CDS views and AMDP classes and its usage

Question: Why do we really need CDS Views?

Answer: According to SAP, CDS Brings Conceptual and Implementation Level Closer
Together.
Question: We already have Database Views in ABAP (SE11),then why do we still need “CDS
views”? Or, What are the advantages of using “CDS views”?

Answer: CDS is much more powerful than what it appears.The CDS concept is far more than
simple view building but describes a DDL for building a meta-model repository involving
database tables, database views, functions, and data types.

CDS was invented by SAP, because the modeling capabilities of the ABAP Dictionary and of
the “SAP HANA Studio” are not sufficient for the needs of all fully blown business
applications with modern needs.
ABAP CDS is open and not restricted to SAP HANA (i.e. database independent).

There are two types of CDS Views.

1. ABAP CDS
2. HANA CDS

CDS Views can be categorized as of two types:

1) CDS Views without Parameters
2) CDS Views with Parameters

Why was CDS introduced? (same question in a different way)

Answer: With CDS, data models are defined and consumed on the
database rather than on the server. CDS also offers capabilities beyond the
traditional data modeling tools,including support for conceptual modeling and
relationship definitions, built-in functions, and extensions. Originally, CDS was
available only in the design-time and runtime environment of SAP HANA. Now,
the CDS concept is also fully implemented in SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP, enabling
developers to work in the ABAP layer with ABAP development tools while the
code execution is pushed down to the database.
CDS is an infrastructure layer for defining semantically rich data models, which
are represented as CDS views. In a very basic way, CDS allows developers
to define entity types (such as orders, business partners, or products)
and the semantic relationships between them, which correspond to foreign
key relationships in traditional entity-relationship (ER) models. CDS is defined
using an SQL-based data definition language (DDL) that is based on standard
SQL with some additional concepts, such as associations, which define the
relationships between CDS views and annotations, which direct the domain-
specific use of CDS artifacts. Another example is expressions, which can be
used in scenarios in which certain CDS attributes are considered as measures to
be aggregated.

Similar to the role of the DDIC in the traditional ABAP world, data models based
on CDS serve as central definitions that can be used in many different domains,
such as transactional and analytical applications, to interact with data in the
database in a unified way . However, CDS data models go beyond the
capabilities of the DDIC, which were typically limited to a transactional scope
(think of traditional online transaction processing functionality). For example, in
CDS, you can define views that aggregate and analyze data in a layered
fashion, starting with basic views and then adding powerful views that combine
the basic views. Another difference is the support for special operators such as
UNION, which enables the combination of multiple select statements to return
only one result set.

When do we need CDS Views?

Answer: It depends on reusability. If the functionality of a view is only needed
once, then no need to create CDS Views. We can use Joins, SQL expressions,
subqueries etc in Open SQL for this code push down. But if we want to reuse a
view, need semantical or technical capabilities of CDS that exceed those
of Open SQL (but we try to keep the technical capabilities on the same level,
e.g., CDS knows UNION, Open SQL will know UNION with an upcoming release)
or we just want to push down the full data model to the database, we need
CDS.
With CDS in native SAP HANA, we must create the basic entity types that
correspond to the DDIC tables as part of the CDS view definition. With CDS in
ABAP, we can refer to any underlying DDIC table, view, or type from within the
CDS view definition, avoiding the need to “duplicate” the DDIC table definitions
on the CDS layer. In the ABAP scenario, the CDS definitions are considered
DDIC artifacts and need to be activated like any other DDIC artifact and when
changes are made, their impact is propagated to dependent artifacts.

Question: What is preferred ABAP CDS or HANA CDS if the client is in

ABAP on HANA DB?
Answer: If you use ABAP on HANA DB, you can work directly on the DB and also
use HANA CDS there. But then the CDS objects created are not managed by the
ABAP Dictionary meaning you cannot access them directly with Open
SQL and they are not TYPEs in the ABAP TYPE system.

When should we use ABAP CDS and when should we use HANA CDS?
Answer: If you run SAP HANA standalone or in a side-by-side scenario (there is
no ABAP stack on top) you cannot use ABAP CDS. You must use HANA CDS.

If you have an ABAP stack on top of a HANA database (an AS ABAP uses the
HANA database as central database) then:

i) If you want to access the CDS entities in ABAP as data types or in Open SQL
or if you want to evaluate the CDS annotations in ABAP, you must use ABAP
CDS.

ii) If you do not want to access the CDS entities in ABAP, but you want to
transport and upgrade them like ABAP repository objects, you can use ABAP
CDS.
iii) If you do not want to access the CDS entities in ABAP as data TYPEs or in
Open SQL, you can use HANA CDS, which is better integrated into SAP HANA.
An access from ABAP is then possible using Native SQL (ADBC, AMDP) only.

Can we consume ABAP CDS natively in HANA?

Answer: Yes we can. For each CDS view a database view (SQL view) is created
in the database during activation. We can access that database view natively if
we want to. CDS table functions are managed by AMDP. The respective
database functions can also be accessed natively.

Is it also possible to access the database views (generated by having a

corresponding ABAP CDS view) in HANA natively and simultaneously
consider the authorization logic defined in the corresponding DCL?
Answer: Yes. Open SQL checks the authorization implicitly but is of course
translated into native SQL code doing that on DB level (implicit conditions).
Same for the SADL framework that checks the authorizations itself natively. The
problem is that you need to have access to the internal role representation
which is not published and subject to change or you have to build a framework
yourself that parses the role definition and creates the corresponding
conditions.

How can we find all CDS views in SAP?

Answer: Check the table TADIR in SE16; PGMID = ‘R3TR’, OBJECT = ‘DDLS’;
here we find all DDL sources and the package of each source in column
DEVCLASS. Knowing the package, we can use ADT (ABAP Development Tool in
HANA Studio) to find the DDL sources in ADT.
Examine table DDLDEPENDENCY in SE16; it contains the names of all DDL
sources and the names of the CDS entities (value STOB in column
OBJECTTYPE) defined therein as well as the names of the generated database
views (value VIEW in column OBJECTTYPE); (one row for each -> two rows for
each DDL source). => Selecting VIEW for OBJECTTYPE gives you all CDS
database views.
Now let us try to open the DDL source of the CDS in SE11.
Check it would prompt us to go to ADT Tools to view it.

Now, let us open the DDL SQL View of the CDS. Note the warning below which
says DDL SQL views are only supported in a limited way by SE11.
Having one name is just not good enough in CDS; we need two names.

One name is for the SQL view that is going to be created in the dictionary (the
one we will be able to look at in SE11), and the other name we have is a name
for the CDS view entity, which is viewed and changed via Eclipse.
PS: We could name both the SQL view and the CDS view the same, but we
should not as they are different things, so the name should reflect the
difference.

SQL view is visible in SE11, however, we cannot edit it in SE11.

CDS View entity is the one we should refer to in SELECT statements in our
ABAP programs. Although we can use DDL SQL View in our programs, but we
should not.
How can we use CDS views?
Answer: Basically, a CDS View is an entity that can be addressed by its name:
in ABAP as a TYPE
in Open SQL as a DATA SOURCE

Basically, a CDS View is an entity that can be addressed by its name in ABAP as
a TYPE in Open SQL as a data source

Seeing a CDS View in SE11 is kind of a technical artifact and we should not
address the database view that is shown there in our ABAP programs. From
SE11 you can also navigate to the database object that is generated from the
definition. This database object can even be accessed directly with Native SQL.

This means we can access our CDS Views directly in ABAP programs or from
elsewhere. For evaluating the semantic properties (annotations) of a CDS View
(stored in system tables) we should use an appropriate API
(CL_DD_DDL_ANNOTATION_SERVICE if available in your system).

Question: What are the Salient Features of CDS?

1. Semantically Rich Data-Models
2. Domain specific languages (DDL, QL, DCL)
3. Declarative, close to conceptual thinking
4. CDS is completely based on SQL
5. Any ‘Standard SQL’ features (like joins, unions, built-in functions) is directly
available in CDS
6. Fully Compatible with Any DB
7. Generated and managed SQL Views
8. Native integration in SAP HANA
9. Common Basis for Domain-Specific Framework e.g. UI, Analytics, Odata,
BW,…@AnalyticsDetails.aggregationBehaviour: SUM
10 Built-in Functions and Code Pushdown
11 Table Functions for Breakout Scenarios
12 Rich Set of Built-in SQL Functions
13 Extensible
14 On model level thru extensions
15 On meta-model level thru annotations

Summary of Core Data Services

SAP claims that whereas a traditional database view is just a linkage of one or
more tables, a CDS view is a fully fledged data model, which, in addition to
having extra features that SE11-defined views do not, can be used even by
applications outside of the SAP domain.

Note: We cannot do OUTER JOINs in an SE11 database view (just one limitation
to point which CDS can overcome).

Technically, CDS is an enhancement of SQL which provides us with a data

definition language (DDL) for defining semantically rich database tables/views
(CDS entities) and user-defined types in the database.
The enhancements include:
i) Annotations to enrich the data models with additional (domain specific)
metadata. An annotation is a line of code that starts with an @ sign.
ii) Associations on a conceptual level, replacing joins with simple path
expressions in queries
iii) Expressions used for calculations and queries in the data model

CDS views, like the well-known dictionary views created and maintained in
transaction SE11, are managed by the ABAP data dictionary. During activation,
a database view is created on the HANA layer, yet only the ABAP CDS
view (defined in a so-called DDL source) has to be transported via the ABAP
Change and Transport System (CTS). Moreover, the functionality provided by
CDS views can be used on all SAP supported databases, we don’t have to worry
when transporting these objects in a heterogeneous system landscape.