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DATA - BEGIN OF

Short Reference

Other versions: 7.31 | 7.40 | 7.54

Syntax

DATA BEGIN OF struc [READ-ONLY]. 

  ... 
   INCLUDE TYPE|STRUCTURE ... 

  ... 
DATA END OF struc. 

Effect

The declaration of a new struc structure. It is initiated using a DATA statement with the BEGIN OF addition and must be ended using a DATA statement with the END OF addition.

These two DATA statements can include any

• DATA statements, particularly further closed structures,
• and the statements INCLUDE TYPE and INCLUDE STRUCTURE.
  

The meaning of these statements is the same as in the definition of structured data types in section TYPES - BEGIN OF. Here, however, it is used to generate a bound structured data type. A structure cannot be created without at least one component.

A component of type struc cannot itself be declared by means of reference to struc. If the name struc is specified after LIKE when a component is declared, the system searches for the next object of this name in a higher visibility section and uses it if found. If no more global objects exist with this name, then a syntax error occurs.

Notes

• The READ-ONLY addition is only possible for the whole structure and not for individual structure components (comp).
• A structure cannot have the name text since this is reserved for addressing text symbols.
• The BOXED addition cannot be specified between DATA BEGIN OF and DATA END OF when components are declared. Static boxes in structures can only be defined with TYPES.
• In an obsolete variant, you can also specify text field literals or the space constant as anonymous components between BEGIN OF and END OF.
• The use of the OCCURS addition to define standard tables with structured row types is obsolete.
  

Example

In this example, a structure (spfli_struc) is declared with an elementary component (index) and a substructure ( spfli_wa). The SELECT loop shows a possible use of the nested structure.

DATA: BEGIN OF spfli_struc, 
         index    TYPE i, 
         spfli_wa TYPE spfli, 
      END OF spfli_struc. 

SELECT * 
       FROM spfli 
       INTO spfli_struc-spfli_wa. 
  spfli_struc-index = spfli_struc-index + 1. 
  WRITE: / spfli_struc-index, 
           spfli_struc-spfli_wa-carrid, 
           spfli_struc-spfli_wa-carrid. 
ENDSELECT.