ABAP_to_the_Future

2
New Language Features in ABAP 7.4
However, in version 7.4, you can use the VALUE statement and thus achieve the
same effect with fewer lines of code (Listing 2.13).
TYPES: l_typ_plant_type TYPE RANGE OF zsmm_plant_master.
lt_plants = lo_plant_query(
VALUE l_typ_plant_type(
option = ‘EQ’
sign = ‘I’
low = ‘L’ ) ) ). "Laboratory
Listing 2.13 Database Query with VALUE
You could add more than one line to the query table if you wanted—for example,
if you were interested in retrieving gr aveyard data as well. You’ve avoided the
need for an intermediate internal table ( LR_PLANT_TYPE) and avoided the work
area to build up the lines of that intermediate table.
2.2.5 Filling Internal Tables from Other Tables Using FOR
How well I remember starting to prog ram when I was 14, with the good old
ZX81. The BASIC language I programmed in then had constructs like FOR x = 1 TO
10, which meant you were going to loop ten times, with the variable X increasing
by one each time. Well, the FOR command has now arrived in the ABAP world;
take a look at what it is for (if you’ll forgive the pun).
You read about the VALUE statement in the last section; you can use this to fill an
internal table, as in Listing 2.14.
DATA: lt_monsters TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF ztvc_monsters.
lt_monsters = VALUE#(
( monster_name = 'FRED' monster_number = 1 )
( monster_name = 'HUBERT' monster_number = 2 ) ).
Listing 2.14 Fill Internal Table
That’s great as an example, but in real life you either fill internal tables from the
database or from other internal tables; almost never do you fill them with hardcoded
values. Prior to 7.4, you could only fill one internal table from another
table if the two tables had identical column structures, and you had to add all the
lines of one table to another:
APPEND LINES OF lt_green_monsters TO lt_all_monsters.
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