CDS views and the virtual data model

From tables to a data model

S/4HANA still has KNA1, LFA1 and MARA, but SAP wants apps, reports and integrations to read the virtual data model (VDM) instead: layered CDS views that give the tables business names, associations, semantics and authorization checks. 'Virtual' means nothing is copied; the SQL is pushed down to HANA when the view is queried.

The view types and their prefixes

The prefix tells you what a view is for. Also check the release state (API State tab in ADT): a view released for cloud development is a stable API, and clean-core extensions (lesson 3-4) may only use released objects.

Try it: sort into layers

The master data views you will use most

Your table knowledge transfers directly: each view keeps the grain of the table underneath. Confirm exact field names in ADT (F2 on a view name) before writing a join.

Try it: complete a view entity

Use define view entity (the modern syntax since ABAP 7.55); the old define view with sqlViewName is obsolete. This view finds organisation BPs (category '2') with no tax number.

@AccessControl.authorizationCheck: #CHECK
@EndUserText.label: 'Organisation BPs without any tax number'
define ______viewBUT000is initialview entitykeyinner joinis nullleft outer joinI_BusinessPartner ZI_BPMissingTaxNumber
  as select from ______viewBUT000is initialview entitykeyinner joinis nullleft outer joinI_BusinessPartner as bp
    ______viewBUT000is initialview entitykeyinner joinis nullleft outer joinI_BusinessPartner I_BusinessPartnerTaxNumber as tax
      on tax.BusinessPartner = bp.BusinessPartner
{
  ______viewBUT000is initialview entitykeyinner joinis nullleft outer joinI_BusinessPartner bp.BusinessPartner,
      bp.BusinessPartnerFullName
}
where bp.BusinessPartnerCategory = '2'
  and tax.BusinessPartner ______viewBUT000is initialview entitykeyinner joinis nullleft outer joinI_BusinessPartner

Build it in ADT, step by step

CDS views live in Eclipse with ABAP Development Tools (ADT), together with RAP and service bindings. It is the first technical skill to pick up.

Aggregations: a scorecard in one view

Management wants numbers, not rows. A case turns each row into 1 or 0 and sum counts them, all inside HANA.

@AccessControl.authorizationCheck: #NOT_REQUIRED
@EndUserText.label: 'Customer completeness by country'
define view entity ZI_CustomerDQByCountry
  as select from I_Customer
{
  key Country,
      count(*)                                         as CustomerCount,
      sum( case when TaxNumber1 = '' then 1 else 0 end ) as MissingTaxNumber1
}
group by Country

Classic access versus CDS

From a view to a work list

Add a service definition and binding, plus UI annotations, and Fiori elements generates a list report with no front-end code. The same OData service serves Python scripts or an AI agent.

Try it: pick the data source

Check yourself