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Where to ask beginner questions?

Former Member
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Hi,

"SDN staff" has closed my threads with beginner questions. Unfortunately I was only told that there other forums on the net who cater for beginners. I haven't found any which is explicitly for beginners. All other forums might act the same way. So is anyone aware of a forum for ABAP dummies?

Yes I have used Google to find one, no don't write "I think there must be a forum somewhere". Please only real experiences.

(This clear statement shouldn't offend anybody it just shall avoid useless discussions).

Thanks, K.

Accepted Solutions (1)

Accepted Solutions (1)

Former Member
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@Nick:

I am glad to hear that my search wasn't too bad, that gives me support to carry on working on ABAP. And an answer search for select-options instead of parameters is already a very good hint - thats all I expect from a forum no need to post the complete code. The way I go is via trial and error since I don't have a mentor.

@Vikranth:

Thanks. Though I appreciate the code of course an answer "yes you have to replace it" would have been fine already. Then I know that this is the way to go and not a dead end.

Though the locked thread can be considered answered, I am still eager to see a link to a beginner forum

Former Member
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Hi karl,

Here is forum specially for biggners question.

[http://sap.ittoolbox.com/groups/technical-functional/sap-dev-newbies-l/]. It is also very active forum.

Former Member
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Hello Karl,

As per my opinion, beginner questions can be asked in two ways. Either bluntly stating a simple question and asking for a solution or those which are quite simple, yet just requires a direction to be solved. The questions when asked in the first way, are obviously locked or deleted by the mods, Where as when the question though simple, just requires a direction or suggestion to get the answer, is accompanied with what you have tried or a code piece, i dont think they are locked or deleted.

My points reflect what i have said is true. I still am a beginner in ABAP.

Vikranth

Answers (6)

Answers (6)

ThomasZloch
Active Contributor
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I have moved this fruitful discussion to "suggestions & comments".

A lot has been said already. Dumb, lazy, bluntly, "step by step", "do my work", "asap" etc. will get locked. When it is clear that you put in own effort into trying to solve the problem and also into phrasing a meaningful and polite question, chances are good that there is no problem. This is how I personally approach it anyway.

Thomas

Former Member
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The mod closing my thread was in an e-mail rather clear that he will close all beginner questions. He didn't mention that when I "proofed"' to have used Google before that he will allow these kind of posts. I fully understand that it is annoying to see questions which might be easily answered using Google, but for some dummy questions I just failed to find the answer - and after closing my last request I even put some extra effort into it. I am sure it is somewhere on the net, but the question is just how to find it.

Still eager to see a link to a forum for dummies (or lazy or dumb people whatever you want to call it).

former_member188827
Active Contributor
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can you state one question you asked for which you didnt get information by searching SDN and moderator locked that thread?

Former Member
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of course:

And I am sure someone knows the right Google search term to have the answer as the top hit, my search terms didn't give the answer. I found many useful links which gave me some good ideas, like concatenate '%' pa_input '%' into my_var but all this isn't the solution if someone enters a* as search term. (Just to give you a "proof" that I did search, though as I wrote I am sure someone knows better search terms and could say at the end "you didn't search long enough)

Former Member
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Hi,

I think you were a bit unlucky to get that question locked, and while you have asked a few basic questions questions recently your questions are clear and detailed enough to show a level of understanding.

I've tried to search for an answer to the question you have and, like you have found nothing out there to directly answer the problem. I guess the issue here is that not every question of this type has a clear answer, that what is in fact needed is to broaden you undertanding of ABAP generally and (if you have no experienced ABAP developers or similar in your organisation) apply different techniques and learn by trial and error.

If I were to answer your original question, I'd point you away from using PARAMETERS and towards SELECT-OPTIONS.

Regards,

Nick

Former Member
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Well you already quoted the answer in your questionaire thread. What harm does it make if you this single statement before the select query?


REPLACE ALL OCCURRENCES OF '*' in (your var) WITH '%'.

Vikranth

Former Member
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>

> I think you were a bit unlucky to get that question locked, and while you have asked a few basic questions questions recently your questions are clear and detailed enough to show a level of understanding.

I locked this because to me, it seemed simple if one understands the difference between SELECT-OPTIONS and PARAMETERS.

Rob

matt
Active Contributor
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It's quite a difficult call to make. I don't actually mind simple questions, nor do I mind theoretical ones involving people trying to understand the more arcane ABAP statements. But taking the sample one: When I read this, I just think "Well, the syntax requires '%' and the user wants to put in '*', so the user input needs to be translated - so why ask the question?". If it had been left open, you'd have received 20 replies saying use REPLACE, or even TRANSLATE. Or possibly a programming that scans character by character and does the replace that way. This wouldn't have added value to the ABAP threads as a searchable resource, and that's the clincher for me.

I do sympathise, however. There are times where a little guidance is really helpful. So I think there is a place for beginner questions, but it should be in a forum that doesn't award points, and everything over 90 days gets cleared off.

Former Member
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>

> I do sympathise, however. There are times where a little guidance is really helpful. So I think there is a place for beginner questions, but it should be in a forum that doesn't award points, and everything over 90 days gets cleared off.

Agreed - maybe there should be a voting thread here on the subject.

Rob

Former Member
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> So I think there is a place for beginner questions, but it should be in a forum that doesn't award points, and everything over 90 days gets cleared off.

There was a strong movement in favour of this, but ultimately declined in favour of a more intuitive search and not scaring away freshers. Some ponitz metrics might have played a role as well, but I do not understand that aspect.

For me this means that other external sites can thrive on the newbies and interview questions and advertizing revenues from it, which is fine for me although there is no home for it on SDN.

Consequence: Anything less than a professionally asked question having displayed an valid attempt to search first, or answers of the opposite ilk to such questions... are deleted on sight without any explanation given except the "rules of engagement".

Although I accept this and also sometimes try to turn some naively asked questions into interesting discussions about what is going on under the bonnet, it is still undeniable that some (many!) folks just need a bit of help to get them going and it is mostly not evil at all.

It just needs a home, without flooding already busy forums.

Cheers,

Julius

former_member194797
Active Contributor
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For basic ABAP questions, you can often get the solution by

- asking help in editor (put the cursor on the keyword and press F1)

- writing a small program for testing some cases.

In a lot of cases, it is not done before asking the question in the forum.

Former Member
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Hi,

of course I search before asking. Why do people first assume that someone hasn't searched? And even though I have searched the net my question was closed. Fair enough if SDN doesn't want beginners (as long as you don't expect them to come back once they are experts). And with the answer "' it is somewhere in the internet" you can close 100% of threads.

So even though reading through blogs, tutorials, BC*** trainings, etc. there are still open questions persons face - and my questions though they might be dummy questions are for my real time work.

Again my question where can I ask dummy questions? And again don't answer use Google, I have used Google, Yahoo, etc trying to find a dummy forum. All I found were expert forums or forums full of SPAM (Yahoo Groups). So anyone aware of a forum for beginners please post a link.

Thanks K.

former_member184657
Active Contributor
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Karl,

Apart from the two responses you've already recieved, let me also add that you are open to ask beginner questions here in SCN IF you show that you have put some effort into answering/understanding your issue.

Why do people first assume that someone hasn't searched?

..because a majority of them dont. Some are so lazy and dumb that they want others to do their work for them. So I hope you understand why the Moderators have to be a little harsh at times. So let me repeat that, you can ask beginner questions as long as you give sufficient background infomation on the work you have done on the issue. And im sure no Mod will delete your thread.

Good Luck with your future questions.

pk

Former Member
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Hi Karl,

First of all, welcome to SAP ABAP and to the SDN forums!

The reason why the mods here delete "beginner" questions is because they have already been asked in numerous posts. Hence, before asking questions, it is always encouraged to search the forums. This way, you will find answers to your questions quickly and also avoid unnecessary duplication of posts.

I would suggest that you go thru the free tutorials and blogs that this site provides, in order to build your ABAP skills. For example, there are sample codes provided for ALV Grids, interactive reports, module pools etc., which I am sure will be very useful to you. In many cases, the codes will be so similar to your requirement that copy-pasting is very much a viable option.

In the case where you absolutely don't find answers, you post a question. This way, it will add to SDN's knowledge base, and you'll also avoid the mods' wrath

Hope this helps! Do let me know if you need anything else!!

So even though reading through blogs, tutorials, BC*** trainings, etc. there are still open questions persons face - and my questions though they might be dummy questions are for my real time work.

I agree that sometimes it can be painful. In such cases, when you have searched sufficiently broadly and not found answers, please mention that you have searched the forums but haven't found anything. Maybe that way, the mods will go easy on your posts.

Unfortunately, I am not sure that any such beginner forums exist in that case. You can try[ IT Toolbox|http://sap.ittoolbox.com/] perhaps, but I have found nothing as comprehensive as SDN. I started using SDN as a beginner and SDN has been very helpful for me. I hope that in due course of time, it will be for you too!

of course:

That is a bit harsh I would say. But I can assure you that these guys are not so strict everytime. Anyways, coming to the problem, if you are accepting parameters as values, you can select single values only. Otherwise, you should go for SELECT-OPTIONs as follows:


select-options: so_input like ztable-myfield.

 ******

select * from ztable into wa_myarea where myfield in so_input[].

Cheers,

Shailesh.

Always provide feedback for helpful answers!

GauthamV
Active Contributor
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I think you will get all basic information in SDN if you can SEARCH.

(Most of the people post basic stuff here without searching)

You can also use google for any basic information to beginners.

This forum is intended for real time problems that you face while

working but not for training and basic stuff.Hope you understood

why moderators have closed or locked your threads.

Do you still feel as beginner or not aware of rules after joining SDN

almost 2 years back.