I have the following piece of code.
REPORT ZZY.
CLASS lcl_main DEFINITION FINAL CREATE PRIVATE.
PUBLIC SECTION.
CLASS-METHODS:
convert_to_xstring
IMPORTING
i_param1 TYPE i
i_param2 TYPE i
RETURNING
VALUE(rv_result) TYPE xstring,
main.
ENDCLASS.
CLASS lcl_main IMPLEMENTATION.
METHOD convert_to_xstring.
ENDMETHOD.
METHOD main.
DATA: lt_binary_tab TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF x.
DATA(lv_result) = convert_to_xstring( i_param1 = 1 i_param2 = 2 ).
CALL FUNCTION 'SCMS_XSTRING_TO_BINARY'
EXPORTING
buffer = lcl_main=>convert_to_xstring(
EXPORTING
i_param1 = 1
i_param2 = 2
)
TABLES
binary_tab = lt_binary_tab.
ENDMETHOD.
ENDCLASS.
START-OF-SELECTION.
lcl_main=>main( ).
A functional method call that is not a part of a function module call can be written like that.
DATA(lv_result) = convert_to_xstring( i_param1 = 1 i_param2 = 2 ).
However when I want to use it exactly as written above
CALL FUNCTION 'SCMS_XSTRING_TO_BINARY'
EXPORTING
buffer = lcl_main=>convert_to_xstring( i_param1 = 1 i_param2 = 2 )
TABLES
binary_tab = lt_binary_tab.
I get the following syntax error.
Field "CONVERT_TO_XSTRING(" is unknown. It is neither in one of the specified tables nor defined by a "DATA" statement. "DATA" statement.
It looks like the compiler needs some guidance in this case to distinguish between an attribute and a method. Why would it be ambiguous for the compiler to let such a case without writing EXPORTING
?
CALL FUNCTION 'SCMS_XSTRING_TO_BINARY'
EXPORTING
buffer = lcl_main=>convert_to_xstring( EXPORTING i_param1 = 1 i_param2 = 2 )
TABLES
binary_tab = lt_binary_tab.
The design of abap is quite bad. There is something like functional method calls, but you can't use it in combination with all commands. For example the WRITE
command doesn't work in combination with functional method calls. This seems to be some kind of "partial compatible" with function method calls.
I don't know why(maybe the sap dev folks were drunk), but it is just a fact we have to live with.