ABAP Form Translator
✅ Status: Release (1.3.0)
Open Source Contribution: This project is community-driven and Open Source! 🚀
If you spot a bug or have an idea for a cool enhancement, your contributions are more than welcome. Feel free to open an Issue or submit a Pull Request.
A lightweight, dynamic runtime translation tool for SAP forms.
It decouples text management from form development, allowing functional consultants or users to maintain labels via a simple database table (RAP Application), bypassing the complex standard SE63 workflow.
Table of contents
- License
- Contributors-Developers
- Key Benefits
- Design Goals-Features
- Usage
License
This project is licensed under the MIT License.
Contributors-Developers
The repository was created by George Drakos.
Key Benefits
- No more SE63: Forget about the painful standard translation process for forms.
- Zero Hardcoding: Keep your form logic clean. No more
IF sy-langu = 'D'. text = 'Kunde'. ENDIF.
- Hot-Swap Texts: Change a label description in Production without a Transport Request.
Note: the table is buffered, so a change becomes visible to other application
servers after the buffer synchronisation interval (typically ~60s). Inside a
long-running session (mass print / batch job) call
ZCL_FORM_TRANSLATION=>clear_buffer( )
to pick up changes immediately.
- Generic: Works with any ABAP flat structure or Form interface using RTTI.
- Performance: Optimized with table buffering to ensure zero impact on print times.
- Unit Tested: Includes built-in ABAP Unit tests.
- Fiori Elements App built entirely with the ABAP RESTful Application Programming Model (RAP) for maintaining form translations
- Copy Language: Duplicate an existing translation into another language straight from the list, without retyping it.
Design Goals-Features
- Install via ABAPGit
- ABAP Cloud/Clean Core compatibility.Passed SCI check variant S4HANA_READINESS_2023 and ABAP_CLOUD_READINESS
- Unit Tested
Running the tests off-stack
Part of the test suite runs outside the ABAP system, transpiled to
JavaScript with abaplint, so every push is verified
without an SAP system:
npm ci
npm run lint
npm test
This covers ZCL_FORM_TRANSLATION (RTTI mapping, language fallback, buffer)
and ZCL_FORM_TRANS_RULES (validation rules). 30 unit tests, backed by an
in-memory SQLite database so the SELECT and CL_OSQL_TEST_ENVIRONMENT
behave as they do in the system.
Usage
In your Adobe / Smartform Driver Program / Print Program
- Define a structure for your labels/texts in the form Global Definitions or the Driver Program.
- Populate it with default values (optional).
- Call the translator before calling the form Function Module(for smartforms).
DATA: BEGIN OF labels,
title TYPE string,
footer_note TYPE string,
customer_lbl TYPE string,
END OF labels.
" 1.Initialize (Optional defaults)
labels-title = 'Invoice'.
" 2.Translate dynamically based on Language and DB Configuration
DATA(translator) = CAST zif_form_translation( NEW zcl_form_translation( ) ).
translator->translate_form(
EXPORTING formname = 'ZINVOICE_FORM' " Key in ZABAP_FORM_TRANS
langu = cl_abap_context_info=>get_user_language_abap_format( )
CHANGING form_elements = labels ). " The structure to be translated
" 3. The labels structure now contains the translated texts from ZABAP_FORM_TRANS
" Pass this structure to your Smartform / Adobe Form interface.
API reference
translate_form maps the fields of ZABAP_FORM_TRANS onto the components of your
structure by field name (via RTTI). Signature:
| Parameter | Direction | Type | Default | Meaning |
|---|
formname | importing | zabap_form_trans_name | – | Key in ZABAP_FORM_TRANS. An empty value returns without changes. |
langu | importing | zabap_form_trans_langu | logon language | Target language. If empty, the current user language is used. |
enable_fallback | importing | abap_boolean | abap_true | When on, fields that have no text in the target language fall back to the default language (E). |
form_elements | changing | any | – | Flat structure whose components are filled with the translated texts. |
clear_buffer (static) invalidates the in-memory translation buffer. Call it after
maintaining translations inside a long-living session (mass print / batch / job
server) so hot-swapped texts take effect immediately.
Note: only flat structures are supported. Nested structures and internal
tables are not translated.
Database table ZABAP_FORM_TRANS
Maintain the texts through the RAP/Fiori app (ZUI_FORM_TRANS_BIN) in this table:
| Field | Type | Key | Description |
|---|
FORM | ZABAP_FORM_TRANS_NAME (CHAR 30) | ✔ | Form key passed as formname. |
FIELDNAME | ZABAP_FORM_TRANS_FIELD (CHAR 30) | ✔ | Component name in your structure. |
LANGU | ZABAP_FORM_TRANS_LANGU (LANG) | ✔ | Language of the text. |
DESCR | ZABAP_FORM_TRANS_DESCR (CHAR 50) | | Translated text. |
LENGTH | ZABAP_FORM_TRANS_MAXLEN (INT2, domain range 0–9999) | | Max length; text longer than this is truncated at print time. 0 means no length limit. |
Copying a translation into another language
Select one or more rows in the list, press Copy Language and pick the target
language. Each selected row is duplicated into that language as a draft, keeping
its description and max length.
Rejected with a message:
- the target language is empty, or is the language of the row itself
- a translation already exists under the target key, active or draft
- two selected rows of the same form and field aim at the same target language —
there is no way to tell which text should win, so the whole selection is
rejected rather than letting the first row silently decide