What is Inheritance ? Using Inheritance in SAP ABAP

DPM125 — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 17:04:53 +0000

Inheritance allows one class to reuse the code from another class. In SAP ABAP, this helps in building modular, reusable, and maintainable programs.

Use of Inheritance in SAP

Purpose	Explanation
Code Reusability	You don’t need to rewrite common logic; it can be inherited from a base class.
Standardization	Common functionality can be centralized in a superclass and reused.
Simplifies Maintenance	Changes in the parent class reflect automatically in all child classes.
Extensibility	Child classes can add or override methods to provide specific functionality.
Polymorphism Support	You can treat objects of different subclasses uniformly using references.

Types of Inheritance in SAP ABAP

Single Inheritance – A subclass inherits from only one parent class.
No Multiple Inheritance – SAP ABAP does not support multiple inheritance, but it allows interfaces for similar functionality.

*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*
*& Report  ZREP_LCLCLASS
*&
*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*
*&
*&
*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*

REPORT zrep_lclclass.

CLASS parent_class DEFINITION.
  PUBLIC SECTION.
    METHODS: display.
ENDCLASS.

CLASS parent_class IMPLEMENTATION.
  METHOD display.
    WRITE: 'This is parent class'.
  ENDMETHOD.
ENDCLASS.

CLASS child_class DEFINITION INHERITING FROM parent_class.
  PUBLIC SECTION.
    METHODS: show.
ENDCLASS.

CLASS child_class IMPLEMENTATION.
  METHOD show.
    WRITE: 'This is child class'.
  ENDMETHOD.
ENDCLASS.

START-OF-SELECTION.
  DATA obj TYPE REF TO child_class.
  CREATE OBJECT obj.
  obj->display( ).   "Inherited method
  skip 2.
  obj->show( ).      "Own method

Output:

object oriented programming – SAP EWM Help

What is Inheritance ? Using Inheritance in SAP ABAP

Use of Inheritance in SAP

Types of Inheritance in SAP ABAP