ABAP Form Translator

✅ Status: Release (1.3.0)

Open Source Contribution: This project is community-driven and Open Source! 🚀
If you spot a bug or have an idea for a cool enhancement, your contributions are more than welcome. Feel free to open an Issue or submit a Pull Request.

A lightweight, dynamic runtime translation tool for SAP forms. It decouples text management from form development, allowing functional consultants or users to maintain labels via a simple database table (RAP Application), bypassing the complex standard SE63 workflow.

Table of contents

1. License
2. Contributors-Developers
3. Key Benefits
4. Design Goals-Features
5. Usage

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Contributors-Developers

The repository was created by George Drakos.

Key Benefits

• No more SE63: Forget about the painful standard translation process for forms.
• Zero Hardcoding: Keep your form logic clean. No more IF sy-langu = 'D'. text = 'Kunde'. ENDIF.
• Hot-Swap Texts: Change a label description in Production without a Transport Request. Note: the table is buffered, so a change becomes visible to other application servers after the buffer synchronisation interval (typically ~60s). Inside a long-running session (mass print / batch job) call ZCL_FORM_TRANSLATION=>clear_buffer( ) to pick up changes immediately.
• Generic: Works with any ABAP flat structure or Form interface using RTTI.
• Performance: Optimized with table buffering to ensure zero impact on print times.
• Unit Tested: Includes built-in ABAP Unit tests.
• Fiori Elements App built entirely with the ABAP RESTful Application Programming Model (RAP) for maintaining form translations

Design Goals-Features

• Install via ABAPGit
• ABAP Cloud/Clean Core compatibility.Passed SCI check variant S4HANA_READINESS_2023 and ABAP_CLOUD_READINESS
• Unit Tested

Running the tests off-stack

Part of the test suite runs outside the ABAP system, transpiled to JavaScript with abaplint, so every push is verified without an SAP system:

npm ci
npm run lint
npm test

This covers ZCL_FORM_TRANSLATION (RTTI mapping, language fallback, buffer) and ZCL_FORM_TRANS_RULES (validation rules). 30 unit tests, backed by an in-memory SQLite database so the SELECT and CL_OSQL_TEST_ENVIRONMENT behave as they do in the system.

Usage

In your Adobe / Smartform Driver Program / Print Program

1. Define a structure for your labels/texts in the form Global Definitions or the Driver Program.
2. Populate it with default values (optional).
3. Call the translator before calling the form Function Module(for smartforms).

DATA: BEGIN OF labels,
        title        TYPE string,
        footer_note  TYPE string,
        customer_lbl TYPE string,
      END OF labels.

" 1.Initialize (Optional defaults)
labels-title = 'Invoice'.

" 2.Translate dynamically based on Language and DB Configuration
DATA(translator) = CAST zif_form_translation( NEW zcl_form_translation( ) ).

translator->translate_form(
      EXPORTING formname      = 'ZINVOICE_FORM'   " Key in ZABAP_FORM_TRANS
                langu         = cl_abap_context_info=>get_user_language_abap_format( )
      CHANGING  form_elements = labels ).         " The structure to be translated

" 3. The labels structure now contains the translated texts from ZABAP_FORM_TRANS
"    Pass this structure to your Smartform / Adobe Form interface.

API reference

translate_form maps the fields of ZABAP_FORM_TRANS onto the components of your structure by field name (via RTTI). Signature:

Parameter	Direction	Type	Default	Meaning
formname	importing	zabap_form_trans_name	–	Key in ZABAP_FORM_TRANS. An empty value returns without changes.
langu	importing	zabap_form_trans_langu	logon language	Target language. If empty, the current user language is used.
enable_fallback	importing	abap_boolean	abap_true	When on, fields that have no text in the target language fall back to the default language (E).
form_elements	changing	any	–	Flat structure whose components are filled with the translated texts.

clear_buffer (static) invalidates the in-memory translation buffer. Call it after maintaining translations inside a long-living session (mass print / batch / job server) so hot-swapped texts take effect immediately.

Note: only flat structures are supported. Nested structures and internal tables are not translated.

Database table ZABAP_FORM_TRANS

Maintain the texts through the RAP/Fiori app (ZUI_FORM_TRANS_BIN) in this table:

Field	Type	Key	Description
FORM	ZABAP_FORM_TRANS_NAME (CHAR 30)	✔	Form key passed as formname.
FIELDNAME	ZABAP_FORM_TRANS_FIELD (CHAR 30)	✔	Component name in your structure.
LANGU	ZABAP_FORM_TRANS_LANGU (LANG)	✔	Language of the text.
DESCR	ZABAP_FORM_TRANS_DESCR (CHAR 50)		Translated text.
LENGTH	ZABAP_FORM_TRANS_MAXLEN (INT2, domain range 0–9999)		Max length; text longer than this is truncated at print time. 0 means no length limit.