Reporting and Dialog Programming
ABAP/4 programs are divided into the two primary categories of reporting and dialog
programming.
- A report program in ABAP/4 is a program which reads and analyzes data from database
tables without modifying the database. Usually, the result of such a report program is in
the form of a list which is output to the screen or sent to a printer. This list is a
report in the usual sense of the word. Therefore, a report program is a program which
creates a report based on the evaluation of one or more database tables. In reporting you
use the ABAP/4 Open SQL to read data from the R/3 database. A report consists of a
selection screen, on which you define the dataset you wish to display, and a list, which
displays the data itself. In interactive reporting, the user can navigate from the (basic)
list to details lists at runtime. Typically, reports merely read data from the database.
However, it is also possible to make changes in the database using a report.
- In dialog programming you use the Screen Painter to create screens and program the
sequence in which they appear. You write an ABAP/4 program (ABAP/4 module pool) for your
screens. This is a collection of dialog modules which are called by the flow logic of your
screens. You use dialog programs for both reading and changing database tables.
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Authored by: Roger Hayen
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