Hello everyone, in this blog you will learn about External Views in ABAP for HANA.
What are External Views
External View is Data Dictionary view in ABAP to consume the HANA models modeled in SAP HANA repository.
External views are created using the creation wizard in Eclipse ADT tools using ABAP perspective.
External views can be created against these SAP HANA repository models
- Attribute View
- Analytical View
- Calculation Views(only with default values to Input parameters)
When you create a external view the definition of HANA view is copied from HANA repository to ABAP.
We can create several external views for one and the same HANA model.
Synchronizing External View with the HANA repository
Synchronizing of external view with the HANA repository is required when there are any changes done on the HANA model after creation of external view.
The external view editor contains a button called “Synchronize” to synchronize the external view with HANA view.
Supported HANA Data Types with ABAP Data Types
When you are creating external view to the HANA model only below mapping data types are supported.
HANA Data Type | ABAP Data Dictionary Type | Length |
SMALLINT | INT2 | 2-byte integer |
INTEGER | INT4 | 4-byte integer |
DECIMAL | DEC | Packed number |
SMALLDECIMAL | DEC | Packed number |
FLOAT | FLTP | Binary floating point number |
NVARCHAR | CHAR | Unicode character string |
VARBINARY | RAW | Byte string |
BLOB | RAWSTRING | Byte string |
NCLOB | STRING | Unicode character string |
Examples
Create external view for Attribute View
Congrats! You have successfully learned about External Views in ABAP for HANA. Please stay tuned for SAP ABAP for HANA tutorials. Leave a comment in the below comment section and let us know your feedback.