Code optimization techniques

• Run Extended syntax checks with character literals checkbox switched on & Code
Inspector to rectify all relevant errors and warning (e.g. Use the results of the above
checks to remove all variables/constants etc that are declared but are not used)
• Transaction SE30 (ABAP Runtime Analysis) must be checked to measure/compare
program performance/runtime if program has multiple inefficient databases selects
or complicated internal table operations
• Use transaction ST05 (SQL Trace) to see what indices your database accesses are
using. Check these indices against your “where” clause to assure they are
significant. Check other indices for this table and where you have to change your
“where” clause to use it. Create new indices if necessary, but do not forget to check
the impact by consulting onsite coordinator.

• TYPE (data element) command is used while declaring the fields whenever feasible
instead of LIKE. Remember not always the data element name matches with the
table field name

• Internal Table is defined with “TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF” & Work-Areas is used
instead of header lines

• Global variables are minimized by declaring local variables or by passing variables

through parameters & arguments while creating internal subroutine(s)

• In SELECT statement, only the required fields are selected in the same order as they
reside on the database table/structure/view

• In SELECT statement, only the required fields are selected in the same order as they
reside on the database table/structure/view

• No SELECT * is used

• Use “SELECT INTO TABLE” rather than “SELECT INTO CORRESPONDING FIELDS OF
TABLE”

• Always specify as many primary keys as possible in WHERE clause to make the
Select efficient

• Always select into an internal table, except when the table will be very large (i.e.,
when the internal table will be greater than 500,000 records). Use “Up to N Rows”
when the number of records needed is known

• Select statement within a GET event is not used

• Wild cards like ‘A%’ is avoided as much as possible

• Nested Select is not used instead “Inner Join” and/or “For all Entries” is used. “For
all Entries” is to be used over “Loop at ITAB / Select / ENDLOOP” (FOR ALL ENTRIES
retrieves a unique result set so ensure you retrieve the full key from the database)

• Nested Select is not used instead “Inner Join” and/or “For all Entries” is used. “For
all Entries” is to be used over “Loop at ITAB / Select / ENDLOOP” (FOR ALL ENTRIES
retrieves a unique result set so ensure you retrieve the full key from the database)

• Usage of JOIN is limited to a maximum of 2 i.e. not more than 3 database tables are
joined at one time
• CHECK that the internal table used in FOR ALL ENTRIES is NOT empty as this will
retrieve all entries from the table

• Delete adjacent duplicate entries from internal table before selection from database
table using “ FOR ALL ENTRIES” statement

• For copying internal tables use ‘=’ operator instead of Looping & Appending

• SORT inside a LOOP is not used

• Sort internal table by fields in the correct order, which are used in a READ TABLE
statement using BINARY SEARCH. If the order of sorting is invalid the BINARY
SEARCH will never work

• For large internal tables where only some rows are to be processed, use SORT and
then the READ TABLE command is used to set index to first relevant row before
looping from that index. Use CHECK or IF…EXIT…ENDIF as appropriate to exit from
the loop

• Sort fields and Sort Order on the SORT statement should be mentioned explicitly
(e.g. SORT ITAB BY FLD1 FLD2 ASCENDING)

• Hashed table is used for processing large amount of data (provided that you access
single records only, and all with a fully specified key)

• DELETE or SORT is not used on a hashed table since it increases memory

consumption

• Sorted table is used for range accesses involving table key or index accesses

• Fields specified in the WHERE condition with the critical operators NOT and <>
(negative SQL statements) cannot be used for a search using database indexes.
Whenever possible formulate SQL statements positively

• When coding IF or CASE, testing conditions are nested so that the most frequently
true conditions are processed first. Also CASE is used instead of IF when testing
multiple fields “equal to” something

• LOOP AT ITAB INTO WORKAREA WHERE K = ‘XXX’ should be used instead of LOOP
AT ITAB INTO WORKAREA / CHECK ITAB-K = ‘XXX’.

• Also READ TABLE INTO WORKAREA should be used instead of only READ TABLE.

• After the APPEND statement inside a loop, the work area that has been appended is
cleared (We need to clear the workarea)

• Internal tables, Work areas & Global Variables are freed when no longer needed
(e.g. using the FREE / REFRESH command), especially when the tables are large or
the program is a batch program

• Do not delete the records of internal table inside the Loop – End loop.

• Do not use: LOOP AT ITAB WHERE EQUNR = ‘00001011’

• DELETE ITAB.

• ENDLOOP

• Use: DELETE ITAB WHERE EQUNR = ‘00001011’.

 • Use the MODIFY ITAB ... TRANSPORTING f1 f2 ... for single line, and MODIFY ITAB ...
TRANSPORTING f1 f2 ... WHERE condition for a set of line, to accelerate the updating
of internal table

• If possible, Update/Insert statement is used instead of Modify

Is the following steps ensured during database updates?

Lock data to be edited

Read current data from the database

Process data and write it to the database

Release the locks set at the beginning

Try to avoid logical databases. If your program uses a logical database, but does not
require all fields belonging to a certain GET event, always use the FIELDS addition to
reduce the amount of data selected by the logical database

Avoid the aggregate (Count, Max, Min) functions in the database selection

Use Parallel Cursor methods for nested loop into the internal tables if second internal table
contains considerable number of records

In Smartform/ Sapscript do not make redundant data retrieval where data is available in
interface