ABAP Data Dictionary : Flow of table creation

1. Define the table in the ABAP Dictionary:

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3. You can define a table in the ABAP Dictionary using transaction SE11. Here you can specify the structure of your table - the fields, data types, lengths, etc. 

4. Go to transaction SE11. Let's create a table named ZEMPLOYEE. In the 'Database table' input field, enter ZEMPLOYEE and click 'Create'. Enter a short description, for example, 'Employee table', then define the fields:

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   • EMP_ID (type NUMC, length 5)
   • EMP_NAME (type CHAR, length 40)
   • EMP_DEPT (type CHAR, length 20)

   Click on 'Save' and then 'Back' to return to the main screen of SE11. 

    

   
   
   
   
   

5. Activate the table:

   Once you've defined your table, you need to activate it. When you activate a table, the system creates a corresponding physical table in the database.

6. In the ABAP dictionary, when a table is defined but not activated, it means that the definition for the table exists, but the actual physical table in the database doesn't. The table is in a kind of "draft" mode, where it can be edited or deleted without affecting the database.

   To activate a table, you'll need to follow these steps:

   1. 1.Open the ABAP Dictionary:

      Transaction code: SE11

      Go to transaction SE11 in the SAP GUI.

   2. 2.Input the table name:

      Enter the name of your table in the 'Database table' input field, then press the 'Display' or 'Change' button.

   3. 3.Activate the table:

      You can activate the table by going to 'Utilities' -> 'Database Object' -> 'Activate', or simply click the activation icon (looks like a lightning bolt) on the toolbar.

7. Fill the table with data: 

   Transaction code: SE16N

   To manually enter data into your table, you can use transaction SE16N. For larger amounts of data, there are different ways to load data into SAP tables, like BAPIs, IDOCs, or LSMW, but that's beyond the scope of this flow but just giving some heads up here.

   BAPIs (Business Application Programming Interfaces): BAPIs are standard SAP interfaces that allow you to integrate SAP with other software. You could write a program (either in ABAP or another language) that uses a BAPI to load data into your table.

   IDOCs (Intermediate Documents): IDOCs are a standard SAP data structure for electronic data interchange between SAP and other systems. You can set up a process to receive IDOCs from another system and load the data into your table.

   LSMW (Legacy System Migration Workbench): LSMW is a tool in SAP that allows you to import data from legacy systems. You can create an LSMW project to load data from a file (like a CSV or Excel file) into your table. 

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9. Write an ABAP program to retrieve and manipulate the data:

   Transaction code: SE38 or SE80

   You can write an ABAP program to retrieve the data from your table, manipulate it, and then possibly store it back into the database or display it on the screen. You can use transaction SE38 (ABAP Editor) or SE80 (Object Navigator) to write your ABAP programs.

10. Execute the ABAP program:

    Transaction code: SE38 or SE80 

     Once your program is written and activated, you can run it. This will fetch the data from the database into your ABAP program, where it can be manipulated as per your program logic.