How-to find a maintenance dialogue for the SAP table

You already know from SAP Expert how to find a maintenance dialogue for values in a particular field in SAP transaction.

Today we will look at this question from a slightly different point of view. Say you don’t know the specific field, but you know the name of the configuration table that contains it. It is very likely you will be able to find the name of the configuration table in SAP forums, SAP Notes or any other resource. Can you actually maintain the table knowing only its name?

The generic answer is: use transaction SM30. You can either launch this transaction using its code, or by choosing menu System – Services – Table Maintenance – Extended Table Maintenance on any SAP screen.

Let’s look at several options to use this transaction.

1. Direct maintenance in SM30

This is a very straight forward way to maintain the table. Put the table name into the only field on the screen and click the button “Maintain”.

You get directly into the maintenance screen of the table in question.

However, often you get the message “The maintenance dialog for … is incomplete or not defined” quoting your table name. It means that it is time to try option number 2.

2. Find a customizing transaction in SM30

Put the table name into the field on the screen and click the button “Customizing”.

You will get a pop-up window where you can put an IMG project name for an additional search restriction, or “Continue w/o Specifying Project”. It is exactly the same window that is mentioned in points 2 and 3 of the previous article. Obviously, the results will be the same: you will get a list of IMG nodes where you can maintain the table in question.

However, even this approach does not guarantee a result. You may get a message “No object … maintenance IMG activity exists” quoting your table name, or none of the IMG nodes from the list will be the one you need. It means that it is time to try option number 3.

3. Find a maintenance view in SE11

Start transaction SE11 and put your table name into the field “Database table”. Don’t forget to check that the radio-button switch is in the correct position too. Now click button “Where-Used List” on the panel.

You will get a pop-up window with a list of ABAP objects where your table is used. Tick checkbox “Views” leaving all other checkboxes unticked. Press Enter to continue.

You will get a list of table views relevant to the table you want to maintain. Now copy-paste your view name into the SM30 transaction and try both of the options described above.

Another way is to double-click the view name in the list. This will take you to the list of fields in the view. From there, click the “Contents” icon on the panel.

You will see the maintenance view for the table in Display mode. You only need to switch to Edit mode if you need that.

Hopefully, you now can maintain the table you wanted.

Do you know other ways to maintain a table in SAP?