SAP ABAP Data Element TDLINE (Text Line)
Hierarchy
☛ SAP_BASIS (Software Component) SAP Basis Component
   ⤷ BC-SRV-SCR (Application Component) SAPscript
     ⤷ STXD (Package) SAPscript
Basic Data
Data Element TDLINE
Short Description Text Line  
Data Type
Category of Dictionary Type D   Domain
Type of Object Referenced     No Information
Domain / Name of Reference Type TDSTXLLINE    
Data Type CHAR   Character String 
Length 132    
Decimal Places 0    
Output Length 132    
Value Table      
Further Characteristics
Search Help: Name    
Search Help: Parameters    
Parameter ID   
Default Component name TEXT_LINE   
Change document    
No Input History    
Basic direction is set to LTR    
No BIDI Filtering    
Field Label
  Length  Field Label  
Short 0   
Medium 0   
Long 0   
Heading 0   
Documentation

The actual text is stored in the field TDLINE. Depending on the format field of the respective line, the line contents are interpreted as

  • text
  • control command or
  • comment

All control information which can be contained in a SAPscript text line must be represented with readable characters. Hex codes which cannot be displayed on the screen should not be used. If this is the case however, the results of SAPscript functions may not be ideal.

Normal text lines can contain 2 types of 'control information':

  • character formats
  • symbols

Character formats define the formatting of characters or character strings within a paragraph. They are preceded by the escape symbol <x> or <xx> and concluded by the character </>. If the end sequence is missing, the character format applies up to the end of the paragraph. Character formats can be nested. 'x' or 'xx' are the format keys of the character formats. They are defined in either the assigned style or layout set. Character formats defined by the user can only consist of the letters A to Z and numbers 0 to 9, where the first character must always be a letter.

In addition to the character formats which can be freely defined, there are also formats defined by SAPscript:

<(> and <)>

The characters located between these character formats are output unchanged. Character strings themselves and symbols can therefore be included in the output. This character format corresponds to the raw line paragraph format.

A character which cannot be entered using the keyboard can therefore be output. 'x' is the number of an SAP character. All characters which can be used in the SAP System have a unique number. The character can only be printed or displayed on the screen if it is also defined in the system character set and is contained in the appropriate character set of the output device.

Symbols are placeholders for values which are not inserted until output formatting. Symbols must have a specific structure so that they can be recognized:

  • Symbols must be preceded and followed by & characters.
  • Blanks are not allowed in symbol names.
  • The symbol must fit fully in the field TDLINE.
  • ...

These are only the most important requirements. Symbols can also contain additional options for formatting which are however not explained here as a more extensive description would be required.

History
Last changed by/on SAP  20010130 
SAP Release Created in