ABAP_to_the_Future

10
ALV SALV Reporting Framework
looks the same as before, and all the func tions at the top of the screen are still
available.
CL_SALV_GUI_TABLE_IDA can be used with any database, but SAP says it works
best with SAP HANA (the class was designed to use code push down where possible,
which means that more work is done inside the database). This means you
probably won’t notice that much performance difference with other databases.
10.6 Summary
This chapter explained how to create a custom API so that a calling program
doesn’t need to know the gruesome detail s of what technology is being used to
create the report output (SALV in this case, naturally) and, moreover, can switch
between technologies easily, in case a ne w one come along. It also explained a
few “impossible” things that you suppos edly can’t do with SALV (but actually
can), as well as a recent SALV improvement that helps in dealing with large internal
tables.
If you’ve worked in IT for any length of time, then you’ll know that once a user
has a nice report on his SAP screen that he’s happy with, the next thing he’ll do
is to download it to Excel to play wi th the data. A lot of IT departments have
fought against this, but it’s rather like King Canute ordering the tide to go back
out. Therefore, the next chapter looks atan open-source project to vastly improve
SAP and Microsoft Excel integration.
Recommended Reading
왘 International Editable SALV Day: http://scn.sap.com/thread/3567633 (Paul Hardy)
왘 Head First Design Patterns (Freeman et al., O’Reilly, 2004)
왘 Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship (Martin, Prentice Hall, 2008)
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