PASSING DATA USING INTERNAL MEMORY AREAS

There are two cross-program memory areas to which ABAP programs have access (refer to the diagram in Memory Structures of an ABAP Program [Page 66]) that you can use to pass data between programs.

SAP Memory

SAP memory is a memory area to which all main sessions within a SAPgui have access. You can use SAP memory either to pass data from one program to another within a session, or to pass data from one session to another. Application programs that use SAP memory must do so using SPA/GPA parameters (also known as SET/GET parameters).

These parameters can be set either for a particular user or for a particular program using the SET PARAMETER statement. Other ABAP programs can then retrieve the set parameters using the GET PARAMETER statement. The most frequent use of SPA/GPA parameters is to fill input fields on screens (see below).

ABAP Memory

ABAP memory is a memory area that all ABAP programs within the same internal session can access using the EXPORT and IMPORT statements. Data within this area remains intact during a whole sequence of program calls. To pass data to a program which you are calling, the data needs to be placed in ABAP memory before the call is made. The internal session of the called program then replaces that of the calling program. The program called can then read from the ABAP memory. If control is then returned to the program which made the initial call, the same process operates in reverse. For further information, refer to Data Clusters in ABAP Memory