Are you an aspiring ABAP cook looking for professional ABAP recipes? Or are you already the executive chef in your ABAP kitchen, just looking for new ideas? Either way, you will find classic and new recipes for common and specific development tasks in this ABAP Cookbook!This book is intended to quickly provide answers to typical ABAP development problems or tasks: persistence programming, interface programming, security and tracing techniques, etc. Youll discover best practices in developing solutions, and you can use this book to broaden your skills and see how to apply ABAP to solve various types of problems. The complexity of the recipes ranges from the simple starter plates to the complex main courses - and some sweet desserts, of course! Each chapter is a short tutorial in itself, all organized and consolidated into an easy-to-read format. Many code samples, screenshots, and different icons will help you to follow the best practices provided. Enjoy your ABAP meal!Highlights Include:- String Processing Techniques- Working with Numbers, Dates, and Bytes- Dynamic and Reflective Programming- ABAP and Unicode- Working with Files- Database Programming- Transactional Programming- XML Processing in ABAP- Interacting with the ICF- Web Services- Sending E-Mails Using BCS- Programming for Security- Logging and Tracing- Interacting with the Operating System- Inter-process Communication- Parallel and Distributed Processing with RFCs Highlights: String Processing TechniquesWorking with Numbers, Dates, and BytesDynamic and Reflective ProgrammingABAP and UnicodeWorking with FilesDatabase ProgrammingTransactional ProgrammingXML Processing in ABAPInteracting with the ICFWeb ServicesSending E-Mails Using BCSProgramming for SecurityLogging and TracingInteracting with the Operating SystemInter-process CommunicationParallel and Distributed Processing with RFCs

James Wood is the founder and principal consultant of Bowdark Consulting, Inc., an SAP NetWeaver consulting and training organization. With more than seven years of experience as a software engineer, James specializes in custom development in the areas of ABAP Objects, Java/J2EE, SAP NetWeaver Process Integration, and the SAP NetWeaver Portal. Before starting Bowdark Consulting, Inc. in 2006, James was an SAP NetWeaver consultant for SAP America, Inc. and IBM Corporation where he was involved in multiple SAP implementations. He holds a master's degree in software engineering from Texas Tech University. To learn more about James and the book, please check out his website at http://www.bowdarkconsulting.com.

... Introduction ... 17 1 ... String Processing Techniques ... 27 ... 1.1 ... ABAP Character Types ... 27 ... 1.2 ... Designing a Custom String Library ... 29 ... 1.3 ... Improving Productivity with Regular Expressions ... 36 ... 1.4 ... Summary ... 56 2 ... Working with Numbers, Dates, and Bytes ... 57 ... 2.1 ... Numeric Operations ... 57 ... 2.2 ... Date and Time Processing ... 64 ... 2.3 ... Bits and Bytes ... 73 ... 2.4 ... Summary ... 79 3 ... Dynamic and Reflective Programming ... 81 ... 3.1 ... Working with Field Symbols ... 81 ... 3.2 ... Reference Data Objects ... 91 ... 3.3 ... Introspection with ABAP Run Time Type Services ... 99 ... 3.4 ... Dynamic Program Generation ... 106 ... 3.5 ... Summary ... 108 4 ... ABAP and Unicode ... 109 ... 4.1 ... Introduction to Character Codes and Unicode ... 109 ... 4.2 ... Developing Unicode-Enabled Programs in ABAP ... 113 ... 4.3 ... Working with Unicode System Classes ... 121 ... 4.4 ... Summary ... 131 5 ... Working with Files ... 135 ... 5.1 ... File Processing on the Application Server ... 135 ... 5.2 ... Working with Unicode ... 148 ... 5.3 ... Logical Files and Directories ... 150 ... 5.4 ... File Compression with ZIP Archives ... 157 ... 5.5 ... File Processing on the Presentation Server ... 167 ... 5.6 ... Transmitting Files Using FTP ... 173 ... 5.7 ... Summary ... 182 6 ... Database Programming ... 183 ... 6.1 ... Object-Relational Mapping and Persistence ... 183 ... 6.2 ... Developing Persistent Classes ... 189 ... 6.3 ... Working with Persistent Objects ... 198 ... 6.4 ... Modeling Complex Relationships ... 206 ... 6.5 ... Storing Text with Text Objects ... 214 ... 6.6 ... Connecting to External Databases ... 223 ... 6.7 ... Summary ... 231 7 ... Transactional Programming ... 233 ... 7.1 ... Introduction to the ACID Transaction Model ... 233 ... 7.2 ... Transaction Processing with SAP LUWs ... 235 ... 7.3 ... Working with the Transaction Service ... 248 ... 7.4 ... Implementing Locking with the Enqueue Service ... 262 ... 7.5 ... Tracking Changes with Change Documents ... 268 ... 7.6 ... Summary ... 279 8 ... XML Processing in ABAP ... 283 ... 8.1 ... Introduction to XML ... 283 ... 8.2 ... Parsing XML with the iXML Library ... 291 ... 8.3 ... Transforming XML Using XSLT ... 304 ... 8.4 ... Simple Transformation ... 317 ... 8.5 ... Summary ... 327 9 ... Web Programming with the ICF ... 329 ... 9.1 ... HTTP Overview ... 329 ... 9.2 ... Introduction to the ICF ... 335 ... 9.3 ... Developing an HTTP Client Program ... 336 ... 9.4 ... Implementing ICF Handler Modules ... 346 ... 9.5 ... Summary ... 360 10 ... Web Services ... 361 ... 10.1 ... Web Service Overview ... 361 ... 10.2 ... Providing Web Services ... 366 ... 10.3 ... Consuming Web Services ... 378 ... 10.4 ... Next Steps ... 391 ... 10.5 ... Summary ... 391 11 ... Email Programming ... 393 ... 11.1 ... Introduction to BCS ... 393 ... 11.2 ... Sending Email Messages ... 394 ... 11.3 ... Receiving Email Messages ... 411 ... 11.4 ... Summary ... 41 ...