abapinho / abaK

ABAP constants done right

(abaK is now in beta stage. It's mostly stable but its API can still change and more tests need to be done so please don't use it in a production environment yet. Wait for a non-beta release.)

abaK

A powerful yet simple ABAP library to manage constants.

Why

Nowadays, whenever a constant is needed in a program, it has to be hard coded, stored in a dedicated custom ZTABLE or, even worse, stored in the standard table TVARVC (or similar).

What

abaK aims to become the standard constants library that ABAP so desperately needs.

It's single design goal is to address most common needs while still being extremely easy to use, by both developers and functional people alike. And if its standard functionality doesn't cover your particular needs, you can easily extend it.

With abaK you can finally stop developing a new ZCONSTANTS table every time you need one. Or, even worse, stop storing your constants in obscure standard tables like TVARVC.

How

abaK offers a simple yet powerful and flexible way for any program to manage its constants. Advantages of using abaK:

• decentralized: there is no monolithic table holding all the constants. One program can decide to have its own constants source.
• easily customizable: a project can decide to have its constants maintainable directly in PRD while another may required them to be maintained in DEV and then transported;
• multiple scopes: some constants can be used system-wide while others can belong to a single program and no one else will mess with them;
• system-wide management: constant sources are registered in a central table so that it is easy to keep track of the existing data sources;
• different formats: besides using a custom database table, the constants data can be formatted as CSV, XML or JSON;
• different content locations: besides providing content directly inline, it can also be fetched from an URL, an SO10 standard text, a GS03 set, a server file or even another abaK instance in a remote SAP system via RFC;
• extensible: if needed, new custom FORMAT/CONTENT classes can be created (ex.: to read legacy data in a specific data format).

Providing a well-defined API, abaK clearly separates the way it is used from the way the constants are stored.

Documentation in the wiki.

Requirements

• ABAP Version: 702 or higher.
• abapGit

FAQ

For questions/comments/bugs/feature requests/wishes please create an issue.