Do Not Mix RETURNING with EXPORTING or CHANGING

WarningAnti-Patterns & Bad Practices#EC NO_MIX_RETURNINGRemote Enabled

Overview

Do not mix RETURNING with EXPORTING or CHANGING.

ATC Finding Message: Do not mix RETURNING with EXPORTING or CHANGING parameters in a single method

Rationale

A method that returns a value and also exports or changes parameters has a mixed contract: callers must capture the result and provide extra targets. This complicates expression use and suggests the method does more than one thing. Split it into a functional query and a separate command.

Non-Compliant

METHODS get_data
  EXPORTING ev_count TYPE i
  RETURNING VALUE(rv_result) TYPE string.

Compliant

METHODS get_data
  RETURNING VALUE(rv_result) TYPE string.

Suppression

To suppress findings for this rule, append the pseudo-comment to the statement:

" Standard pseudo-comment:
... "#EC NO_MIX_RETURNING

" SAP CI_ prefix format:
... "#EC CI_NO_MIX_RETURNING

Technical Details

• Native ATC Class: ZCL_SKYLINT_NO_MIX_RETURNING
• Implementation File: zcl_skylint_no_mix_returning.clas.abap