Sams Teach Yourself ABAP/4® in 21 Days

Appendix A

Naming Conventions

Program Naming Conventions

There are two program types:

Each program type has its own naming conventions. Table A.1 contains the characters that are not allowed in program names.

Table A.1  Invalid Characters for Program Names

Character

Description

.

Period

,

Comma
  Blank

( )

Parentheses

'

Single quote

"

Double quote

=

Equal sign

*

Asterisk

_

Underscore

%

Percent sign

Ä ä Ö ö Ü ü ß

Umlaut and "scharfes s" characters

Naming Conventions for Reports

Customer report names follow the convention Yaxxxxxx or Zaxxxxxx, where:

The second character is the short form for the application area (see Table A.2). For example, a customer report for Treasury would follow the convention Z5xxxxxx, while a logistics report would be named Z21xxxxx.

Each application area can be represented by a code. Each code has two commonly used forms, the short form and the long form. There is also a code used only for logical database names. These codes are shown in Table A.2.

Table A.2  Codes for the Application Areas in R/3

Application
Area

Long
Form

Short
Form

LDB
Form

Financial Accounting

FI

1

F

Materials Management

MM

2

M

Sales and Distribution

SD

3

 

Production Planning and Control

PP

4

 

Treasury

TR

5

 

Quality Management

QM

6

 

Project System

PS

7

 

Plant Maintenance

PM

8

 

Warehouse Management

WM

9

 

Human Resources

HR

10

 

Asset Accounting

AA

11

 

Controlling

CO

12

 

Process Industries

PI

13

 

Investment Management

IM

14

 

Logistics (General)

LO

21

 

International Development

IN

22

 

Cross Application Functionality

CA

23

 

Naming Conventions for Dialog Programs

Customer dialog program names follow the convention SAPMYxxx or SAPMZxxx, where:

Programs written by SAP follow the convention SAPMaxxx, where a is the short form for an application area.

Customer Name Ranges

The R/3 system contains many types of development objects. If you want to create a development object yourself, you must create it in the customer name range. The conventions for customer name ranges are shown in Table A.3.

Table A.3  Customer Name Ranges for All R/3 Development Objects

Object
Type

Max
Length

Naming
Convention

Notes

ABAP/4 Query
  Query
  Functional Area
  Function Group
2
4
3
*
*
*		  
Append Structures
  Append Structure
  Append Structure Fields
10
10
Y* Z*
YY* ZZ*		  
Application Logs
  Object
  Sub-Object
4
10
Y* or Z*
Y* or Z*		  
Area Menus 4 Y* Z*  
Authorizations
  Authorization

  Authorization Class
  Authorization Group
  Authorization Object
12

4
30
10
any

Y* Z*
Y* Z*
Y* Z*
Not allowed in 2nd position
CATT Flows 8 Y* Z*  
Change Document Objects 10 Y* or Z*  
Codepages 4 9*  
Data Elements
  Data Element
  Data Element Supplement

  SAP Supplement
10
4

4
Y*Z*
*

9*

If customer created the data element
If SAP created the data element
Data Models
  Data Model
  Entity
10
10
Y* Z*
Y* Z*		  
Development Classes 4 Y* Z*  
Dialog Modules 30 Y* Z* RP_*
RH_INFOTYP_9*		  
Documentation Modules   General Text (TX)
  Test Run Description
  Main Chapter (BOOK)
  Chapter of IMG
  Chapter (CHAP)
  Chapter Note (NOTE)   Release Information
  Structure
  Online Text
28
20
20
20
20
26
20
12
28
Y* Z*
Y* Z*
Y* Z*
Y* Z*
Y* Z*
Y* Z*
Y* Z*
Y* Z*
Y* Z*		  
Domains 10 Y* Z*  
Enhancements
  Enhancement
  Enhancement Project
8
8
Y* Z*
*		  
Function Codes
  Function Code
  Menu Exit
4
4
Y* Z*
+*		  
Function Library
  Function Group
  User Exit Function Grp
  Function Module
  Field Exit Func Module

  User Exit Func Module
  Conversion Exits
4
4
30
30

30
30
Y* Z*
XZ*
Y_* Z_*
FIELD_EXIT_*
FIELD_EXIT_*_x
EXIT_pppppppp_nnn
CONVERSION_EXIT_xxxx_INPUT
CONVERSION_EXIT_xxxx_OUTPUT		  
GUI Status  8 *  
IDOCs
  Segment Type
  Basis IDOC Type
  Enhancement Type
  IDOC Type
7
8
8
8
Z1*
Y* Z*
*
Y* Z*		  
Includes (DDIC)
  Customizing Includes
10
CI_*
Only used in an SAP-created table
Includes (Program)
  Include
  Include for User Exits
  (function modules)
8
8
Y* Z*
ZffffUnn ffff

= func group
Info Types 4 9*  
Lock Object 10 EY* EZ*  
Logical Databases 3 Y*a Z*a a = app area (LDB form, see Table A.2)
Logistics Info System
  Event
  Unit
2
2
Y* Z*
Y* Z*		  
Maint. & Transport Objects 10 Y* Z*  
Matchcodes
  Matchcode
  Matchcode Object
1
4
0-9
Y* Z*		  
Messages
  Message Classes
  Message Numbers
2
3
Y* Z*
*		  
Module Pools
  Dialog Module Pools
  Screen Module Pools
  Info Type Module Pools
  Subroutine Module Pools
  Update Pgm Module Pools
8
8
8
8
8
SAPDY* SAPDZ*
SAPMY* SAPMZ*
MP9*
SAPFY* SAPFZ*
SAPUY* SAPUZ*		  
Number Range Objects 10 Y* Z*  
Parameter Ids 3 Y* Z*  
Printer Macros - Y* Z* 9*  
Relation IDs 2 Y* Z*  
R/3 Analyzer Identifier 20 Y* Z*  
Reports
  Report Name
  Report Category
  Report Variant
    Transportable, Global
    Transportable, Local Not
    Transportable
8
4

14
14
14
Y* Z*
Y* Z*
X* CUS&*

Y*
Z*		  
Report Writer
  Report
  Report Group
  Library
  Standard Layout
 8
 4
 3
 7
*
*
*
*
1st char not 0-9
1st char not 0-9
1st char not 0-9
1st char not 0-9
SAPScript
  Layout Set
  Form
  Standard Text ID
  Standard Text Name
  Style
12
16
4
32
8
Y* Z*
Y* Z*
Y* Z*
Y* Z*
1st char not 0-9
Screens 4 9*
>0		 For screen exits for
customer dialog
programs
Spool
  Layout Type
  Font Group
  Device Type
  Page Format
  System Barcode
16
8
8
8
8
Y* Z*
Y* Z*
Y* Z*
Y* Z*
Y* Z*		  
Standard Task 8 9*  
Standard Roll 8 9*  
Structure (DDIC) 10 Y* Z*  
SYSLOG Message ID 2 Y* Z*  
Tables
  Field Name

  Index Name
  Transparent, Pool,
  Cluster Name
  Pool Name






Table Pool Name
Table Cluster Name
10

3
10








10
10
*

Y* Z*
Y* Z*

T9

P9*
PA9* PB9*
PS9*
HRT9* HRP9*
HRI9*
Y* Z*
Y* Z*
In append structures:
YY* ZZ* only



For pooled tables in the
ATAB pool for
customer info types
Titlebars 3 *  
Transaction Codes 4 Y* Z*  
Type Group 5 Y* Z*  
User Profiles 12 any _ not allowed in 2nd position
Views
  View Cluster
  View Name
  Help View
10
10
10
Y* Z*
*
H_Y* H_Z*		  
View Maintenance Data
  View Content
  Table Content
-
-		  
reserved in TRESC
reserved in TRESC
Workflow Object Type 10 Y* Z*  
You will find that a few SAP objects exist within customer name ranges and thus intrude on the above naming conventions. These objects were created before the preceding conventions were adopted. A list of these exceptions can be found in table TDKZ.
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