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Thomas Schneider
November 23, 2022 | 1 minute read

Custom Fields in S/4HANA: Key User

versus Developer Extensibility
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With SAP S/4HANA releases 2208 (public cloud) and 2022 (on-premise and private cloud), it is
 Like now possible to create custom �elds with developer tools (ADT) for additional use cases, so that
customer now have the option to create custom �elds either in the Custom Fields key user app,
or with developer tools (ADT).
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In this blog post, I would like to share some recommendations and comments on the di�erent
options for creating custom �elds.

Our recommendation is to select the option for creating custom �elds in the following sequence,
this means the subsequent option should be chosen only if the previous option is not possible.

1. Use the Custom Fields app (key user extensibility tool).

• available for SAP S/4HANA Cloud and SAP S/4HANA

• prerequisite is the enablement of the SAP application for key user extensibility
• for SAP S/4HANA (on-premise/private cloud), legacy �elds can be enabled so that they can
be used with the Custom Fields app, see transaction SCFD_EUI

2. Use ABAP Development Tools (ADT) with ABAP language version ABAP for Cloud
Development (developer extensibility)

• available for SAP S/4HANA Cloud (2208) and SAP S/4HANA (2022)
• prerequisite is the enablement of the SAP application for cloud development. In versions
2208/2022, there is no application adoption for creation of custom �elds for ABAP language
version for ABAP for Cloud Development. This means this option can be used in future
releases only, in SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition starting with �rst scenarios in 2302 (labs
 preview)

3. Use ADT or SAPGUI tools with ABAP language version Standard (classic extensibility), e.g. if
the corresponding SAP application is not enabled for the key user extensibility or developer
extensibility.

• available for SAP S/4HANA (on-premise/private cloud)

• Custom �elds can be added to CDS views (extend view) and for table/structure appends with
developer tools
• Adding custom �elds to the transactional logic of an application depends on the SAP
application. We recommend that you read the extensibility documentation that is provided for
the application.
• Adding custom �elds to OData services that were built with technologies before RAP, depends
on the implementation details of the OData service. See for example, the blog: How to
rede�ne RDS based OData services? | SAP Blogs

Releated Links:

• Custom Fields app: Documentation for public cloud: https://help.sap.com

/docs/SAP_S4HANA_CLOUD/0f69f8fb28ac4bf48d2b57b9637e81fa
/ce819b8557194ae0aa180ba4ac6a04de.html?version=2208.500
• Custom Fields app: Documentation for on-premise / private cloud: Custom Fields | SAP Help
Portal
• Blog: https://blogs.sap.com/2020/02/01/adding-�eld-in-standard-�ori-apps-of-s-4hana-
with-custom-�elds-and-logic/
• Documentation: Enabling Custom Database Fields for Usage in SAP Fiori Applications | SAP
Help Portal
• RAP Developer Extensibility Documentation for public cloud: https://help.sap.com
/docs/SAP_S4HANA_CLOUD/e5522a8a7b174979913c99268bc03f1a
/95d0ab272a6745618f18590453a7cf0c.html?version=LATEST
• RAP Developer Extensibility Documentation for on-premise / private cloud: Enabling Data
Model Extensions | SAP Help Portal

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Assigned Tags

ABAP Development | ABAP Extensibility | SAP S/4HANA Cloud Extensibility

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3 Comments

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Syambabu Allu
November 23, 2022 at 5:22 pm

Hi Thomas,

Thanks for sharing insights on Developer extensibility and sharing the list of blogs.

Thank you,

Syam

Like 0 | Share

Frank Li
November 24, 2022 at 2:30 am

Hi Thomas,

Thank you for sharing. Regarding approach 2, are there any more information for it?
Thank you

Like 0 | Share

Thomas Schneider | Blog Post Author

November 24, 2022 at 6:37 am

Yes, please check the link to the documentation "RAP Developer Extensibility Documentation" in the blog post.

Like 0 | Share

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