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Fundamentals of ABAP Objects

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Objectives

 The participants will be able to:

 Recognize the concept of Object Oriented Programming (OOP)
 Identify the features of Object Oriented Programming
 Recall the history of ABAP Object Oriented Programming
 Advantages of ABAP OOP over conventional ABAP Procedural Programming
 Analyze the basic building blocks of ABAP Objects

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What is Object Oriented Programming (OOP) ?

 The fundamental idea behind Object Oriented Programming (OOP) is to combine

both data and the functions (methods) those operate on that data into a single
unit. Such an unit is called Object, i.e. key principle of OOP is “Data controlling
access to code”.

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Advantages of Object Oriented Programming

 Better Programming Structure

 Real world entity can be modeled very well
 Stress on data security and access
 Data encapsulation and abstraction
 Reduction in code redundancy

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Features of Object Oriented Programming

 Abstraction
 Modeling real world entities and processes in a more natural way.
 Ecapsulation
 Hiding data and its related logic behind well defined interfaces.
 Inheritance
 Reusing attributes and methods while allowing for specialization.
 Polymorphism
 Simplifying by hiding varying implementations behind the same interface.
 Code Reuse
 Same code can be reused multiple times by using inheritance.

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History of ABAP Object Oriented Programming

 SAP Basis Release 4.5 delivered the first version of ABAP Objects.
 SAP Basis Release 4.6 delivered complete version of ABAP Objects by
introducing ‘Inheritance’.
 SAP Web Application Server 6.10/6.20 enhanced ABAP Objects with Friendship
and Object Services.

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ABAP as Hybrid Language

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ABAP as Hybrid Language (Contd.)

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Advantages of ABAP OOP over conventional ABAP

Procedural Programming
 ABAP Objects provides advance level of data encapsulation that improves the
maintainability and stability of ABAP programs.
 ABAP Objects provides instantiation of multiple instances of a single class.
 ABAP Objects enhances code reuse through “Inheritance”.
 ABAP Objects helps us to work with an object’s business logic through a
standalone interface.
 ABAP Objects makes it easy to incorporate event driven programming models.
 ABAP Objects are more explicit, and therefore simpler to use.
 ABAP Objects offers cleaner syntax and semantic rules.
 ABAP Objects offers the only way to use new ABAP technology.

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Advantages of ABAP OOP over conventional ABAP

Procedural Programming (Contd.)
 ABAP Objects provides advance level of data encapsulation that improves the
maintainability and stability of ABAP programs.
 ABAP Objects provides instantiation of multiple instances of a single class.
 ABAP Objects enhances code reuse through “Inheritance”.
 ABAP Objects helps us to work with an object’s business logic through a
standalone interface.
 ABAP Objects makes it easy to incorporate event driven programming models.
 ABAP Objects are more explicit, and therefore simpler to use.
 ABAP Objects offers cleaner syntax and semantic rules.
 ABAP Objects offers the only way to use new ABAP technology.

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Basic building blocks of OOP

 Classes and Objects are the basic building blocks of Object Oriented
Programming. When a real world entity is modeled into OOP world then it is
known as Class, characteristics as attributes and functionality as methods.
 Objects is an instance of a Class.

Example :
Functions of the box? (Methods)
What are the  It can store things
characteristics of the
box? (Attributes)  It can occupy space

 Inside color is blue

(Private)
 Outside color is
white (Public)
What is the status of the box ? (Events)
 The box is semi open

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Classes ( Global + Local )

 Classes can be of two types:

 Global Class (Created using class builder (SE24) and stored in class repository
as Class pool)
 Local Class (Created in any ABAP program)

Global vs. Local Global Classes Local Classes

Classes
Accessed from ? Any Program Only with in the
Program where it is
defined
Where store ? In the class repository In the program where
it is defined
Tools required to Class builder (SE24) With ABAP editor
create ? (SE38)
Namespace ? Must begin with ‘Y’ or Any
‘Z’

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Declaring a Class (Local)

 A class declaration has two  Classes are template for Objects.

parts.
 This declares and defines a local
 Definition
 Implementation class “test ”.
 In ABAP program this belongs to
CLASS test DEFINITION.
Global Section.
PUBLIC SECTION.
 Class definition cannot be nested.
{ Attributes, Methods, Events }
PROTECTED SECTION.  Classes cannot be defined inside
{ Attributes, Methods, Events } subroutines or function modules.
PRIVATE SECTION.  A class definition declares :
{ Attributes, Methods, Events }  Its components :
ENDCLASS.
Attributes, Methods, Events.
 The visibility of its components :
CLASS test IMPLEMENTATION.
<class body> Public, Protected and Private.
{Method implementation is done here}
ENDCLASS.
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Components of Class ( Instance + Static )

 Instance components:  Instance components exist

 DATA separately in each instance (object)
 For instance attributes of the class.
 METHODS  Static components only exist one
 For instance methods per class and are valid for all
 EVENTS instances of the class.
 For instance events  Static components are declared with
 Static components: the CLASS- * keywords.
 CLASS-DATA  To access instance components,
 For static attributes instance component selector (->) is
 CLASS-METHODS used.
 For static methods  To access static components, static
 CLASS-EVENTS component selector (=>) is used.
 For static events
 CONSTANTS
 For constants

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Visibility sections in a Class

 All components of a class must belong to a visibility section. Components can

be public, protected or private.
 Public components form the external interface of the class – they are visible to
all users of the class as well as to methods within the class and to methods of
subclasses.
 Protected components form the interface of the class to its subclasses they are
visible to methods of the heirs of the class as well as to methods within the class.
 Private components can only be used in the methods of the class itself.

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Methods
 Methods are the functionality of a
CLASS c1 DEFINITION. class , ABAP codes are written within
a method to incorporate the
PUBLIC SECTION.
functionality.
METHODS: do_something
 Methods are processing blocks with a
IMPORTING ...i1 TYPE…
parameter interface very similar to
EXPORTING…e1 TYPE…
function modules.
CHANGING …c1 TYPE…
 Methods are of two types:
EXCEPTIONS …en.
 Standard Methods.
PRIVATE SECTION.
e.g. METHODS meth.
DATA: …  Event handler methods:
ENDCLASS. METHODS meth FOR EVENT evt
CLASS c1 IMPLEMENTATION. OF class.
METHOD do_something. This type of methods are written to
trap events.
…
 Methods are called with a CALL
ENDMETHOD.
METHOD statement.
ENDCLASS.

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Constructors

METHODS constructor  Each class has one constructor. It is a

IMPORTING … predefined, public instance method of
EXPORTING … the class, with the name
CONSTRUCTOR (or
CREATE OBJECT obj EXPORTING …
CLASS_CONSTRUCTOR for static
Instance constructor).
constructor
 Constructors are special methods that
produce a defined initial state of
CLASS-METHOD class_constructor objects and classes.
Static  Constructors are executed once for
Constructor each instance. They are called
automatically after you have created
an instance of the class with the
CREATE OBJECT statement.

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Some more features of Class

 CLASS class_name DEFINITION DEFERRED.

 This is used in forward referencing.
 CLASS class_name DEFINITION LOAD.
 If the first access to a global class in a program is to its static components then explicit
 Loading of the class definition is necessary. In release 6.40 this statement is not
required.
 CLASS class_name DEFINITION CREATE PUBLIC| PROTECTED | PRIVATE.
 ‘CREATE PUBLIC’ addition is provided automatically by compiler if no create
addition is used.
 The additions CREATE PROTECTED and CREATE PRIVATE allow you to
control the instantiation of your class.

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Objects and Object references

CLASS c1 DEFINITION.
 Classes are the templates of objects;
PUBLIC SECTION.
actual objects must be created and
DATA: int TYPE I VALUE ’10’. referenced to be of use (except for
METHODS display_int. the static components of a class)
ENDCLASS.  Reference variables (TYPE REF TO)
CLASS c1 IMPLEMENTATION. contain references to objects- Users
METHOD display_int. can only access instance objects
WRITE / int. through reference variables.
ENDMETHOD.
ENDCLASS.  To use objects:
DATA : oref TYPE REF TO c1.  Declare reference variables.
START-OF-SELECTION.  Create objects, assigning their
CREATE OBJECT oref. references.
WRITE / oref-> int.  Use the object components

CALL METHOD oref-> display_int.

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Self- Reference

CLASS c1 DEFINITION.
 If an objects internally needs to
PUBLIC SECTION. provide its own reference. For
DATA: int TYPE I VALUE ’10’. example to another object, it can use
METHODS display_int. the local reference variable “ME”.
ENDCLASS.  “ME” is predefined and always
CLASS c1 IMPLEMENTATION. contains a reference to the address
METHOD display_int. of its own object.
DATA : int TYPE I VALUE ’20’.
WRITE:/ int,
ME->int.
ENDMETHOD.
ENDCLASS.
DATA : oref TYPE REF TO c1.
 Note : “ME” is equivalent to “THIS”
CREATE OBJECT oref.
pointer in C++.
CALL METHOD oref-> display_int.

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Multiple instantiation

CLASS c1 DEFINITION.
 Programs can instantiate multiple
PUBLIC SECTION.
objects of the same class.
METHODS meth.
ENDCLASS.
CLASS c1 IMPLEMENTATION.
…
ENDCLASS.

DATA: oref1 TYPE REF TO c1,

oref2 TYPE REF TO c1.
START-OF-SELECTION.
CREATE OBJECT oref1, oref1.
…

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Deleting Objects
… oref1

DATA: oref1 TYPE REF TO c1, oref2

oref2 TYPE REF TO c2.
... oref1 Object C1
9999
CREATE OBJECT oref1, oref2. oref2 Object C2
… 8888
oref1
Object C1
8888
oref1 = oref2. oref2 Object C2
8888
CLEAR oref1. oref1 Object C1

oref2 Object C2
8888

oref1 Object C1
CLEAR oref2. oref2 Object C2

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Functional Methods

METHODS meth  Instead of CALL METHOD,

IMPORTING… functional methods can be
performed in expressions.
RETURNING VALUE (r)…
 A Functional method can have
Conventional
zero to many IMPORTING
CALL METHOD oref->meth Method call
parameters and exactly one
EXPORTING i1 = a1….in = an RETURNING parameter, that
RECEIVING r = a. must be passed by value.
Method call  A Functional method can be
…oref->meth()… specific to instance method or it can be
…oref->meth(a)… Functional static method.
method
…oref->meth( i1 = a1….in = an)…

e.g.,
var = oref-> meth( i1 = a1….in =
an).

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Pointer tables

DATA: oref1 TYPE REF TO c1,  Pointer tables are used to store
oref2 TYPE REF TO c1, multiple instances of same
oref3 TYPE REF TO c1. class. This method reduces
coding and more elegant
DATA: oref TYPE REF TO c1, against creating separate,
oref_tab TYPE TABLE OF REF TO c1. separate object reference
variables for storing every
START-OF-SELECTION. objects of the same class.
…  Reference variables are
DO 3 TIMES. handled like any other data
CREATE OBJECT oref. object with an elementary data
APPEND oref TO oref_tab. type.
ENDDO.
…
LOOP AT oref_tab INTO oref.
CALL METHOD oref->meth.
ENDLOOP.

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Dynamic Method calls

CLASS c1 DEFINITION.  Instance, self-reference, and static method

PUBLIC SECTION. can all be called dynamically; the class name
for static methods can also be determined
METHODS: meth1,meth2.
dynamically:
…
Variants:
DATA fld TYPE …
DATA oref TYPE REF TO c1. - oref->(method)
… - me->(method)
CREATE OBJECT oref. - class=>(method)
… - (class)=>method
•Do something to assign meth1 - (class)=>(method)
or meth2 to fld at runtime.
 A method’s parameters can be passed
fld = ‘METH1’ or ‘METH2’.
dynamically using PARAMETER-TABLE
and EXCEPTION-TABLE additions to the
CALL METHOD oref->(fld). CALL METHOD statement.

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Demonstration

 Creating a local class with different components in different visibility sections and
showing how to instantiate the class as well as how to access the instance and
static components.

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Practice

 Creating a local class with different components in different visibility sections and
showing how to instantiate the class as well as how to access the instance and
static components.

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Summary

 Features of Object oriented programming are:

 Abstraction
 Ecapsulation
 Inheritance
 Polymorphism
 Code Reuse
 Classes and Objects are the basic building blocks of Object Oriented
Programming
 When a real world entity is modeled into OOP world then it is known as Class,
characteristics as attributes and functionality as methods.
 Objects is an instance of a Class.
 Classes can be of two types:
 Global Class (Created using class builder (SE24) and stored in class repository as
Class pool)
 Local Class (Created in any ABAP program)

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Questions

 What is Object Oriented Programming ?

 What are the main advantages of Object Oriented Programming over Procedural
Programming ?
 What is a Class?
 What is an Object?
 Which transaction we use to maintain global class?
 What is a constructor?
 What are the various visibility sections present in a ABAP class?
 What is the basic difference between static component and instance component?
 Can we access the static component of a class by the object name instead of the
class name?

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