About CLASS-METHODS?

Question

Hi Guys,
In ABAP objects i have seen while declaring methods, they are prefixing CLASS-METHODS?
Actually what does that mean?
Regards,
Ammu

Answer 1

Declares static events in a class or interface in ABAP Objects.
You can only use this statement in the declaration part of a class declaration (see CLASS ) or interface definition (see INTERFACE). The CLASS- prefix to the EVENTS statement means that the event evt is declared as a static event. Otherwise, the CLASS-EVENTS statement has the same syntax as the EVENTS statement for instance events.
Static events belong to the static components of a class. Unlike instance events, that can only be triggered in instance methods, static events can be triggered both in instance methods and in static methods.
Within a class, the appearance of static events is the same as that of instance events, and they can be addressed in the same way. You can also define handler methods for static events using the SET HANDLER statement if their visibility allows it. In this case, there is no FOR addition, since the required information is already available through the definition of the event handler method, and you do not have to specify a triggering instance.
Note
If the class has a static constructor (a method called CLASS_CONSTRUCTOR) that has not yet been executed in the program, it is executed on a static event in the class before the first registration of an event handler method.
Example
CLASS C1 DEFINITION.
  PUBLIC SECTION.
    METHODS CONSTRUCTOR.
    CLASS-METHODS CREATE_COUNT_RESET.
    CLASS-EVENTS  COUNT_RESET.
  PRIVATE SECTION.
    CLASS-DATA CREATE_COUNT TYPE I.
ENDCLASS.
CLASS C2 DEFINITION.
  PUBLIC SECTION.
    METHODS COUNT_HANDLER FOR EVENT COUNT_RESET OF C1.
ENDCLASS.
DATA: O1 TYPE REF TO C1,
      O2 LIKE O1,
      O3 LIKE O1,
      HANDL TYPE REF TO C2.
CREATE OBJECT: O1,
               O2,
               O3,
               HANDL.
SET HANDLER HANDL->COUNT_HANDLER.
CLEAR: O1,
       O2,
       O3.
CALL METHOD C1=>CREATE_COUNT_RESET.
CLASS C1 IMPLEMENTATION.
  METHOD CONSTRUCTOR.
    CREATE_COUNT = CREATE_COUNT + 1.
  ENDMETHOD.
  METHOD CREATE_COUNT_RESET.
    CLEAR CREATE_COUNT.
    RAISE EVENT COUNT_RESET.
  ENDMETHOD.
ENDCLASS.
CLASS C2 IMPLEMENTATION.
  METHOD COUNT_HANDLER.
    WRITE 'Object counter reset'.
  ENDMETHOD.
ENDCLASS.
This example builds on the first example in the CLASS-METHODS documentation. It is possible to execute the static method CREATE_COUNT_RESET, even though there are no more instances of class C1. The COUNT_HANDLER method of object HANDL of class C2 is registered as handler for the static event COUNT_RESET, and is triggered.