SAP Flight reservation application - abap

I am accessing flight reservation application built in SAP.
The application has a section on catering which contains: BC_MEAL, BC_MEALT, BC_STARTER, BC_MAINCOURSE, BC_DESSERT.
However, there are no such tables prefixed with BC_.
The tables are SMEAL, SMEALT, SSTARTER, SMACOURSE, SDESSERT instead.
Why is this discripency due to? How does SAP manage to convert application names into table names.

You're looking at the Data Modeler (SD11) and trying to compare it to the Data Dictionary / ABAP Dictionary (SE11). The actual table names are assigned to the entities explicitly:
expand BC_FLIGHT
double-click on BC_SFLIGHT
Button Dict. (?)
--> This screen should show the tables and/or views used to represent the entity.
It is worth noting that for many applications, no explicit data model exists (which is why I personally never bothered with the Data Modeler - a tool like this is virtually useless unless everyone else uses it as well).

Related

What is the use of Table Delivery Class in SAP Data Dictionary?

I want to see the difference of Delivery Class 'A' and 'C'. C for data entered only by the customer, but how can I see it on the code?
I created two tables of type 'A' and 'C'. I add data with ABAP code. I thought I couldn't add data to the table I created with C, but they both work the same.
For A Type:
DATA wa_ogr LIKE ZSGT_DELIVCLS2.
wa_ogr-ogrenci_no = 1.
wa_ogr-ogrenci_adi = 'Seher'.
INSERT ZSGT_DELIVCLS2 FROM wa_ogr.
For C Type:
DATA wa_ogr LIKE ZSGT_DELIVERYCLS.
wa_ogr2-ogrenci_no = 1.
wa_ogr2-ogrenci_adi = 'Seher'.
INSERT ZSGT_DELIVERYCLS FROM wa_ogr2.
Datas get trouble-free when I check with debugging.
Is there a live demo where I can see the working logic of C? Can you describe Delivery Class C better?
Tables with delivery class C are not "customer" tables, they are "customizing" tables. "Customizing" is SAPspeak for configuration settings. They are supposed to contain system-wide or client-wide settings which are supposed to be set in the development system and then get transported into the production system using a customizing transport. But if that's actually the case or not depends on what setting you choose when generating a maintenance dialog with transaction SE54. It's possible to have customizing tables which are supposed to be set in the production system directly without a transport request.
Tables with delivery class A are supposed to contain application data. Data which is created and updated by applications as part of their every day routine business processes. There should usually be no reason to transport that data (although you can do that by manually adding the table name and keys to a transport request). Those applications can be SAP standard applications, customer-developed applications or both.
There is also the delivery class L which is supposed to be used for short-living temporary data as well as the classes G, E, S and W which should only be used by SAP on tables they created.
But from the perspective of an ABAP program, there is no difference between these settings. Any ABAP keywords which read or write database tables work the same way regardless of delivery class.
But there are some SAP standard tools which treat these tables differently. One important one are client copies:
Data in delivery class C tables will always be copied.
Data in delivery class A tables is only copied when desired (it's a setting in the copy profile). You switch it off to create an empty client with all the settings of an existing client or to synchronize customizing settings between two existing clients without overwriting any of the application data. You switch it on if you want to create a copy of your application data, for example if you want a backup or want to perform a destructive test on real data.
Data in delivery class L tables doesn't get copied.
For more information on delivery classes, check the documentation.

Find SAP modifications of function groups includes

(access key for SAP standard modifications needed for test data of this question)
Introduction:
I want to find a certain type of modification to a certain SAP standard repository object (IDES test dataset).
The modification is located in the include of a function group (it is listed under System-defined Include-files in the functionpool of the function group).
So far, I found the table SMODILOG as a central list of modifications (Log of Customer Modifications to Dev. Env. Objects).
Test Data:
My test data is function group V07A, that has e.g. the include LV07A014 (Part of the LV07ANNN include). This was modified by inserting stuff in its source code (one needs an access key in order to be allowed to do this) such as:
*{ INSERT IDSEXAMPLE 1
* this is a comment, which was added
*} INSERT
Goal:
Subsequently I want to find a table where all modifications like this are listed. I want to find the place of modification, i.e. the object type and program id of the object that was modified.
2 Questions:
I realize that the SAP standard include of a function group has a different object type and program ID than the top-include and uxx-includes.
Whereas the latter are of type PROG and prgmid R3TR (found in object catalog entry), the LV07A014 has an object catalog entry identical to the function group that it belongs to, namely R3TR FUGR. This is already peculiar to me. This seems to me as if the resolution to the sub-level (include level) is missing.
In addition, the modification to LV07A014 is listed in table SMODILOG as having the object type (field sub_type) REPS (the pgmid is not included in SMODILOG). I would expect PROG, as for the other inclueds (LTOP, LUXX).
-> Why is there a difference of object types, programids between L_TOP, L_UXX on the one hand and L_NNN Inclues on the other? (Or am I mistaken?)
-> Where can I find information of all SAP standard modifications in my system and the true object type,pgmid belonging to these modified objects (and not the function group that the modified object belongs to, this resolution does not suffice)?
There is no table or something similar where all modifications are listed. The table E071 is a good source to check pgmid and object type.
Why there is a difference of object types, program IDs between L_TOP, L_UXX on the one hand and L_NNN Includes on the other remains a mystery. SAP...
Why do you need a table? For what? Is it purely academic question or connected with real life tasks?
Have you ever tried SE95 transaction? It lists all modifications that were done in system disregard of object type and name. Yes, and function groups too. They are easily searchable by hierarchy
If it is FUGR include that was modified, then it will be listed in the node Outside of modularization units
Finally RTFM, bro...

What is the best way to fake a SQL array or list?

I'm building a chatroom application, and I want to keep track of which users are currently in the chatroom. However, I can't just store this array of users (or maybe a list would be better) in a field in one of my records in the Chatroom table.
Obviously one of the SQL data types is not an array, which leads me to this issue: what is the best way to fake/mock array functionality in a SQL database?
It seems there are 3 options:
1: Store the list/array of users as a string separated by commas, and just do some parsing when I want to get it back to an array
2: Since the max amount of users is allowed to be 10, just have 10 extra fields on each Chatroom record representing the users who are currently there
3: Have a new table Userchats, which has two fields, a reference to the chatroom, and a user name
I dunno, which is the best? I'm also open to other options. I'm also using Rails, which seems irrelevant here, but may be of interest.
Option 3 is the best. This is how you do it, in a relational schema. It is also the most flexible and future-proof option.
It can grow easier in width (extra columns say, a date joined, a channel status, a timestamp last talked) and length (extra rows when you decide there now can be 15 users in a room instead of 10).
The proper way to do this is to add an extra table representing an instance of a user being in a chatroom. In most cases, this is probably what you will want to do, since it gives you more flexibility in the types of queries you can do (for instance: list all chatrooms a particular user is in, find the average number of people in each chatroom, etc.) You would just need to add a new table - something like chat_room_users, with a chat_room_id, and a user_id.
If you're deadset on not adding an extra table, then Rails (or more specifically ActiveRecord), does have some functionality to store data structures like arrays in a SQL column. Just set up your column as a string or text type in a Rails migration, and add:
serialize :users
You can then use this column as a normal Ruby array / object, and ActiveRecord will automatically serialize / deserialize this object as you work with it. Keep in mind that's there are a lot of tradeoffs with this approach - you will never be able to query what users are in a particular room using SQL and will instead need to pull all data down to Ruby before working with it.

Accommodating Dynamic Hierarchies in a Data Warehouse Model

I am building a data warehouse for the company's (which I am working for) core ERP application, for a particular client.
Most of the data in the source database, which is related to hierarchies in the data warehouse are in columns as shown below:
But traditionally the model to store dimension data according to my knowledge is as:
I could pivot the data and fit them in the model shown above. But the issue comes when a user introduces a new hierarchy value. Say for instance the user in the future decides to define a new level called Product Sub Category. Then my entire data warehouse model will collapse without a way to accommodate the new hierarchy level defined.
Do let me know a way to overcome this situation.
I hope my answer is clear enough. Just let me know if further details are needed.
Well, nothing should collapse -- the ETL should extract and load the data as always.
Here are a few options to consider:
Simply add one more column for the new hierarchy to the dimProduct.
Try using hierarchy helper table.
Consider adding path string attribute to the dimProduct.

Storing Data as XML BLOB

At the moment the team i am working with is looking into the possibility of storing data which is entered by users from a series of input wizard screens as an XML blob in the database. the main reason for this being that i would like to write the input wizard as a component which can be brought into a number of systems without having to bring with it a large table structure.
To try to clarify if the wizard has 100 input fields (for example) then if i go with the normal relational db structure then their will be a 1 to 1 relationship so will have 100 columns in database. So to get this working in another system will have to bring the tables,strore procedures etc into the new system.
I have a number of reservations about this but i would like peoples opinions??
thanks
If those inputted fields don't need to be updated or to be used for later calculation or computation some values using xml or JSON is a smart choice.
so for your scenario seems like its a perfect solution