ABAP Keyword Documentation → ABAP - Reference → Data Interfaces and Communication Interfaces → ABAP and XML
XSL Transformations
An XSL transformation is a program in the Repository (XSLT program) that is written in XSLT and used for the transformation of XML documents.
The source and result of a general XSL transformation are
XML documents. When calling an
XSL transformation using the CALL TRANSFORMATION statement, you can also directly convert ABAP data into XML and vice versa. For this purpose, a
serialization or
deserialization is carried out implicitly.
- In the case of transformations that use ABAP data as a source, the ABAP data is first serialized into a
canonical XML representation (asXML) with the predefined
identity transformation ID. This intermediate result then serves as the actual source for the XSL transformation.
If in
CALL TRANSFORMATIONthe identity transformation ID itself is called, the intermediate result is output directly.
- In the case of transformations that have ABAP data as a result, the result of the XSL transformation is deserialized directly into the ABAP data. A prerequisite for the deserialization is that the result represents a canonical XML representation. For transformations from XML to ABAP, the XML is conceptually also first transformed into an asXML structure, which is then deserialized, even if technically only one transformation step takes place.
The ABAP runtime environment contains an SAP XSLT processor for executing the transformations. It supports almost all XSLT statements and provides enhancements (extension instructions) such as the possibility to call ABAP methods from XSLT programs. Documentation for the SAP-XSLT processor is available in the application help under SAP XSLT Processor - Reference.
Other versions: 7.31 | 7.40 | 7.54