Distinguish between TABLE and REF TO DATA

[Former Member]

Hello all,

we have a datafield defined as ANY. This datafield can contain a REF TO DATA to an internal table or a TABLE. Is there a way in ABAP to distinguish at runtime what is in this field?

Thanks in advance

Best regards Dominik

Edited by: Dominik Deimling on Jan 16, 2009 3:00 PM

[Former Member]

Hello all,

we have a datafield defined as ANY. This datafield can contain a REF TO DATA to an internal table or a TABLE. Is there a way in ABAP to distinguish at runtime what is in this field?

Thanks in advance

Best regards Dominik

Edited by: Dominik Deimling on Jan 16, 2009 3:00 PM

[Sm1tje]

For this the Runtime type services are available.

Superclass CL_ABAP_TYPEDESCR and all of its subclasses.

[Former Member]

Thanks Micky.

I found an ugly solution like this:

Here field itab1 will be tested.

DATA: abap_desc    TYPE REF TO cl_abap_tabledescr,
        is_data      TYPE abap_bool,
        is_reference type abap_bool.
  TRY .
      abap_desc ?= cl_abap_typedescr=>describe_by_data( itab1 ).
      is_data = abap_desc->applies_to_data( itab1 ).
    CATCH cx_root.
      TRY .
          abap_desc ?= cl_abap_typedescr=>describe_by_data_ref( itab1 ).
      is_reference = abap_desc->APPLIES_TO_DATA_REF( itab1 ).
        CATCH cx_root.
          EXIT.
      ENDTRY.

  ENDTRY.

Is there a more elegant way to do this?

Edited by: Dominik Deimling on Jan 16, 2009 3:32 PM

[Sm1tje]

this was / is kind of what I had in mind as well. Not sure though if there is a more elegant way to do this using the classes mentioned. Unfortunately I do not have the time to figure this out.

But can't you just check the attributes of the CL_ABAP_TYPEDESCR to determine in one step the ABAP_TYPEKIND via instance attribute TYPE_KIND?

Just a suggestion not sure if this will work.

[Former Member]

Thanks Micky, I used CL_ABAP_TYPEDESCR as suggested.