Core Data Services (CDS) ABAP

Introduction & Overview

CDS – Differentiation

CDS on SAP HANA

  • Persistence and views
  • HANA SQL

CDS ABAP

  • Focus on views
  • ABAP SQL
  • Persistence still defined via SE11 or via DDL in ADT

The CDS variants differ in syntax.
What they share are concepts like annotations and associations.

CDS Versions

Release ABAP Platform OP Release Kernel Release
7.58 2023 2023 7.93
7.57 2022 2022 7.89
7.56 2021 2021 7.85
7.55 2020 2020 7.81
7.54 1909 1909 7.77
7.53 1809 1809 7.73
7.52 - 1709 7.53
7.51 - 1610 7.49
7.50 - 1511 7.45

Changes between releases
Documentation

CDS Objects

  • CDS Views (aka. DDIC-based Views, obsolete since 7.57)
  • CDS View Entities, since 7.55 / 2020
  • CDS Table Functions (programmed views)
  • CDS Hierarchies (views evaluating hierarchical data)
  • Abstract CDS Entities (structure types)
  • CDS Simple Types, similar to domains/data elements, since 7.58 / 2023
  • CDS Enumerations, since 7.58 / 2023
  • CDS Scalar Functions, since 7.58 / 2023

What is ABAP CDS

  • Semantic data models
  • Database-independent (in practice: always HANA)
  • Optimized for SAP HANA
  • Integrated into the ABAP Dictionary
  • Defined in source text files (DDL)

SE11 vs. CDS – Definition

SE11 Views

  • Projections
  • Inner Join
  • Rename columns
  • Filtering

CDS Views

  • Projection
  • All JOIN types (inner, outer, …)
  • UNIONs
  • Parameters
  • SQL expressions (e.g., SQL functions, CASE, calculations)
  • Annotations
  • Associations
  • Authorizations

SE11 vs. CDS – Usage

SE11 Views

  • Structure type in ABAP
  • SELECT from ABAP
  • Value helps
  • Maintenance dialogs (SM30/SM34)
  • Generic extractors

CDS Views

  • Structure type in ABAP
  • SELECT from ABAP
  • Value helps
  • OData services
  • Embedded Analytics
  • RAP (ABAP RESTful Programming Model)
  • CDS Extractor
  • Virtual Data Model (VDM)

CDS Objects and Frameworks