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Reporting off ABAP data clusters
Reporting off ABAP data clusters is an advanced topic that requires an understanding of the ABAP
programming language.
What is a data cluster?
Unlike most of the SAP system, the Human Resources module stores much of its data in ABAP data
clusters, rather than in data dictionary tables such as transparent, pool, or cluster tables. Data clusters
are actually stored in some transparent tables. Any such transparent table can contain many different
types of clusters. Each cluster of data is stored in encoded binary fields. A cluster can contain any
number of individual components or pieces of data, which may range from single values to structures
to tables.
You can access a data cluster in an ABAP program by running the ABAP command IMPORT. This
command takes parameters—such as cluster database name, cluster ID, and so on—as well as a list
of pieces of data to import. The IMPORT command also copies the contents of the data cluster into
local variables within the calling code. A typical transparent table that contains cluster data has a
structure similar to the following:
data clusterdata lengthuser dataline counterkeyareaclient
The combination of transparent table name and area identifies which type of cluster to import, while
the key identifies the specific cluster. For HR, the cluster key is typically some combination of personnel
number and something else. The key is stored in a single text field, but may actually represent more
than one logical key field (for example, personnel number + a sequence number for HR Payroll data).
How it works
The difficulty in working with clusters from a generic, relational data access point of view is that the
definition of the clusters is not stored in a repository such as the ABAP dictionary (unlike the definitions
of transparent, pool, and cluster tables, for instance). Furthermore, the format of these clusters may
change from site to site due to customizations. Finally it is fundamentally difficult to map these as tables
in the relational sense because, although the data represented is relational, it is stored in independent
clusters in an almost hierarchical form.
2012-03-14604
Integrating Business Applications with Crystal Reports