General Usage Of Search Help Exits (Icons Display)

To bring some colour into SAP transactions I like to use Icons. I also think that Icons help to recognize faster what kind of data is displayed. Using different icons for different status help to get a better overview.

There is no witchcraft about the dynamic usage of Icons. But dynamic Icons in a search help exit comes quite close.

In a project I wanted to customize the icons for certain status information. Therefore I provided a field ICON_NAME to the status. In a search help I wanted not to have the name of the icon displayed but the icon itself.

With The Help Of My Friends

It was clear that I had to use a search help exit for this. But as providing an icon name to an object is quite obvious I would like to have a search help exit that I could reuse for that requirement.

I remembered that you could define parameters in a search help that could be retrieved by the search help exit. I tried to use this feature…

Status Table

I created the following status table to illustrate the point:

When displaying a list I can get the name of the assigned icon and display this icon in the grid.

Search help

Creating a search help for the table was done in two minutes:

The search help looks quite sad without icons:

Parameters

I defined the following parameters to use in the search help exit:

◈ ICON_TEXT (column for displaying the icon)

◈ COLUMN_WITH_ICON_NAME

◈ COLUMN_WITH_ICON_INFO

◈ COLUMN_FOR_ICON_DISPLAY

The purpose should be clear…

Search Help Exit

I copied the example function module F4IF_SHLP_EXIT_EXAMPLE to Z_F4IF_SHLP_EXIT_ICON.

Approach

The idea is simple:

◈ find out which field contains the name of the icon

◈ find out which field contains the text to display with the icon

◈ find out the column name to display the icon itself

◈ get the field values of ICON_NAME

◈ get the field values of ICON_TEXT

◈ loop at the icon names

◈ read the apropriate entry of the icon text

◈ create the icon

◈ add the created icons list to the search help

There are some function modules that helped me realize this:

F4UT_PARAMETER_VALUE_GET

Returns the value of a defined parameter. The module returns a result list if the parameter is a field of the search help and a single value if it’s a user defined parameter.

F4UT_PARAMETER_RESULTS_PUT

This function module puts back values for a field of the search help.

ICON_CREATE

The one and only way to create an icon to be displayed somewhere.

Result

the result of the below code is a little bit more meaningful:

Code

FUNCTION z_f4if_shlp_exit_icon.

*"----------------------------------------------------------------------

*"*"Lokale Schnittstelle:

*"  TABLES

*"      SHLP_TAB TYPE  SHLP_DESCT

*"      RECORD_TAB STRUCTURE  SEAHLPRES

*"  CHANGING

*"     VALUE(SHLP) TYPE  SHLP_DESCR

*"     VALUE(CALLCONTROL) LIKE  DDSHF4CTRL STRUCTURE  DDSHF4CTRL

*"----------------------------------------------------------------------

  DEFINE get_param.

    CALL FUNCTION 'F4UT_PARAMETER_VALUE_GET'

      EXPORTING

        parameter         = &1

        fieldname         = '*'

      IMPORTING

        value             = lv_parameter_value

      TABLES

        shlp_tab          = shlp_tab

        record_tab        = record_tab

      CHANGING

        shlp              = shlp

        callcontrol       = callcontrol

      EXCEPTIONS

        parameter_unknown = 1.

    IF sy-subrc = 0.

      &2 = lv_parameter_value.

    ENDIF.

  END-OF-DEFINITION.

  DEFINE icon_create.

    CALL FUNCTION 'ICON_CREATE'

      EXPORTING

        name            = &1

        info            = &2

        add_stdinf      = ''

      IMPORTING

        result          = &3

      EXCEPTIONS

        OTHERS          = 3.

  END-OF-DEFINITION.

*== Info:

* Dieser Baustein kann in Suchhilfen als Suchhilfe-Exit verwendet werden

*== Zweck:

* Anzeige des Icons zu einem Icon-Namen, der in der Tabelle vorhanden ist

*== Voraussetzung:

* Spalte mit dem Namen eines Icons

*

  "Tabelle für den Iconnamen, der aus der RESULTTAB ermittelt wird

  DATA lt_col_iconname TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF icon_name.

  "Tabelle für den Inhalt der Info zum Icon

  DATA lt_col_iconinfo TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF icon_text.

  "Tabelle für das Aufbereitete Icon, das an die RESULTTAB übergeben wird

  DATA lt_col_icontext TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF icon_text.

  DATA lv_icontext TYPE icon_text.

  "Generischer Parameter

  DATA lv_parameter_value       TYPE  ddshvalue.

  "Name der Spalte, die den Iconnamen enthält

  DATA lv_column_with_icon_name TYPE  shlpfield.

  "Name der Spalte, die den Icontext enthält

  DATA lv_column_with_icon_info TYPE  shlpfield.

  "Name der Spalte, in der das aufbereitete Icon dargestellt werden soll

  DATA lv_column_for_display    TYPE  shlpfield.

* EXIT immediately, if you do not want to handle this step

  IF callcontrol-step <> 'SELONE' AND

     callcontrol-step <> 'SELECT' AND

     callcontrol-step <> 'SELONE' AND

     callcontrol-step <> 'PRESEL' AND

     callcontrol-step <> 'SELECT' AND

     callcontrol-step <> 'DISP'.

    EXIT.

  ENDIF.

*"----------------------------------------------------------------------

* STEP DISP     (Display values)

*"----------------------------------------------------------------------

  IF callcontrol-step = 'DISP'.

    get_param 'COLUMN_WITH_ICON_NAME'    lv_column_with_icon_name.

    get_param 'COLUMN_WITH_ICON_INFO'    lv_column_with_icon_info.

    get_param 'COLUMN_FOR_ICON_DISPLAY'  lv_column_for_display.

    "Ermitteln aller ICON_NAMEN der einzelnen Einträge

    CALL FUNCTION 'F4UT_PARAMETER_VALUE_GET'

      EXPORTING

        parameter         = lv_column_with_icon_name

        fieldname         = '*'

      TABLES

        shlp_tab          = shlp_tab

        record_tab        = record_tab

        results_tab       = lt_col_iconname

      CHANGING

        shlp              = shlp

        callcontrol       = callcontrol

      EXCEPTIONS

        parameter_unknown = 1

        OTHERS            = 2.

    IF sy-subrc = 0.

      "Wenn alles geklappt hat, dann sind in Tabelle LT_COL_ICONNAME die Namen

      "der Icons aus dem Parameter COLUMN_WITH_ICON_NAME

      "Nun noch die die Texte für die Quickinfo ermitteln

      CALL FUNCTION 'F4UT_PARAMETER_VALUE_GET'

        EXPORTING

          parameter         = lv_column_with_icon_info

          fieldname         = '*'

        TABLES

          shlp_tab          = shlp_tab

          record_tab        = record_tab

          results_tab       = lt_col_iconinfo

        CHANGING

          shlp              = shlp

          callcontrol       = callcontrol

        EXCEPTIONS

          parameter_unknown = 1

          OTHERS            = 2.

      if sy-subrc > 0.

        "Macht nichts: Es ist kein Feld definiert/ vorhanden, das zum Icon angezeigt werden soll

        "Die Tabelle LT_COL_ICONINFO ist dann halt leer

      endif.

      LOOP AT lt_col_iconname INTO DATA(lv_iconname).

        "Info zum Icon lesen:

        READ TABLE lt_col_iconinfo INTO DATA(lv_iconinfo) INDEX sy-tabix.

        "Aufbereitung des Icons zur Darstellung

        icon_create lv_iconname lv_iconinfo lv_icontext.

        APPEND lv_icontext TO lt_col_icontext.

      ENDLOOP.

    ENDIF.

    "Alle aufbereiteten Icons an RESULTTAB übergeben

    CALL FUNCTION 'F4UT_PARAMETER_RESULTS_PUT'

      EXPORTING

        parameter         = lv_column_for_display

      TABLES

        shlp_tab          = shlp_tab

        record_tab        = record_tab

        source_tab        = lt_col_icontext

      CHANGING

        shlp              = shlp

        callcontrol       = callcontrol

      EXCEPTIONS

        parameter_unknown = 1

        OTHERS            = 2.

    IF sy-subrc <> 0.

      EXIT.

    ENDIF.

    EXIT.

  ENDIF.

ENDFUNCTION.