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asXML - Mapping of Elementary ABAP Types

The asXML representation of elementary ABAP types is used in XSL transformations and in Simple Transformations. In both cases, the elementary values or the elementary components of complex structures are converted in accordance with this mapping.

For elementary data objects with predefined ABAP types, the as representation is based on the representation of XML schema data types from the namespace xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema", where dates and times are represented in accordance with ISO-8601 and binary data is represented in accordance with Base64. The mapping of ABAP types to the XML schema data types is not fully bijective, due to the different value ranges. For example, a time zone can be specified for the XML schema data type xds:date, which is not possible for the ABAP type d.

The following tables show a summary of the mappings:

Other versions: 7.31 | 7.40 | 7.54

Numeric Data Types

ABAP Type ABAP Representation XML Schema Type XML Representation
b 123 xsd:unsignedByte 123
s -123 xsd:short -123
i -123 xsd:int -123
p -1.23 xsd:decimal -1.23
decfloat16 123E+1 precisionDecimal, totalDigits = 16 1.23E+3
decfloat34 -3.140...0E+02 precisionDecimal, totalDigits = 34 -314.0...0
f -3.140...0E+02 xsd:double -3.14E2


Note

The type precisionDecimal is not yet an official XML schema type.

Character-Like Data Types

ABAP Type ABAP Representation XML Schema Type XML Representation
c " Hi" xsd:string _Hi
string " Hello " xsd:string Hello
n "001234" xsd:string (pattern [0-9]+) 001234
d "20020204" xsd:date 2002-02-04
t "201501" xsd:time 20:15:01

Byte-Like Data Types

ABAP Type ABAP Representation XML Schema Type XML Representation
x ABCDEF xsd:base64Binary q83v
xstring 456789AB xsd:base64Binary RweJqw==

Differences in Serialization

In serializations, ABAP values are converted to the appropriate character-like XML format. Deserializations operate in the opposite direction. Note the following differences to the usual conversion rules that apply in ABAP.

  • When data objects with the type x are serialized, trailing bytes with the value hexadecimal 0 are handled in the same way as trailing blanks with data type c and are ignored.
  • When the following ABAP data objects are serialized to asXML, some checks are made to see whether the ABAP data object has a valid value:
  • A data object with the type n can contain only numbers.
  • A data object with the type p must represent a valid packed number.
  • A data object with the type d or t cannot contain any leading or trailing blanks or the corresponding separator ("-" or ":") It can contain parentheses, signs and the following operators:

Any violations of these rules raise handleable exceptions, some of which can be avoided by specifying a transformation option after the OPTIONS addition of the CALL TRANSFORMATION statement.


Note

To check the validity of dates and times, the domains XSDDATE_D and XSDTIME_T can be used instead of the data types d and t.

Special Features of Deserialization

  • Serializations to an ABAP data object must retain the precision of the XML value:

  • In character-like or byte-like data types with fixed lengths (c, n, x), the target object must have enough places for the entire content, unless only leading and trailing blanks in data type c and leading zeros in data type n are affected.

  • Structures cannot be converted to elementary data objects.

  • Deserializations fill data objects of the type c or x with blanks or hexadecimal 0 on the right (as usual) if fewer characters or bytes are passed than can fit in the data object.

  • If the required XML element does not exist when the system is deserializing in an elementary data object, then the elementary data object retains its previous value. If an empty element is assigned to an elementary data object, it is set to its type-specific initial value. To initialize the data object in either case, the transformation option clear can be used with the value "all".

Any violations of these rules raise handleable exceptions such as CX_SY_CONVERSION_DATA_LOSS, some of which can be avoided by specifying a transformation option after the OPTIONS addition of the CALL TRANSFORMATION statement.


Note

Exceptions from mappings cannot be handled directly. Instead, the exception CX_TRANSFORMATION_ERROR (or one of its subclasses) from statement CALL TRANSFORMATION can be handled. The attribute PREVIOUS then contains a reference to the original exception.


Example

See asXML, Mapping of Elementary Data Types