The ABAP Editor is a tool that you use to write ABAP programs, class methods, function modules, screen flow logic, type groups, and logical databases.

Editor Modes

The ABAP Editor has two different modes:

·         Front end editor

·         Table control mode

The front end editor uses the SAP Text edit Control from the SAP Control Framework. It loads your source code onto the front end and allows you to perform many tasks without any communication with the application server.

The command mode is no longer supported in the new version of the ABAP Workbench and is no longer available in Release 4.6B.

Integration

Table control mode and front end editor are fully compatible and interchangeable source codes that you have created using one mode are properly reproduced by the system in the other without you having to do anything yourself. In particular, the line lengths are the same. If you exceed the maximum length, the system automatically inserts a line break. Both editor modes offer the same source code layout. The contents of the editor are displayed exactly as they are stored in the database. There is no automatic conversion (for example, into uppercase) in either mode.

Differences

There are differences between the two modes in respect to how they are used, the system requirements, and (to a small extent) the functions that they contain. Other sections of this documentation explain the differences in more detail.