in ABAP

Exploring ABAP Objects: A Beginner’s Guide

Introduction

ABAP Objects (or ABAP OO) brings the robust principles of object-oriented programming (OOP) to SAP’s proprietary language. If you’re an ABAP developer with a more procedural background, transitioning to the object-oriented world can be both exciting and a little daunting. In this blog post, we’ll unravel the basics of ABAP Objects, laying a strong foundation for your OOP journey in the SAP world.

What are ABAP Objects?

In essence, ABAP Objects let us model real-world entities or concepts within our code. An object encapsulates:

• Data (Attributes): The properties or characteristics of the object.
• Behavior (Methods): The actions an object can perform.

Defining an ABAP Class

At the heart of ABAP Objects lies the class. A class is like a blueprint for creating objects. Let’s see a simple example:

ABAP

CLASS lcl_customer DEFINITION.

  PUBLIC SECTION.

    DATA:

      name TYPE string,

      city TYPE string,

      country TYPE string.

    METHODS:

      get_address. 

ENDCLASS.

CLASS lcl_customer IMPLEMENTATION.

 METHOD get_address.

    WRITE: / name, city, country.

 ENDMETHOD.

ENDCLASS.

Use code with caution.

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Explanation

• lcl_customer: We define a local class (use CLASS… DEFINITION )
• Attributes: We have name, city, and country.
• Method: get_address neatly formats the address for output.

Creating an Object (Instance)

Now that we have a blueprint, let’s create an actual customer object:

ABAP

DATA: customer_obj TYPE REF TO lcl_customer. 

CREATE OBJECT customer_obj.

customer_obj->name = ‘John Doe’.

customer_obj->city = ‘New York’.

customer_obj->country = ‘USA’.

customer_obj->get_address(). 

Use code with caution.

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Key OOP Concepts

Our example just scratches the surface! Here are essential OOP concepts to explore in ABAP:

• Inheritance: Creating hierarchies of classes to reuse code.
• Polymorphism: The idea that objects of different types can respond to the same method differently.
• Interfaces: Contracts that define a set of methods that a class must implement.

Why ABAP Objects?

• Modularity & Reusability: Objects make your code more organized and easier to maintain.
• Encapsulation: Objects hide implementation details, protecting data and promoting maintainability.
• Better Modeling: OO concepts often map closely to real-world business concepts.

Where to go from here

• SAP Documentation: The ABAP Keyword Documentation is your best friend.
• Online Tutorials: There’s a wealth of online learning resources dedicated to ABAP Objects.
• Experiment: Create simple classes and play around to solidify your understanding.

Let me know if you’d like a blog post focusing on a specific ABAP OO topic! Here are some ideas:

• A Deep Dive into ABAP Inheritance
• ABAP Polymorphism in Action
• Using ABAP Interfaces for Flexibility
• Real-World Use Cases of ABAP Objects

Let me know what sparks your interest!