 situation to me. Elementary search help is used as an append search help in MAT1. I want to delete the elem search help but its not possible without removing the usage in MAT1 as an append search help.

One thread suggested to delete the entries from table DD33S. Tried but no luck.

I went with a dirty approach to take a copy of this elementary search help to a new object. I renamed the old one as Deprecated DO NOT use and now the new one has been added as an append search help. Everything is working as expected.

Still, I am curious to know, how I can delete this unused elementary search help that is sitting as a append search help in MAT1.

ZMM_SH_APPEND_MAT1_MATLFAV is the entry that I want to delete. I copied this and created ZMM_SH_APPEND_MAT2 which is working as expected.

Double click on ZMM_SH_APPEND_MAT1_MATLFAV shows the elementary search help. This entry has to be deleted from the Included search help tab for MAT1.

When you try to delete the elementary search help from SE80(As suggested by Uwe in one of the threads), I am getting an error message that its already in use as seen above.

1 more thread suggested that I can hide the elementary search help in MAT1. This sounds exciting. But when you click edit button on MAT1, I get the popup as below. So I only have the option for display. This means, I can't check the Hidden checkbox.

Even though my requirement has been met, I want to cleaup the dead search help object from MAT1. Can you please share your valuable inputs.

Thanks

Bharath

bharath_padmanabhan · ‎2023 Apr 12

Experts,

I created an elementary search help first. Now to attach this elem search help to standard search help MAT1, we need to create an append search help first. Once this is done, we will mention the name of the elem. search help inside this append search help under the included search help tab. So far so good.

The mistake I did is that I gave the same name for append search help as well as elementary search help(ZMM_SH_APPEND_MAT1_MATLFAV). System picked the elem search help and directly added it to the included search help tabs for MAT1 instead of treating ZMM_SH_APPEND_MAT1_MATLFAV as the name given for append search help.

I also said that its working fine when I copied ZMM_SH_APPEND_MAT1_MATLFAV to ZMM_SH_APPEND_MAT1_MATLFAV_new which is the name of the new elementary search help. This time around, I kept the names of append search help and elementary search help as different names(ZMM_SH_APPEND_MAT2 is the name of append search help and ZMM_SH_APPEND_MAT1_MATLFAV_NEW is the name of the elem search help). Now everything is working fine.

So I understand why this circular reference aka catch 22 situation is happening. I need your help to understand how I can delete ZMM_SH_APPEND_MAT1_MATLFAV from Included search help tab for MAT1.

If my explanation is not clear, please let me know. I will add screenshots and provided the necessary clarity.

Thanks

Bharath

Sandra_Rossi · ‎2023 Apr 13

If I go to my KRED search help, menu Goto > Append Search Help, I can see my append search help and can delete it.

If you don't see your search help in the list, you need to clear the buffers manually (i.e. /$sync) or restart the server.

NB: if it says it can't delete it because it's used, don't forget to display its usage by clicking this button:

raymond_giuseppi · ‎2023 Apr 13

Are you sure that this search help was an appended search help and not a modification of the standard search help.

In this case, it should have be displayed in same color than the last 3 actual appended search help and could be displayed/managed thru goto/append search help.
Check for any transport request (or check versions) of the standard search help
If not an appended search help, go for modification (again) of the standard search help (try a version recovery, you could also use SPAU to revert to standard)