ABAP Dictionary

ABAP - It stands for Advance Business Application Programming, it is a SAP based programming language used for SAP applications.

ABAP Dictionary - Data Dictionary is a central source of information for the data in a information management system. Its main function is to support the creation and management of data definitions (or "metadata").
     The ABAP Dictionary permits a central description of all the data used in the system without redundancies. New or modified information is automatically provided for all the system components. This ensures data integrity, data consistency and data security.

The ABAP Dictionary is completely integrated in the ABAP Workbench. The SAP system works interpretatively, permitting the ABAP Dictionary to be actively integrated in the development environment. Instead of the original objects, the interpreters see only internal representations of these objects.

These internal representations are adjusted automatically when the system finds that changes have been made in the ABAP Dictionary. This ensures that the screen and ABAP interpreters, input help, database interface, and development tools always access current data.When you work on development projects, objects of the ABAP Dictionary can be changed any number of times before being activated and made available to the operative components of the system. Objects can have both an active and an inactive version in the ABAP Dictionary at the same time.

Inactive ABAP Dictionary objects have no effect on the runtime system (ABAP processor, database interface). This permits greater changes to several objects without impairing the executability of the system. The objects can be activated together only when they all have been changed.