HOW DO WE CREATRE SEARCH HELP ?

Question

HOW DO WE CREATRE SEARCH HELP ? PLEASE EXPLAIN.
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Answer 1

Hi
Input helps (F4 helps) for screen fields can be defined with search helps.
Search helps
1)Standard search help
2)Types of search helps
3)Concept of search help
4)Search Help Interface
5)Dialog behavior of search helps
6)Selection method for search helps
7)Performance of search helps
8)Attaching search helps
9)Hierarchy of search helps
Standard Search Help
The input help (F4 help) is a standard function of the R/3 System. It permits the user to display a list of possible values for a screen field. A value can be directly copied to an input field by list selection.
The fields having an input help are shown in the R/3 System by the input help key to the right of the field. This key appears as soon as the cursor is positioned on the corresponding screen field. The help can be started either by clicking on this screen element or with function key F4.
If the number of possible entries for a field is very large, you can limit the set of displayed values by entering further restrictions.
Further meaningful information about the displayed values is included in the display of possible entries, especially if the field requires that a formal key be entered.
TYPES OF SEARCH HELPS
Elementary search helps Describe a search path. The elementary search help must define where the data of the hit list should be read from (selection method), how the exchange of values between the screen template and selection method is implemented (interface of the search help) and how the online input help should be defined (online behavior of the search help).
Collective search help Combine several elementary search helps. A collective search help thus can offer several alternative search paths.
Context data: You first have to define the context data to be used in the input help process. The context contains the information obtained in previous dialog steps and the entries already made by the user in the current input mask. This information is normally used to restrict the possible values for the current input field.
Dialog behavior: It describes the order of the dialog windows to be displayed during the input help and what they should look like.
Data collection method: It defines where the values offered to the user for selection come from.
Return values: When a value is selected from the list of possible entries, it is stored in the search field. This often results in the contents of further screen fields, such as explanatory text, being updated. You therefore should define which values can be returned to the screen.
In addition to describing an input help, you must define the fields for which it should be used. This is part of the field definition (of the search fields).
In Release 4.0, the search help was introduced in the ABAP Dictionary as a new object type. A search help is an object that describes the input help process. The individual components of such a description can be defined with attributes of the search help.
Search helps are subject to the same rules concerning their maintenance, activation and transport as all other objects of the ABAP Dictionary.
Search helps provide greater flexibility and functionality for defining input helps than the matchcode and help view object types offered up to Release 3.x.
Search Help Interface
Search help interface determines how the exchange of values between the screen template and the selection method is implemented.
The search help interface defines the context data that can be used in the input help and the data that can be returned to the input mask. Analogously to the interface of a function module, the search help interface comprises interface parameters.
When you define an interface parameter of a search help, you must also define whether it should be used to copy data to the input help (IMPORT parameter) or whether it should be used to return data from the input help (EXPORT parameter). A parameter of a search help can also have both attributes at the same time.
The location from which the IMPORT parameters of a search help get their values and the screen fields in which the contents of the EXPORT parameters of the search help are returned are defined in the search help attachment. The search help itself should always be attached to an EXPORT parameter of the search help. If this parameter is also the IMPORT parameter, its contents are only used in the input help if it is a search string (that is, if it contains a ´*´ or a ´+´).
You must define the parameter types of a search help. You can do this by assigning them data elements.
Value Transport for Input Helps
NOTE:In the above example, screen fields A, B and C are linked with parameters of the search help. As a result, values can only be transported between the screen and the search help for these three fields. Existing contents of screen fields A and B can be used for selecting the hit list since they are linked with an import parameter of the search help. The values of parameters A and C can be returned to the screen from the hit list since these parameters are declared as export parameters of the search help.
Description of dialog behavior
A hit list might contain plentiful number of entries. A
dialog provides the user with an option to restrict the
entries displayed on the hit list.
In an input help process, the set of possible entries is presented in the dialog box as a list for displaying the hit list. The user selects the required value from this list by double clicking. Since the possible entries are often formal keys, you must be able to display further explanatory information about the possible entries in the list.
If the set of possible entries is very large, the user should be able to define additional conditions for the attributes of the selected entry. Restricting the set of data in this way both increases the clarity of the list and reduces the system load. Additional conditions can be entered in a further dialog window, the dialog box for restricting values.
Specifying the dialog type of a search help defines whether the dialog box for restricting values should be offered and if so under what conditions.
The attributes in the dialog box for displaying the hit list or in the dialog box for restricting values must be defined as internal parameters of the search help. An internal parameter can also be used in only one of the two dialog boxes. It can also belong to the search help interface.
The internal parameter types are also defined with data elements. These data elements define how the parameters are displayed in the two dialog boxes.
Dialog Types
The dialog type of an elementary search help defines how the hit list is displayed when the input help is called. It defines the dialog steps executed for input help.
The following dialog types are possible:
Immediate value display: The hit list is immediately displayed when the input help is called. This is only meaningful if the hit list usually only contains a few entries.
Complex dialog with value restriction: The dialog window for restricting values is offered immediately. Choose this option if the list of possible entries is usually very large. If the user limits the amount of data to be processed, the hit list will become more comprehensible and the system load during value selection will be reduced.
Dialog depending on number of values: If the hit list contains less than 100 entries, it is displayed immediately. If the hit list contains more than 100 entries, the dialog box for restricting values is displayed.
The following dialog types are possible:
Immediate value display: The hit list is immediately displayed when the input help is called. This is only meaningful if the hit list usually only contains a few entries.
Complex dialog with value restriction: The dialog window for restricting values is offered immediately. Choose this option if the list of possible entries is usually very large. If the user limits the amount of data to be processed, the hit list will become more comprehensible and the system load during value selection will be reduced.
Dialog depending on number of values: If the hit list contains less than 100 entries, it is displayed immediately. If the hit list contains more than 100 entries, the dialog box for restricting values is displayed.
Selection method for Search help
Selection method refers to the database object (database
table or view) from which data is selected and displayed
in the hit list.
The possible entries displayed for a field by the input help are determined at runtime by a selection from the database. When a search help is defined, you must define the database object from which the data should be selected by specifying a table or a view as selection method.
The fields of the selection method are assigned to the parameters of the search help if their names are the same. Restricting the hit list, which is formulated with a parameter of the search help, is also used to formulate a WHERE condition for the field of the selection method having the same name (if one exists). Vice versa, the parameters of the search help appearing in the hit list are assigned the contents of the fields of the selection method having the same name.
If the selection method is a table having a text table, the non-key fields of this text table can also be used in the search help. In this case the corresponding entries of the logon language are automatically taken into consideration in the selection. These columns remain empty for values that do not have text in the logon language.
If the selection method is client-dependent, your client field may not appear as a parameter of the search help. The search help is always selected in the current client.
Performance of an Input help
We must ensure that the hit list is displayed in minimum
time with minimum load on the system.
It is imperative to optimize accessing behavior especially when selection uses a view and thus more than one table.
This can be done by restricting the hit list
By additional restricting conditions from the context.
Restricting conditions entered by the user in a dialog.
Performance of the input help could be greatly improved by creating an index on the fields used to formulate the restrictions.
A large amount of data sometimes has to be searched in the selections for an input help. This means that the user might have to wait a long time for the possible entries to be displayed, and can also result in a significant increase in the load on the system.
When defining a search help, you should therefore check whether you should take measures to optimize the accessing behavior for the selection method. This is especially true if the selection uses a view and thus more than one physical table.
If the number of entries in the selection method is very large, you should restrict the hit list with further conditions. This also increases the clarity of the hit list. The additional conditions can directly result from the context, or can be entered in the dialog box for restricting values by the user. The performance of the input help can frequently be significantly improved by creating an index on the fields used to formulate the restrictions.
If a restriction is defined with the secondary table of a help view, the selection is automatically performed as an inner join. In this case you should replace the help view with a database view.
Attaching a search help to a field
A search help can influence the behavior of a field when the input help is called. The search help must be assigned to the field in order to do this. You have the following options for this assignment:
Attach search help to a data element / table or structure field / screen field / check table.
Conventionally search helps are attached to table fields or data elements. We shall see the same.
Choose the field name, click on search help tab and
provide the name of the search help.
A search help is attached to a field of a table or structure in the maintenance transaction for this table/structure, analogously to attaching to a table. You must assign the interface parameters of the search help to any fields of the table/structure. The search field must be assigned to an EXPORT parameter of the search help at this time.
Attach the search help to the table field
The search help ZSTRAVELAG_NAME is therefore directly attached to the field AGENCYNUM of table ZSTRAVELAG.
Provide the search help name and the parameter name
under the further characteristics tab of the data element.
If the input help of a field is defined by its data element, no further screen fields can be used in the input help.
Also note that the input F4 help would be available wherever the data element is used.
A search help can be directly assigned to a screen field in two ways.
The name of the search help must be entered in the Screen Painter in the Attributes for the field in the field Search help.
The name of the search help can be defined for selection screens in ABAP reports in the PARAMETERS or SELECT-OPTIONS statement directly following the supplement MATCHCODE OBJECT.
However, input help is only available for this particular screen.
Collective search help
A Collective search help provides alternative search
Paths by combining elementary search helps.
Only one search help can be attached to a field, table or data element. Several search paths are therefore attached with a collective search help.
A collective search help also has interface parameters like
an elementary search help.
Like an elementary search help, a collective search help has an interface of IMPORT and EXPORT parameters with which the search help exchanges data. Using this interface, the collective search help can be attached to fields, tables and data elements exactly like an elementary search help.
Parameter assignment needs to be done for each of the
Included search helps.
When you define a collective search help, there are no components for describing the dialog behavior and data selection; instead the included search helps are listed here. You must assign the parameters of the collective search help to the interface parameters of the included search help for each inclusion.
User may choose the tab and thus the elementary
search method.
When we execute the search help SCUSTOM, we are confronted with a dialog which gives us an option of either restricting
By 1)Search for customer according to booking
    2)Search for customer according to name.
These are effectively the elementary search helps (SCUSTOM_BOOK and SCUSTOM_NAME) which have been included in the collective search help SCUSTOM.
HOT KEY
The hot key is used to select the elementary search help from the collective search help and to enter the restrictions in the dialog box for restricting values directly from the entry field. If the user often searches for values using the same search help, this procedure can save time.
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