Screens for Characteristics Management
To expand an existing class and add several characteristics, you'll use a material master.
To classify SAP master data, you can either work with value tables or link your characteristic to a table field.
Either option may involve the following tab pages: Basic data, Values, Additional data, and Restrictions..
The following video details the functions of each screen.
Additional Data Types
You already learned about the numeric (NUM) and character (CHAR) formats. The following video introduces three additional formats for time, date, and currency data types.
Value Assignment
The value assignment attribute determines whether an object can have multiple values for a characteristic or only one. The image below shows each option.
Once you have saved your characteristic, you cannot change value assignments, nor can you overwrite it for a specific class.
When you first create a characteristic, you specify the allowable characteristic values. Users cannot search for values you did not allow. But suppose users request additional values. Can you add values to your initial ones?
Yes, you can. To transfer additional values to the standard F4 help of the characteristic, you can use a suitable report.
The following video explains the behavior of additional values.
Value Hierarchies
You can use a value hierarchy to structure characteristic values, which makes selecting a value easier. The following image shows an example.
- You can set up a value hierarchy only for characteristics with CHAR format.
- You can create any number of hierarchy levels.
- Value nodes are not values. For a multiple-value characteristic, you can select all the end nodes as assigned values by selecting a value node.
Using Check Tables to Find Duplicate Values
Until now, you have entered characteristic values directly, without checking if the same value already exists.
To avoid duplicating values, you can use SAP fields that are linked to check tables.
The following video explains the use of check tables.
Checking Values with Function Modules
You can use a function module to perform any check you like on a value. For example, you can:
Store algorithms for checking values in a function module
Store format checks: for example, at a certain point, the value must have figures from 1-4
Access any table in the SAP system
Call APIs (application programming interfaces)
The image below shows an example.
Before using a function module, you must create it in the ABAP Workbench. The program code must be based on the defined interfaces described in the SAP Library.
You can create a second function module to display the possible values determined by the first one.