Simple Data Explorer (SDE)
Multi-window explorer for SAP tables, views and CDS views — with per-window select-options that
re-read the data as you type, drag-and-drop links between windows, foreign-key navigation, a join
builder, pivot tables and a generated Open SQL statement you can edit and run.
Version 2 (SelecTor) lives in src/ and is the version documented here. The older
single-file viewer is still shipped for old releases — see
History and older documentation.
Also outside SAP GUI. The table grid with its select-options, the join builder and the
pivot are available in Eclipse ADT and in VS Code through
VERTEX · Marketplace.
The ADT resources under src/ and documented in ADT.md exist for it: they
serve this tool's data as JSON, and the editor renders it.
In the construction phase. VERTEX shows a part of what SDE does, not all of it.
Table of contents
Overview
- Multiple windows. Open as many tables as your screen allows, including the same table several
times. Every window is an independent dialog box with its own data and filters.
- A selection panel per window. It opens and closes with the arrow icon. All standard search
helps are connected, including the special ones for personnel numbers (
PAxxxx-PERNR) and
organizational management objects (HRPxxxx).
- Reactivity. Data is re-read as soon as a filter changes — no round-trip through a separate
selection screen, no loss of context.
- Empty columns are hidden by default, because most SAP tables are mostly empty. One menu entry
brings them back.
- Multilingualism. All languages installed in the system are supported: column and table names
are translated on the fly, and technical field names are one of the options.
- Navigation. Double-click a value to open the checked table behind the foreign key; drag values
from one window into the filters of another; look at the link graph as in SE11.
- HR/HCM plugins. Jumps to PA20/PP01, infotype long texts, wage type texts, organizational
management links, payroll cluster viewer.
- Tools. Build joins from the foreign keys the dictionary already knows, build pivot tables,
read the generated Open SQL, edit it, run it, and save the whole layout to a file.
- Tables, views and CDS. Transparent and cluster tables, DDIC views (including the maintenance
views of SM30) and the SQL views generated for CDS entities.
Requirements
- SAP GUI for Windows. The whole UI is built on
CL_GUI_* controls (ALV grid, HTML viewer,
splitter, dialog boxes); layouts are saved through frontend services.
- SAP_BASIS 7.50 or higher for the sources in
src/. For older systems use the
legacy one-file versions.
- Display rights on the data you open. SDE reads with plain Open SQL and performs no
S_TABU_* authority checks of its own — treat it as a developer/support tool and install it
accordingly.
Installation
abapGit
- In abapGit, create an online repository for
https://github.com/ysichov/Simple-Data-Explorer.git
and assign it to a package (for example $ZSDE for a local one).
- Pull, then activate all objects.
- Run program
ZSDE2 (SE38 / SA38).
Standalone single-file program
No package, no abapGit, nothing to activate except one report:
- Create a report (for example
Z_SDE_STANDALONE) in SE38.
- Paste the contents of
src/z_sde_standalone.prog.abap.
- Activate and run.
The file is generated from the sources in src/ — do not edit it by hand.
Legacy one-file versions
Generation 1 of the viewer, kept for old systems and for the HR flavour:
Quick start
- Run
ZSDE2.
- Pick the object type with the buttons in the toolbar of the selection screen: Tables,
Views, CDS.
- Type a name and press Enter — a window opens. Type the next name and press Enter again to
open another window; the selection screen stays where it is.
- Filter in the left panel of a window; the grid follows every change.
- Press the Tools icon in a window to build joins and pivot tables on top of it.
Selection screen
| Field | Meaning |
|---|
| Tables / Views / CDS | Switches the input field. Tables accepts transparent and cluster tables, Views any DDIC view (F4 lists the maintenance views of SM30), CDS the SQL view generated for a CDS entity (application class SDGV). |
| Table / View / CDS name | F4 is available in all three modes. The name is checked before the window opens. |
| Max rows | Row limit of every read, 500 by default. It also caps the statements the Tools area runs. |
| Folder for saved joins | Frontend folder for .sdj layout files, C:\temp\sde\ by default. F4 opens a directory browser. |
The table window
A window is a dialog box split into the selection panel (left, collapsible) and the data grid
(right). When the Tools area is opened, it is docked below the data.
Toolbar
| Button | Description |
|---|
| Show/hide select-options | Collapses the selection panel and gives the width to the grid. |
| Refresh | Re-reads the data with the current filters. |
| Load join layout | Reads a .sdj file; opens the Tools area if needed. |
| Save join layout | Writes the current tables, fields, mode, filters and SQL to a .sdj file. |
| Languages | Menu: Technical name plus every language installed in the system. |
| Empty columns options | Menu: Hide empty columns / Show empty columns. |
| Table links | Opens the graphical link visualization. |
| Tools | Docks the join and pivot builder below the data (click again to hide). |
| Sort ascending / descending | Builds ORDER BY on the marked columns — see Sorting. |
| Standard ALV functions | Shows or hides the standard ALV toolbar (export, layouts, find, …). |
Select-options panel
One row per field, with the dictionary information next to it — data element, domain, data type and
length. This is meant to save time while writing technical specifications.
- F4 on a row opens the standard search help of the field. Values already entered in other rows
are passed to the help, so the proposals stay in the context of the current filter.
- Double-click opens the dictionary: on the
ELEMENT column SE11 with the data element, on the
DOMAIN column SE11 with the domain, on any other column the documentation of the data element.
- The option icon opens the standard sign/option dialog (
EQ, BT, NE, CP, …).
- The more icon opens the complex selections dialog — an arbitrary number of ranges per field,
exactly as on a normal selection screen. The icon shows whether ranges exist.
- Fields whose search help is a short value list get a drop-down in the input cell.
- The context menu offers Clear Select-Options and Delete receiver (see
Drag and drop).
Filter shortcuts
Typing is interpreted the way an experienced user expects:
| Input | Result |
|---|
| a value in low | I EQ value |
| values in low and high | I BT low high |
a value containing *, %, + or & | I CP pattern |
| clearing sign and option | the row is cleared |
| a date or time | converted from the user format into the internal one |
Empty columns
Empty columns are hidden after every read, so a 200-column table shows only what actually carries
data. Show empty columns brings them all back.
Languages and technical names
The Languages menu lists every language installed in the system plus Technical name. The
choice re-translates the grid headers and the labels of the selection panel.
Sorting
The sort buttons do not sort the fetched rows on the frontend — that would sort the wrong 500
rows. They build an ORDER BY and read again from the database. Mark one or more columns (or just
place the cursor in one) and press the sort icon. Because the statement is built by the Tools area,
sorting requires Tools to be open; the program says so if it is not.
Links between windows
Double-click navigation
The colour of a column tells what a double-click will do:
| Colour | Meaning |
|---|
| Blue | The field has a check table: it opens in a new window, filtered by the value you clicked. |
| Green | A plugin handles the field — a transaction, or a related table that no foreign key describes. |
| Grey | A column of the text table, joined to the data automatically so the language-dependent text stands next to the code. |
| White | A plain field. |
Drag and drop
Select one or more cells or a whole column in a data grid and drag them onto the selection panel of
another window. The dragged column turns into buttons in the source window, an inheritance
indicator appears next to the receiving field, and clicking a button in the source re-reads the
target window with that value. Dragging between two selection panels works the same way. A data
model of several tables comes alive in about a minute.
Delete receiver in the context menu of the selection panel breaks the link again.
Table link graph
The Table links button opens the graphical visualization of the foreign key relations of the
current table, the same picture SE11 draws.
HR and HCM plugins
Links that no foreign key describes are hard-coded as plugins.
By data element:
| Data element | Action |
|---|
PERSNO | PA20 for the personnel number, with infotype, subtype and validity dates prefilled |
HROBJID | PP01 for the OM object |
LGART | Wage type text table T512W |
ITXEX | Long text of the infotype record, in a text viewer window |
SUBTY | Subtype table of the infotype |
By table and field:
| From | To |
|---|
PA0001-PLANS / ORGEH / STELL | HRP1000, object type S / O / C |
HRP1001-SCLAS / SOBID | The related OM object — it is put into the search parameters of the same window, so you can walk the structure link by link |
HRP1001-ADATANR | The additional data table of the relation |
HRP1002 / HRP1035 / HRP1222, field TABNR | HRT1002 / HRT1035 / HRT1222 |
PA2006-QUONR | PTQUODED, and from there back to PA2006 / PA2001 |
HRPY_RGDIR-SEQNR | Payroll cluster viewer |
Payroll clusters
A double-click on a sequence number in HRPY_RGDIR opens the payroll result of that personnel
number and sequence number as a tree: every cluster table of the result is a node, and each node
opens in a normal SDE window with filters, empty-column handling and everything else.
Tools: joins, pivot tables, SQL
The Tools button docks a builder below the data of the window: an HTML canvas on top (the join
graph, or the pivot cross), the field list, the generated SQL, and the result grid.
Two cards switch the mode — Join and Pivot table. Clicking the active card again turns the
mode off and leaves the plain table behind.
Join builder
To keep this page readable, only the first part of the README is shown. Open the original README for the full document.