ABAP Coding

Since I’ve been rebuilding my Renovation product into the old school Dynpro, it’s meant relearning a few tricks.  Today, my trick was to keep the position, selections and current cell after refreshing the data with new data or updated date.  First off, I need to thank this post for the great info.

Here’s the basics.  Before you refresh the table, you will need to perform the following on your ALV grid.

  data: es_row_no  type lvc_s_roid.
  data: es_row_info  type lvc_s_row.
  data: es_col_info  type lvc_s_col.
  data: fes_row_no  type lvc_s_roid.
  data: fes_row_id  type lvc_s_row.
  data: fes_col_id  type lvc_s_col.
  data: mt_cells type lvc_t_ceno.
  data: mt_rows type lvc_t_row.

  grid->get_scroll_info_via_id(
  importing
    es_row_no   = es_row_no
es_row_info = es_row_info
es_col_info = es_col_info
).

  grid->get_current_cell(
    importing
*        e_row     = e_row
*        e_value   = e_value
*        e_col     = e_col
      es_row_id = fes_row_id
es_col_id = fes_col_id
es_row_no = fes_row_no
).

  grid->get_selected_rows(
  importing
    et_index_rows = mt_rows
*            et_row_no     = et_row_no
    ).
  if mt_rows[] is initial.
    grid->get_selected_cells_id(
    importing  et_cells = mt_cells ).
  endif.

Now, there are multiple ways to refresh the table, I use set_table_for_first_display, but the post example uses refresh_table_display.  Either way, after you do your refresh, then run the following to set the position and selections.

    if mt_cells[] is not initial.
      grid->set_selected_cells_id( it_cells = mt_cells   ).
    else.
      grid->set_selected_rows(
      it_index_rows            = mt_rows
*        it_row_no                = it_row_no
*        is_keep_other_selections = is_keep_other_selections
      ).
    endif.

  grid->set_scroll_info_via_id(
  is_row_info = es_row_info
is_col_info = es_col_info
is_row_no   = es_row_no
).

    grid->set_current_cell_via_id( is_row_id = fes_row_id
is_column_id = fes_col_id
is_row_no = fes_row_no ).
  refresh: mt_rows[], mt_cells[].

Thanks for reading,

Well, I just spent the better part of 20 hours hacking out my latest issue.  In my Rapier web application, one of the cool features I provide is the ability to download an output document from SAP.  Say for example, a quotation or order confirmation.  Well, I was using some fancy trick that converts the spool to PDF, then using the UI Element File Download.  Everything was great in testing.  No problems.  Then a couple weeks ago, I started updating all my documentation.  I came to do a screen shot of this and it it came out in jiberish.  It happened that I was using Firefox.  I tried it, and it worked fine on Internet Explorer, but all the other browsers displayed the text, instead of the pdf…  WTF!!!

So I did my due diligence, and hunted Google long and hard, hoping for a clue.  Nothing jumped out at me.  So, I then applied the latest support packs to my system.  No change.  Then I thought, maybe the kernel needs an update…  no change…  crap.  That burned through a lot of hours in SGEN time, downloading files, system down time, etc…  all for nothing (well, not nothing, but not the result I wanted).

Finally, last night, I decided to look at the UI Element itself, and what I was mapping to it.  I turned out, I was mapping a blank value to MIME_TYPE.  Interestingly, IE was smart enough to recognize the PDF, but none of the other browsers were.  Since all my dev work was on IE, and much of my testing as well, I missed this little fact.  As soon as I added application/pdf to that field…  magically, it began working on all my browsers again.  Woohoo!!!

Now, I hope you can learn from me again… first off, test your WDP on multiple browsers, unless you know you’re only going to support one browser.  This can’t be done in a customer facing application.  Second, MIME_TYPE makes all the difference.  It explicitly tells the system how to render the file.  Don’t take it for granted.

Thanks for reading,

I just picked up a new little trick.  Often when I’m programming, I like to pull in the standard SAP icons.  The problem is that it is always a hassle to find the 4 digit code that corresponds to the icon I want to use.  So I found this little trick online to simplify the process.

1. Go to transaction ICON to find the icon you wish to use.  It will have a full description, like ICON_ORDER for example.

2. Go to SE11, enter ICON into the Type Group.  Press Display

3.  Scroll through the list (or use Control-F) to find the icon code associated with the ICON_ORDER.

Pretty slick,  Thanks for reading,

Well, completely by accident, a friend of mine taught me a cool new trick.  There is a standard way to change data type descriptions of standard SAP fields without doing any sort of core mods.  It’s all built right into transaction CMOD, and I never knew it was available.  I truly learn something new about SAP all the time.  So, here goes…  go to transaction CMOD, then use the following menu path:
Goto–>Text Enhancements–>Keywords–>Change

Next, select the data element you want to change the description.

I picked MVGR4 for an example.

Now update any descriptions you want to change.  Save it, and attach it to a transport.  You’re done.

Take a look at what happens in VA02 for this field now:

Pretty cool, and pretty easy.

Thanks for reading,