In SAP systems, performance is a critical factor that directly affects the user experience. Especially when working with large data volumes, how optimized your code is and how efficiently it utilizes system resources determines the overall performance.
In this post, we'll go over practical methods to improve performance in ABAP code with real-life examples.
Table of Contents
Each SELECT statement is a database call. Unnecessary queries slow down the system.
Bad Example:
LOOP AT products INTO DATA(product).
SELECT SINGLE * FROM mara WHERE matnr = product-matnr.
ENDLOOP.
In this example, a separate query is executed for each product and it leads to poor performance.
Good Example:
SELECT * FROM i_product
FOR ALL ENTRIES IN @products
WHERE Product = @products-Product
INTO TABLE @DATA(result).
Using FOR ALL ENTRIES along with released CDS views leads to fewer queries and faster results!
Only select the fields you actually need from the database. This reduces memory usage and speeds up data transfer.
SELECT * FROM i_product INTO TABLE @result.
SELECT Product, ProductExternalID, ProductType FROM i_product INTO TABLE @result.
LOOP AT blocks are among the most resource-heavy operations in ABAP.
Poorly structured loops — especially nested ones — can drastically affect performance.
LOOP AT purchase_orders INTO DATA(purchase_order).
LOOP AT purchase_order_items INTO DATA(purchase_order_item)
WHERE ebeln = purchase_order-ebeln.
" processing
SORT purchase_order_items BY ebeln.
IF line_exists( purchase_order_items[ ebeln = purchase_order-ebeln ] ).
ENDIF.
FIELD-SYMBOLS allow reference-based access to data, avoiding unnecessary copying and improving performance.
LOOP AT products ASSIGNING FIELD-SYMBOL(<product>).
<product>-mtart = 'FERT'.
This is especially effective when dealing with large structures or internal tables.
The new ABAP syntax not oççnly makes your code cleaner and more readable, it’s often more efficient too.
APPEND VALUE #( product = '1000001' ) TO products.
No need for DATA, CLEAR, or MOVE statements anymore.
When working with large internal tables, using binary search with READ TABLE is much faster but the table must be sorted.
SORT products BY product.
READ TABLE products WITH KEY product = '1000001' BINARY SEARCH.
However, modern ABAP provides more elegant and readable alternatives:
DATA(result) = products[ product = '1000001' ].
This syntax looks clean, but it doesn’t perform a binary search in the background.If performance is critical and the dataset is large, define a SORTED TABLE like this:
TYPES: BEGIN OF ty_product,
product TYPE matnr,
name TYPE maktx,
END OF ty_product.
TYPES: tt_products TYPE SORTED TABLE OF ty_product
WITH UNIQUE KEY product.
DATA(products) = VALUE tt_products(
( product = '1000001' name = 'Keyboard' )
( product = '1000002' name = 'Mouse' )
).
After working with large internal tables, freeing up memory helps improve performance.
LOOP AT products INTO DATA(product).product_detail-number = product-ProductID.product_detail-name = product-Product.append product_detail TO product_details.
ENDLOOP.DELETE ADJACENT DUPLICATES FROM product_details COMPARING number.
product_details = CORRESPONDING #( products DISCARDING DUPLICATES MAPPING number = ProductID name = Product ).
Duplicate records not only waste memory, but also complicate business logic.
FREE sales_data.
CLEAR resets content, but FREE releases memory completely — crucial for large internal tables.
If you want to identify where your code is slowing down, SAP offers powerful tools to help with performance analysis.
Using these three tools together gives you a well-rounded view of both performance and code quality, helping you build more robust and efficient ABAP applications.
Performance isn't just a technical detail — it's a key success metric that directly affects user satisfaction and system efficiency.
In this article, we explored:
Always ask yourself:“Does it just work, or does it work at its best?”
By adopting modern ABAP techniques, you can build faster, cleaner, and future-proof solutions. Contact our SAP ABAP Consultants for more detailed information.
SAP Fiori & ABAP Consultant
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