Table Maintenance BAdI - Meta Method Explained

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In this article you will learn everything about the META method of the table maintenance BAdI. You will get an understanding of different types of fields and receive an overview of all parameters. At the end of the article you can find a sample implementation you can use for your own project.

Our Table Maintenance BAdI blog series in overview

Using the logic inside the META method, you can control properties of table as a whole as well as the respective single fields. You can use this method to overwrite settings set in front end. Moreover, you can change editability and visibility of certain fields. Furthermore, you can change the search behaviour from dropdown to search and vice versa. Finally, you can utilize this method to execute authorization check on table level.

This exit is implemented via interface /NLY/IF_BADI_EDITOR, method SET_META_EXIT.

Method for meta data of table

There are different types of fields, which are explained below.

Key fields

Generally, key fields should not be changed in edit mode, as this would result in new entries. Therefore, in case of an update event, key fields should always be locked and not editable.

In any other scenario the following three cases are possible:

1 – locked (the field is locked)
2 – editable - required (the field is required and null is not allowed)
3 – editable - not required (the field is not required and null is allowed)

In the table below you can find an overview.

Key Field		Insert		Update
true (X)	key field	1	locked	1	locked (key fields are not editable)
		2	editable (required)
		3	editable (not required)
false ( )	non-key field	1	locked	1	locked
		2	editable (required)	2	editable (required)
		3	editable (not required)	3	editable (not required)

Required fields

Per default, key fields are configured as required and non-key fields as not required. But both settings can be changed.

A non-key field can be set as required or mandatory for input. For example, if business users want the customer category attribute to be always filled, you can set this field to required, even if it is not a key field.

The other way around, it is also possible to define a key field as not required, therefore not mandatory for input. This could be the case if your semantic key consists of multiple fields and you allow initial values (null) for one of them.

Non-editable fields

You can set fields to be not editable, so the user cannot change the values of the field on edit or insert actions. The best example are fields like "Changed by" or "Changed on", which will be populated automatically before the database update, but should not be manually changed by the user.

Overview of all parameters

In the tables below you can find an overview of all parameters and possible values.

Table parameters

Property	Type	Description	Possible Values
TBLLEN	CHAR 30	Table length	NextLytics internal use only
TECHNAME	CHAR 30	Technical name of the table (e.g. /BIC/AZOMACOST2)
TABNAME	CHAR 30	Table name (e.g. ZOMACOST)
DESCR	CHAR 30	Table description
EDITABLE	CHAR 1	Table edit setting	1 Editable 2 Insertable 3 Editable and Insertable 4 Deletable 5 Deletable and Editable 6 Deletable and Insertable 7 Deletable, Editable and Insertable
IS_INLINE	CHAR 1	Enable Inline Editing	1 Yes 2 No
IS_LOC_FILTER	CHAR 1	Enable Local Filter	1 Yes 2 No
IS_PRE_FILTER	CHAR 1	Enable Global Filter	1 Yes 2 No
IS_DELETE_ALL	CHAR 1	Delete ADSO Content	1 Delete Action available
SUPPRESS_EXPORT	CHAR 1	Suppress Export	X Suppress Export
JSFUNCTIONS	STRING	JavaScript Functions	NextLytics internal use only
BUTTONS	Table	Custom Buttons Settings. See next table for more details
F1HELP	STRING	F1 Help	NextLytics internal use only
CHECK_AUTH_INFOPROV	CHAR 1	Check analysis authorization for InfoProvider	1 Yes
ACTIVATION	CHAR 1	Activation	1 - activate at once (default value) 2 - no activation If no entry is maintained, automatic activation takes place.
ALIAS_TTYPE	CHAR 10	Alias Table Type
ALIAS_TABNAME	CHAR 10	Alias Table Name
CONTENT_ADMIN	CHAR 1		Content Admin ('X'=yes, ' '=no
CONFIG_ADMIN	CHAR 1		Configuration Admin ('X'=yes, ' '=no)
TABTYPE	CHAR 10		Table Type
TABDESC	STRING		Description
MAX_ROWS	NUMC	Changes the max. rows shown in a table.	Normally this setting is set to 1000 and can be changed in the configuration. If the table type is custom, it makes sense to configure MAX_ROWS and C_TOTAL_ROWS via coding.

Field parameters

Property	Type	Description	Possible Values
FNAME	CHAR 30	Field name
LEN	NUMC 6	Length (No. of Characters)
INTLEN	NUMC 6	Internal Length (No. of Characters)
TYPE	CHAR 1	ABAP Data Type	C Character String D Date (Date: YYYYMMDD) T Time (Time: HHMMSS) P Packed number g Character string with variable length (ABAP type STRING) G Long text (XXL) Y File (XXL) > Timestamp M HTML Content j Static Boxed Components J Checkbox ('1'=Yes, '2'=No)
INTTYPE	CHAR 1	Internal ABAP Data Type	C Character String N Character String with Digits Only D Date (Date: YYYYMMDD) T Time (Time: HHMMSS) X Byte Seq. (hexadecimal), in DDIC metadata also for INT1/2/4 I Integer number (4-byte integer with sign) b 1-byte integer, integer number <= 254 s 2-byte integer, only for length field before LCHR or LRAW P Packed number F Floating point number to accuracy of 8 bytes g Character string with variable length (ABAP type STRING) y Byte sequence with variable length (ABAP type XSTRING) u Structured type, flat v Structured type, deep h Table type V Character string (old Dictionary type VARC) r Reference to class/interface l Reference to data object a Decimal Floating Point Number, 16 Digits e Decimal Floating Point Number, 34 Digits j Static Boxed Components k Generic Boxed Components z Node Line for Structured Objects 8 Whole Number (8-Byte Integer with Sign)
DECIMALS	NUMC 6	Number of Decimal Places
DECIMALS_DISP	CHAR 1	Decimal places display
DESCR	CHAR 60	Short Description of Repository Objects
KEYFLAG	CHAR 1	Identifies a key field of a table	X Key field
DISPLAY	CHAR 1	Show or hide field (Visibility)	1 Visible 2 Not Visible, but still in global filter (prefilter) 3 Only Visible in Table View 4 Not Visible - not transferred to frontend So value 2 can be used if field should not be available for the user, but still be available in the global filter/ prefilter for backend filtering. Value 4 is to be used, when data should not be sent to frontend and in no way be available to the end user.
EDITABLE	CHAR 1	Editabiltity setting	1 Locked (keep target value) 2 Editable - Required 3 Editable - Not Required 4 Locked (overwrite target value)
SUPPRESS_EXPORT	CHAR 1	Suppress Export	X Suppress Export
SUPPRESS_LOC_FILTER	CHAR 1	Suppress local filter	X Suppress local filter
SUPPRESS_PRE_FILTER	CHAR 1	Suppress global filter	X Suppress global filter
SUPPRESS_GROUP_BY	CHAR 1	Suppress group by	X Suppress group by
CELLRENDERER	STRING	Cell renderer as Function in JS
F4HELP	Table	Search Info, see next table for details
F1HELP	STRING	F1 Help	NextLytics internal use only
VARIABLES-NAME	CHAR 30	Variable Name
VARIABLES-DESCR	CHAR 60	Variable Description
INFOOBJECT	CHAR 30	InfoObject
CONVEXIT	CHAR 5	Conversion Routine	E.g. ALPHA or PERI6. Usually changes to this field are not needed
IOBJTP	CHAR 3	Type of an InfoObject	CHA Characteristic KYF Key figure TIM Time characteristic DPA Data packet characteristic UNI Unit of measurement XXL XXL InfoObject
DDIC_POSITION	NUMC 4	Position of the table field in DDIC
UI_POSITION	NUMC 4	Position of the table field in User Interface
CHECK_INFOOBJECT_INTEGRITY	CHAR 1	Check InfoObject integrity	1 yes 2 no
IOBJ_AUTH_REL_FLAG	CHAR 1	Authorization relevant flag for InfoObject	X yes NextLytics internal use only, will get populated with an X if this InfoObject is authorization relevant
DISPLAY_TEXT	Table	Characteristic display	NextLytics internal use only 6 No Display 0 Key and Text 1 Text 2 Key 3 Text and Key 4 Long Text 5 Medium-Length Text 7 Short Text B Text and Key as Short Text C Text and Key as Medium Text D Text and Key as Long Text E Key and Text as Short Text F Key and Text as Medium Text G Key and Text as Long Text )
HIERARCHY_FOR_AUTH	CHAR 30	Hierarchy authorization

F4 Help

The table below explains the fields of F4HELP in detail.

Property	Type	Description	Possible Values
SEARCHMODE	CHAR 6	Search Type	DDIC Search based on table and field in Data Dictionary IOBJ InfoObject CUSTOM Custom
SEARCHNAME	CHAR 60	Search Name	For example name of the InfoObject, if SEARCHMODE IOBJ is used
SEARCHSTYLE	CHAR 30	Search Style - dropdown or search bar	SEARCH show search bar DROPDOWN show dropdown Remark: dropdown recommended only for less than 50 values
MIN_CHAR	NUMC 3	Number of minimum characteristics to be entered before search will start
STRICT	CHAR 1	Defines whether adding results to dropdown is allowed.	1 adding results is not allowed

Buttons

The table below explains the fields of BUTTONS in detail.

Property	Type	Description	Possible Values
NAME	CHAR 30	Button Name
DESCR	CHAR 60	Description
ICON	CHAR 60	Icon	Any regular icon from font-awesome, like: paper-plane
PARENT	CHAR 30	Button Name	The button name of an other button
LOCATION	CHAR 10	Location of the Button in UI	TOP - Top menu in the upper right of NextTables CONTEXT - Only in the context menu via right click Quick - Quick action menu on the left
SORT_ORDER	NUMC 6	Sort order	Any number
ACTION	CHAR 12	Action to be performed	see tutorial
MESSAGE	STRING	Message that blocks the request	see tutorial
TOOLTIP	CHAR 255	Button Tooltip

More Information on buttons can be found in this tutorial.

BAdI Structure

You can use the following code snippet as orientation while implementing your own logic. You can find a practical application of this method in this article.


   FIELD-SYMBOLS:  <l_s_fields_info> TYPE /nly/ts_fields_info,
                   <l_s_f4help>      TYPE /nly/ts_search_info. 
*Change properties as needed

    LOOP AT CH_T_FIELDS_INFO ASSIGNING <l_s_fields_info>.

      CASE <l_s_fields_info>-fname.

        WHEN 'FIELD_NAME_1'.

          <l_s_fields_info>-editable = '1'.

        WHEN 'FIELD_NAME_2'.

          loop at <l_s_fields_info>-f4help assigning <l_s_f4help>.

            <l_s_f4help>-searchstyle = 'DROPDOWN'.

            ENDLOOP.

      ENDCASE.

   ENDLOOP.

Error Handling and Messages

You can pass messages to the user using the CT_MESSAGES table. Please refer to this article for detailed information.

Which License is needed for this feature Professional ✘ | Enterprise ✔