11/8/2016

PerformanceTuningABAPDevelopmentSCNWiki
GettingStarted

CommunityWIKI

SAPCommunity

Welcome,Guest

Login

Register

Store

ABAPDevelopment

PerformanceTuning
CreatedbyGuest,lastmodifiedonJul04,2007

ABAPPerformanceGuidelines
TopicObjectives
a)DescribeEfficientProgramming
b)DescribetheFactorsImpactingApplicationPerformance
c)DescribetheGeneralPerformanceGuidelines
AllABAPprogramsshouldbedevelopedusingthemostefficientmeanspossible.
ProgramefficiencyguidelinesareincludedintheEBSABAPProgrammingStandards.
Developingefficientprogramminginvolvestheefficientusageofprogramming
standards,SAPABAPWorkbenchtools,andABAPperformancemonitoringtools.
Whatis"EfficientProgramming"?
Efficientprogramminginvolvessolvingaproblemasfastaspossiblewhileusingsystemresourcesassparinglyaspossible.
FactorsImpactingApplicationPerformance
a)Programstructure.
b)Programminglanguagecommands/syntax.
c)SQLstatements.
d)Input/Outputoperations.
e)Databaseorganization.
f)Datavolumes/archivingstrategy.
g)Systemsizing/configuration.
h)Systemconfiguration/loadbalancing.
Ofthefactorslistedabove,the1stfourareofparticularconcerntotheABAPprogrammer.
ProgramStructureThedegreeofmodularization(i.e.useofsubroutines,function
modules,etc.)andthedegreeofnesting(i.e.nestedloopsandcontrolstatements)
impactsprogramperformance.
ProgrammingLanguageCommands/SyntaxCertainABAPstatementsaremore
expensivethanothers.Useofaninefficientstatementwhenamoreefficient
alternativeisavailableaffectsprogramperformance.
SQLStatementsEfficiencyofSQLstatementscandramaticallyeffectprogram
performance.CareshouldbetakentocodethemostefficientSQLpossible.
Input/OutputOperationsTheamountofreadingandwritingtodatasetswithina
programwillimpactprogramperformance.Careshouldbetakentoeliminateany
unnecessaryinput/outputoperations.
TheremainingfactorstendtobethepurviewoftheBASISteamandaretypicallynot
addressedbyanABAPprogrammer.
DatabaseOrganizationThewaythatthedatabaseisorganizedonthephysicaldisk
affectsperformance.
DataVolumes/ArchivingStrategyTheamountofdatastoredwithineachdatabase
tableaffectsprogramperformance.
SystemSizing/ConfigurationThehardwareusedneedstobesizedappropriately
tosupportthenumberofusersandtheexpecteddatavolumesofperformancewill
besignificantlyimpacted.
SystemConfiguration/LoadBalancingTheappropriatenumberofapplication
serversshouldexisttosupportprocessingneeds.Usersandbackgroundtasks
shouldbeappropriatelydistributedacrossservers.
GeneralPerformanceGuidelines
1.Keeptheamountofdatatransferredbetweendatabaseandapplicationsmall.
2.Keepthenumberoftransfersbetweendatabaseandapplicationsmall.
3.Keepthedatatobesearchedsmall.
4.Taketheloadoffofthedatabasewherepossible.
KeeptheAmountofDataTransferredSmall
Usedataselectively.
a)Nosinglelineupdates.
b)Useaggregatefunctions.
c)SELECTwithDISTINCT.
Usingdataselectivelymeansthatonlythedataofinterestshouldbeselected.
Selectingextraneousdataunnecessarilyincreasestheamountofdatathatmustbe
transferredbetweenthedatabaseandtheapplication.
Onewaytoappropriatelylimittheamountofdataselectedistoselectindividual
fieldsofinterestasopposedtowholerows.

https://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/display/ABAP/Performance+Tuning

1/6

11/8/2016

PerformanceTuningABAPDevelopmentSCNWiki

TheWHEREclauselimitstheamountofdataselected.Unlessalldatawithinatable
isofinterest,aWHEREclauseshouldbespecified.AWHEREclauseshouldbe
structuredtotakeadvantageoftableINDEXES(i.e.primarykeyfieldsshouldbe
specified,inorder,totheextentpossible).
ItispreferabletoupdatethedatabasewiththesyntaxUPDATE...WHEREas
opposedtoperformingasinglelineupdate(SELECT...UPDATE...ENDSELECT).
Aggregatefunctions(SUM,MIN,MAX,AVG,etc.)arethepreferredmethodforperformingmathematicalandstatisticalfunctionsondatabaserecords.
Performingthesefunctionsprogrammaticallywouldrequiredtransferringtoomuchdatafromthedatabasetotheapplication.Aggregatefunctionslimittheamountofdatatransferredbetweenthedatabase
andtheapplication.
TheSELECTDISTINCTstatementrequeststhattheresultsetbeuniqueandthereforeresultinaconsiderablereductionintheamountofdatatransportedfromthedatabasetotheapplicationserver.
SELECTfield1field2
INTO(ifield1,ifield2)FROMdbtable
WHEREcondition.
...
ENDSELECT
SELECTfield1field2
INTO(ifield1,ifield2)FROMdbtable
WHEREcondition.
...
ENDSELECT
UseDataSelectively
1.UseWHEREclause
2.UseSELECTSINGLE
3.UseFieldLists
SELECT*FROMdbtable.
WHEREfield1=value1
ANDfield2>=value2.
...
ENDSELECT
SELECTSINGLE*FROMdbtable
WHEREcondition.
SELECTfield1field2
INTO(ifield1,ifield2)FROM
dbtable
WHEREcondition.
...
ENDSELECT
NoteonuseofWHEREclausebeawareofthetabletypeforthedatabasetablebeingaccessedwhenconstructingaWHEREclause.(TofindoutthetabletypeusetransactionSE12).
ForTRANSP(transparent)andPOOLtables,theSELECTstatementshouldbeafullyqualifiedaspossibleusingtheWHEREclause.Thisincludesdatafieldsthatmaynotbeapartofthekeyinadditionto
thekeyfields.Thisallowsthedatabaseto
evaluatetherecordsandreturnonlythoserecordsmatchingtheselectioncriteria.
ForCLUSTERtables,theoppositeistrue.WhenworkingwithCLUSTERtables,onlyfieldsthatarepartofthekeyshouldbeusedtoqualifySELECTstatements.ForCLUSTERtables,usetheCHECK
statementtoeliminaterecordsaftertheselection
hasbeennarrowedviatheWHEREclauseforkeyfields.ThisisbecauseCLUSTERtablescannotbeprocessedinthedatabasedirectly,ascanTRANSPandPOOLtables.Forcingthedatabaseto
unpackandcheckfields(aswithSELECTstatementscontainingnonkeyfieldsintheWHEREclauses)islessefficient,inmostcases,thanqualifyingonlywithkeyfieldsandlettingABAPchecknonkey
fieldsoncethedataisreturned.
Itisalwaysmoreefficienttospecifyasmanyasthetables'keyfieldsaspossiblewhenreadingadatabasetable.TheSELECTSINGLEstatementcanbeusedtoreturnasinglerecordonlyifthefulltable
keyisspecified.
SelectstatementsthatqueryonlythenecessarycolumnsfromatablearemoreefficientthanSELECT*.
Onlythefieldsthatareneededshouldbeselectedandstoredforlateruse.Singlelineupdates(i.e.selectingdataandupdatingthatdatawithinaloop)isinefficientandshouldbeavoided.
NoSinglelineUpdates
SELECT*FROMdbtable.
WHEREcondition.
Dbtablefield=dbtablefield+delta.
UPDATEdbtable.
ENDSELECT
UPDATEdbtable
SETfield=field+delta
WHEREcondition.
UPDATEdbtableFROMTABLEitable
WHEREcondition.
Useofaggregatefunctionsismuchfasterthancomputingtheaggregateswithintheprogram.Networktrafficisalsosignificantlyreducedbyusingaggregates.UseAggregateFunctions
Total=0
SELECT*FROMdbtable.
WHEREcondition.
Total=total*dbtableamount.
ENDSELECT.
SELECTSUM(amount)

https://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/display/ABAP/Performance+Tuning

2/6

11/8/2016

PerformanceTuningABAPDevelopmentSCNWiki

INTOtotalFROMdbtable
WHEREcondition.
TheSELECTDISTINCTstatementrequeststhattheresultsetbeuniqueandthereforeresultinaconsiderablereductionintheamountofdatatransportedfromthedatabasetotheapplicationserver.
UseSELECTDISTINCT
SELECTDISTINCTfield1
INTOifield1FROMdbtable
WHEREfield2>value2.
....
ENDSELECT.
DatabasecallscanbesavedbyperformingarrayprocessingforSELECT,INSERT,UPDATEandDELETEusinginternaltables,orwithUPDATE/DELETEstatementswhichselectasetofrecordsusinga
condition.ThesimplestandunfortunatelymostwidelyspreadwaytoreaddatafromlogicallylinkedtablesiswithanestedSELECTstatement.ThissolutionhasthegreatdisadvantagethataSELECTis
executedinthedatabaseandthispossiblyalsoonthenetworkforeachrecordthatisprocessedintheouterSELECTloop.Ifthehitlistdefinedbytheouterselectionisverylarge,therewillbeextremely
high
communicationcostsfortheapplicationanddatabaseservers.
TheSELECT...FORALLENTRIESpermitsarrayorientedprocessingonthedatabase.Thissyntaxpermitsmorethanonerecordtobereadfromthedatabaseatonetime.Thisprovidesadistinct
advantageoverthenestedSELECTapproach.
Useofasubquery,thedatasetisfilteredwithinthedatabaseinsteadofwithintheABAPprogram,therebylimitedtheamountofdatatransferredbetweenthedatabaseandtheapplication.
KeeptheNumberofDataTransfersSmall
1.Usearrayoperations.
2.AvoidnestedSELECTs.
3.UseFORALLENTRIES
4.Usesubquery
5.UseJoins
6.UseVIEWs
Ajoinhasanadvantageinthatonlyonestatementisexecutedinthedatabase.Whendefinedproperly(i.ejoinonkeyfieldsonly,usinganindex,includingonthenecessaryfields,limitingthenumberof
tables)ajoincanofferaperformance
increase.TwotypesofjoinsareprovidedbySAP,INNERJOINandLEFTOUTERJOIN.
ViewsarecreatedintheABAPdictionary.Essentially,theyarereusableINNERJOINdefinitionsthatcanbebufferedinamannersimilartointernaltables.
Arrayoperations(i.e.specifyingdatatobeinsertedordeletedinaninternaltableandthenprocessingtheINSERTorDELETEwithasingleSQLstatement)ismuchmoreefficientthatembeddingthe
INSERTorDELETEwithinaloop.
UseArrayOperations
LOOPATitable.
INSERTINTOdbtableVALUESitable.
ENDLOOP
INSERTdbtableFROMTABLEitable
ACCEPTINGDUPLICATEKEYS.
*ArrayoperationsarealsopossiblewithSELECT,
UPDATEandDELETE.
NestedSELECTstatementsshouldbeavoidedbecausetheyareveryslow.Severalcursorsinthedatabasehavetobemaintained.Additionally,theyarehardertodebugbecausethecursortendstobe
losteasilyduringdebugmode,causingtheprogramtoabend.AcommonmethodforavoidingnestedSELECTstatementsistoreaddatadirectlyintoaninternaltableandthenuseLOOP...ENDLOOPto
processtheinternaltable.However,thisisnotalwaystheanswer.Thecorrectmethod(nestedSELECTstatementsv.internaltables)canonlybechosenafterperformingruntimeanalysisonbothoptions.
Inmanycases,acombinationofthetwomethodswillworkbest.ThekeybenefittousingSELECT...INTOaninternaltablev.usingnestedSELECTstatementsisthatthenumberofaccessestothe
databasetableissignificantly
reduced.However,ifthedatabeingselectedwillonlybeusedonceanditisasmallamountofdata,theuseofaninternaltablemaybeoverkill.
AvoidNestedSelects
SELECT*FROMdbtable1
WHEREcondition.
SELECT*FROMdbtable2
WHEREcondition.
....
ENDSELECT.
....
ENDSELECT.
NOTE:WhenusingthesyntaxFORALLENTRIES,itisimportanttofirstensurethat
theinternaltableisnotinitial.Iftherearenoentriesintheinternaltable,that
portionoftheWHEREclausewillbeignored.
UseFORALLENTRIESandSubqueries
SELECTfield1FROMdbtable1
INTOTABLEitable
WHEREcondition.
IFNOTitableISINITIAL.
SELECT*FROMdbtable2
FORALLENTRIESINitable
WHEREfield2=itablefield1
...
ENDSELECT.
ENDIF.
SELECT*FROMdbtable2
WHEREfield2IN
(SELECTfield1FROMdbtable1

https://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/display/ABAP/Performance+Tuning

3/6

11/8/2016

PerformanceTuningABAPDevelopmentSCNWiki

WHEREcondition).
...
ENDSELECT.
Aviewshouldbecreatedwhenappropriatetoeliminateseveralnestedselectstatements.Aviewisavirtualtablethatisnotstoredondiskbutisinsteadderivedfromoneormoretables.JOINScanalso
beusedwhenappropriatetoeliminateseveralnestedselects.
UseJoinsandViews
SELECTdbtable1~field1dbtable2~fieldn
FROMdbtable1INNERJOINdbtable2
ON(dbtable1~field1=dbtable2~field1)
WHEREcondition.
...
ENDSELECT.
SELECT*FROMv_dbtable1_2
WHEREcondition.
...
ENDSELECT.
AlldatabasesystemscopebestwithEQconditionswhicharelinkedwithAND.UseasmayEQconditionsaspossibleineachSQLstatementinordertolimittheamountofdatatobesearched.TheOR
conditionandtheuseofrangetablescanadverselyimpactperformance.TheNOTconditionshouldbeusedverycarefully.Thereisnoindexsupportforthe
NOTcondition.Indexesshouldbedesignedinordertohavethegreatestimpactonperformance.Tabledesignshouldequalindexdesign.Mostselectivefieldsshouldbelistedfirst.SmallindexesNottoo
manyindexes!
KeeptheDatatobeSearchedSmall
a)UseasmanyEQinWHEREclauseaspossible.
b)BecarefulwithORandrangetables.
c)BecarefulwithNOT.
d)Indexdesign.
Whenselectingdatafromclusterandpooltables,theWHEREclauseshouldbelimitedtokeyfields,insequence.Forexample,ifdbtable1iskeyedbyf1,f2,f3andf4,andonlythevaluesoff1,f2andf4are
available,itisbettertoignoref4andconstructtheWHEREclauseusingf1andf2only.Whenselectingdatafromaclusterorpooltablewherethekeyfieldvaluesarenotavailable,itisbettertoselectthe
entiretableintoaninternaltablewithintheABAPprogram.
UseasmanyEQinWHEREclauseaspossible
SELECT*FROMdbtable1
WHEREfield1=value1
ANDfield3=value3
...
ENDSELECT
SELECTfield2FROMdbtable2
INTOTABLEitable2
WHEREfield1=value1.
SELECT*FROMdbtable1
FORALLENTRIESinitable2
WHEREfield1=value1
ANDfield2=itablefield2
ANDfield3=value3.
...
ENDSELECT.
Avoidtheuseofrangesinselects.Whilethisisunrealisticinmanycases,alimitof8KoracleselectstatementexistsandlargerangeswillcauseABAPprogramstoabendinproduction.(Astimegoeson
therangevaluestendtogrowandlargerandlargerSQLstatementsarecreated.)AvoidtheuseofNOTasindexsupportisnotprovided.
BecarefulwithOR,RangeTablesandNOT
SELECT*FROMdbtable1
WHEREfield1=value1
ANDfield2INitable
ANDfield3=value3
...
ENDSELECT
SELECT*FROMdbtable
WHEREfield1=value1
ANDfield2=value2
ANDNOT(field3INvalue3a,value3b).
...
ENDSELECT
Anindexisasearchhelptofinddatainthedatabase.Everydatabasetablehasaprimaryindexconsistingofallkeyfields.
Adatabasecanhavesecondaryindexes.ThesearedefinedintheABAPdictionary.Upto16indexescanbecreatedbecareful!!Whentocreateasecondaryindex.Fieldsareselectedwithoutindex
support.Onlyasmallpartofthetable(<5%)isselected.WHEREclauseiseasy(ANDsonly).OftendoSORTswithoutindexsupport.
IndexDesign
a)Indexmustbeselective.
b)Keepthenumberoffieldssmall.
c)Mostselectivefieldsfirst.
d)Createtheindexforthemaincase.
Inordertogetthebestusageofanindex,specifyallindexfieldswithintheWHEREclause"withoutgaps"(i.e.ifthe1stand3rdfieldsofanindexarespecified,onlythe1stonewillbeused,ifthe1stand
2ndfieldsarespecified,bothfieldswillbeused).ThecolumnsspecifiedintheWHEREclauseshouldalsobeinthesameorderastheyarespecifiedintheindex.ThisallowstheABAPSQLinterpreterto
morequicklyconvertaSELECTintoanOraclestatementandchosethecorrectindex.

https://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/display/ABAP/Performance+Tuning

4/6

11/8/2016

PerformanceTuningABAPDevelopmentSCNWiki

IndexUsageGuidelines
1.Specifyfieldvalueswithoutgaps.
2.DonotuseanORoperatorforafieldwhichisrelevantfortheindex.
3.UseFORALLENTRIESINinsteadofIN,asINisinterpretedlikeOR.
4.ConstructVIEWswithindexusageinmind.
5.UnderstandhowNULLvaluesarehandledforthespecificDBMSinuse.
ORDERBYv.SORT:SortsshouldbedoneinABAPandnotinthedatabase.Sortsonthedatabaseserverwilleffectallusers.Theexceptionishugesetsofdata(e.g.>10MB).Inthecaseoflargedata
sets,theDBMScanuseanindexandprocessmoreefficiently.Also,ifanindexcanbeusedforthesorting,thereishardlyanyadditionalcostforsortingonthedatabaseserver.
DISTINCTv.ABAPSORT+DELETEADJACENTDUPLICATES:UseofDISTINCTrequiressortingonthedatabaseserverandisrelativelyexpensiveifnoindexcanbeused.ThereforetheDISTINCT
specificationonlymakessenseifthefullkeyisnotspecifiedorwhenaccessingviaviews.
Takeloadoffdatabasewherepossible
a)Tablebuffering.
b)Avoidrepeatedreadingofdata.
c)ORDERBYv.SORT
d)DISTINCTv.DELETEADJACENT
e)LogicalDatabases
Toavoidexpensivetypeconversions,alwaysspecifyatypeforformalparametersinsubroutines.
ABAP"Expensive"ThingstoAvoid
a)Nestedloops
b)Deeplynestedinternaltables
c)Hugeinternaltables.
d)SORTwithoutusingBY
e)APPEND/COLLECT...SORTEDBY
f)READTABLEtWITHkeyK.
g)Insertofreportsdynamically.
h)TypeConversions
i)FieldswithtypeP
Abinarysearchbreaksatableintologicalunitsbasedonthekeydefined.ThisallowstheREADtojumpthroughthetabletofindtherequiredentryinsteadofsequentiallyreadingeachtablerowuntilthe
requiredentryisfound.(Note:The
internaltablemustbesortedinordertousethebinarysearchqualifier).
UseCONTINUE,CHECKandEXITtoterminateloopsandlooppassesappropriatelyandtoeliminateanyunnecessaryprocessing.Useworkareasinsteadofheaderlines(implicitworkareas)when
workingwithinternaltables.
GuidelinesforInternalTables
a)Readwithindexorbinarysearch
b)Nonestedloop
c)EXITfromloop
d)FilltablesortedinsteadofusingSORT
e)ChoosesuitableINITIALSIZEparameter
f)Useexplicitworkareas.
g)DELETEexplicitlinesinsteadoflooping.
h)APPENDING/copyinginsteadoflooping.
i)MODIFY...TRANSPORTINGinsteadoflooping.
BufferingOverview
TherearethreetypesofbufferingthatcanbeusedwithSAPdatabasetables:Resident/FullBufferingWithresidentbuffering,theentiretableisstoredinthebuffer.Assoonasareadaccessismadeto
thetable,allrecordsaretransferredtothebuffer.Tablesbestsuitedtothistypeofbufferingaresmall,frequentlyreadandrarelyupdated.GenericBufferingWithgenericbuffering,onlyrecordscontaining
akeythatcorrespondstoarecordthathasalreadybeenreadareloadedintothebuffer.Assoonasareadaccessismadetothetable,allrecordswhosekeyvaluesmatchthespecifiedkeyvaluesofthe
recordbeingreadareloadedintothebuffer.Atableshouldbebufferedgenericallyifusuallyonlycertainareasofthetablearerequired.Theindividualgenericareasaretreatedlikeindependenttableswhich
arefullybuffered.PartialBuffering/SingleRecordBufferingWiththiskindofbuffering,onlytherecordsofatablewhichareactuallyaccessedareloadedintothebuffer.
ThefollowingstatementsdonottakeadvantageofanySAPtablebuffering.What
thismeansisthatevenifatableisbuffered(eitherresident/full,generic,orpartial),
executingoneoftheabovestatementsagainstthattablewillbypassthebufferand
godirectlytotheversionofthetablestoredinthedatabaseinordertoresolvethe
statement.
SQLStatementsBypassingBuffer
1.SELECT...BYPASSINGBUFFER
2.AnySELECTfromaVIEW(exceptaprojectionview).
3.SELECTFORUPDATE...
4.Aggregatefunctions(e.g.COUNT,MIN,MAX,SUM,AVG).
5.SELECTDISTINCT...
6.WHERE...ISNOTNULL
7.ORDERBY(otherthanprimarykey)
8.GROUPBYorHAVING
9.Subqueries
10.Joins
11.AnynativeSQLStatement(EXECSQL)

Nolabels

1ChildPage

AdvancedPerformanceOptimizationTechniques

ContactUs
Privacy

SAPHelpPortal
TermsofUse

LegalDisclosure

Copyright

https://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/display/ABAP/Performance+Tuning

FollowSCN

5/6

11/8/2016

PerformanceTuningABAPDevelopmentSCNWiki

https://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/display/ABAP/Performance+Tuning

6/6