What does an asterisk (*) before a field mean?

[Former Member]

Hi all,

I encountered this line of code:

IF variable NE *variable.

...

...

ENDIF.

This is the first time I encountered a variable with an asterisk (*) before it.. What does it mean? Thanks!

[Former Member]

hi,

with an asterisk (*) before a variable means it is ot displaying the total thing and the space has to be increased in the screen to display the particular variable

[Former Member]

Hi,

Its just a normal declaration. Some people use this format.

Thanks & Regards,

Navneeth K.

[Former Member]

For example, if i have to compare 2 work areas of vbak, i will declare one as wa_vbak and other as *wa_vbaak.

Putting (*), is just one of the type of declaring variables convention.

[Former Member]

Okay so far everyone just said that it is just another way to declare a variable... But I think what I need to know is when to use it in terms of coding standards..

For example, I need two variables, why should I use var1 and *var1 instead of just var1 and var2.

Thanks!

Edited by: Ricardo R. Caliolio, Jr. on Oct 23, 2008 2:59 PM

Edited by: Ricardo R. Caliolio, Jr. on Oct 23, 2008 3:00 PM

[Former Member]

Hi Ricardo,

You can find such declaration in mostly SAP Module Pool Programs.

The purpose:

Lets say in MM02

In the screen, you have input box like MARA-MEINS, MARA-MTART etc.

When the screen is loaded, data is selected to MARA and the same data is copied to *MARA.

When user changes anything in Screen , fileds of MARA are changed, but *MARA still has the old data.

When SAVE button is clicked, its checked whether MARA <> *MARA, if yes, data is saved.

TABLES: MARA, *MARA

*MARA is used, as we cannot have two similar tables with same name, hence this is the SAP way of coding.

Edited by: Swastik Bharati on Oct 23, 2008 9:34 AM

[Former Member]

>

> Hi Ricardo,
> 
> You can find such declaration in mostly SAP Module Pool Programs.
> 
> The purpose: 
> 
> Lets say in MM02
> In the screen, you have input box like MARA-MEINS, MARA-MTART etc. 
> 
> When the screen is loaded, data is selected to MARA and the same data is copied to *MARA.
> 
> When user changes anything in Screen , fileds of MARA are changed, but *MARA still has the old data.
> 
> When SAVE button is clicked, its checked whether MARA <> *MARA, if yes, data is saved.
> 
> TABLES: MARA, *MARA
> 
> *MARA is used, as we cannot have two similar tables with same name, hence this is the SAP way of coding.
> 
> Edited by: Swastik Bharati on Oct 23, 2008 9:34 AM

Thanks a lot!

[Former Member]

Hello,

ON *-INPUT

- The ABAP/4 module is called if the user has entered the u201C*u201D in the first character of the field, and the field has the attribute *-entry in the screen Painter.You can use this option in Exceptionla cases where you want to check only fields with certain Kinds of Input.

[Former Member]

Hi,

It is just another work area, usually used to have two work areas for the same database table.

Such as

tables: vbak, *vbak.

You can select into and refer to entries from either vbak or *vbak.

Darren