Conversion Between Flat Structures

Structures Outside Unicode Programs

Outside of Unicode programs, the corresponding flat structures are regarded as single fields of type c (Casting), whose length is determined by the length of their components and possible alignment gaps. In this case, the assignment between the structures takes place according to the conversion rules for the data type c. Most significantly, when assigning a shorter structure to a longer one, the components at the end of the target structure are not initialized according to their type but are filled with blanks.

Note

Assignments of this type are only advisable if the corresponding structures contain only character-like components.

Flat Structures in Unicode Programs

When converting flat structures in Unicode programs, you must bear in mind the Unicode fragment view for the corresponding structures.

Conversion Rules

The following rules apply when converting a flat structure to another flat structure in Unicode programs:

1. When assigning structures with the same fragment view, the structure is assigned without being converted.
   
   
2. When assigning structures of different lengths where the length of the fragment view exactly matches the shorter structure, the assignment is made at the length of the shorter structure without conversion. If the target structure is longer than the source structure, the components of the target structure that are positioned after the common fragments are filled with type-specific initial values and alignment gaps are set to hexadecimal 0. If the target structure is shorter than the source structure, the components of the source structure that are positioned after the common fragments are cut off.
   
   
3. When assigning structures of different lengths whose fragment views match until the second last fragment in the shorter structure, and in which the next fragment is byte-like in one and character-like in the other, the parts in which the fragments are the same are assigned without conversion. The characters in the next fragment in the source structure are assigned to the corresponding fragment in the target structure without conversion and left justified. If this fragment in the target structure is larger than that in the source structure, the right hand side is filled with blanks or with hexadecimal 0, depending on the data type. If it is shorter, the objects are cut off on the right. The remaining components after this fragment are either cut off or filled with type-specific initial values.

No conversion rule is defined for any other cases, so that assignment is not possible.

Note

If a syntax error occurs due to an inadmissible assignment between flat structures, you can display the fragment views for the corresponding structures when displaying the syntax error in the ABAP Editor by choosing the pushbutton with the information icon.

Examples

Assigning struc1 to struc2 and vice versa is not allowed in Unicode programs because the fragment views are not the same (unlike struc2-b, struc1-x only fills one byte).

DATA:                        DATA:
  BEGIN OF struc1,             BEGIN OF struc2,
    a TYPE c LENGTH 1,           a TYPE c LENGTH 1,
    x TYPE x LENGTH 1,           b TYPE c LENGTH 1,
  END OF struc1.               END OF struc2.

Assignments of struc3 to struc4 and vice versa are allowed because the fragment view of the shorter structure struc3 is the same as the fragment view in the first part of the longer structure struc4.

DATA:                        DATA:
  BEGIN OF struc3,             BEGIN OF struc4,
    a TYPE c LENGTH 2,           a TYPE c LENGTH 8,
    n TYPE n LENGTH 6,           i TYPE i,
    i TYPE i,                    f TYPE f,
  END OF struc3.               END OF struc4.

Assignments of struc5 to struc6 and vice versa are also not allowed because the fragment views in the two structures do not match due to the alignment gaps before struc5-b and before struc6-struc0-b.

DATA:                        DATA:
  BEGIN OF struc5,             BEGIN OF struc6,
    a TYPE x LENGTH 1,           a TYPE x LENGTH 1,
    b TYPE x LENGTH 1,           BEGIN OF struc0,
    c TYPE c LENGTH 1,             b TYPE x LENGTH 1,
  END OF struc5.                   c TYPE c LENGTH 1,
                                 END OF struc0,
                               END OF struc6.

An assignment of struc7 to struc8 and vice versa is possible because the fragment view is the same until the second last fragment p in the shorter structure struc7:

DATA:                        DATA:
  BEGIN OF struc7,             BEGIN OF struc8,
    a TYPE i,                    a    TYPE i,
    p TYPE p LENGTH 8,           p TYPE p LENGTH 8,
    c TYPE c LENGTH 1,           c TYPE c LENGTH 5,
  END OF struc7.                 o TYPE p LENGTH 8,
                               END OF struc8.