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FORM - STRUCTURE

Short Reference

Other versions: 7.31 | 7.40 | 7.54

Obsolete Syntax

... STRUCTURE struc ...

Effect

A formal parameter p1 p2 ... of a subroutine can be specified with the addition STRUCTURE instead of typing, where struc must be a program-local structure (data object, no data type) or a flat structure from ABAP Dictionary. This structure is then applied to the formal parameter (casting) and individual components can be accessed in the subroutine.

When an actual parameter is passed to a formal parameter typed with STRUCTURE and the actual parameter is structured, its Unicode fragment view must match the view of struc. An elementary actual parameter must be character-like and flat.


Notes

  • Formal parameters typed with STRUCTURE can usually be replaced by formal parameters typed with TYPE or LIKE. If a casting is necessary, generic formal parameters should be used and assigned to field symbols using the statement ASSIGN and the addition CASTING.
  • In obsolete non-Unicode programs, only the length of the actual parameter is checked to see if it matches at least the length of the structure. Problems can be caused here by the missing check for closing alignment gaps, for example when the actual parameter is filled by the content of an alignment gap in a way that is not type-compliant.


Example

This example assigns the character string text the structure line.

DATA: BEGIN OF line, 
        col1 TYPE c LENGTH 1, 
        col2 TYPE c LENGTH 1, 
      END OF line. 

DATA text LENGTH 2 TYPE c VALUE 'XY'. 

PERFORM demo USING text. 

FORM demo USING p STRUCTURE line. 
  cl_demo_output=>display_data( p ). 
ENDFORM.