Creating a Search Help and Assigning it to Another Table in SE11

In SAP ABAP, a search help is a feature that provides a user interface for searching and selecting data values from a list. A search help is essentially a dialog box that displays a list of possible values for a particular field or selection criterion.

Once a search help is defined and assigned to a data element or domain, it can be used in various SAP applications, such as data entry screens, reports, and dialog programs.

To use a search help in a program or report, you can call the function module "F4_HELP" or "F4IF_INT_TABLE_VALUE_REQUEST" to display the search help dialog box and retrieve the selected values. You can also customize the search help behavior and appearance using various parameters and options.

There are two types of search help available in SAP ABAP: elementary search help and collective search help.

Elementary search help is used to display a list of possible values for a single input field. It is used when the user needs to select a single value from a list of values. Elementary search helps can be defined using an internal table or a database view.

Collective search help is used to display a list of possible values for multiple input fields. It is used when the user needs to select values for multiple fields that are related to each other. Collective search helps are defined using a structure, which consists of fields that are related to each other. The structure can be defined using the ABAP Dictionary.

Creation of Search Help

Step 1: Go to tcode SE11. Provide a custom search help name and then click on create button.

Step 2: Select the required type of search help. For this example, we are going to create an elementary search help.

Step 3: Now put a suitable short text for the search help. Then put a selection method where you can put a database table or view or CDS view. Check the autosuggest in input fields to get a suggestion of field from the selection method table or view. Then put required search help parameters. In this example, we have used CAWNT table for selection method and ATWTB field for search help parameters.

Step 4: Now go to the required table in change mode where we will implement the created search help. First select the field for which we want to implement the search help and then click on the Srch Help button.

Step 5: Put the search help name and an automatic proposal will be created. Then press the copy button to copy the proposal.

Step 6: Now test the implemented search help in the created table maintenance generator in SM30. Search a characteristic which is maintained in the CAWNT table and you will get suggestions.