Avoid Obsolete Declarations and Table Headers

WarningAnti-Patterns & Bad PracticesQuickFix Ready#EC NO_OBS_DECLRemote Enabled

Overview

Obsolete Data and Type Declarations.

ATC Finding Message: Avoid obsolete declaration constructs (TABLES, RANGES, TYPE-POOLS, etc.)

Rationale

Legacy declaration statements like TABLES, RANGES, TYPE-POOLS, and internal tables defined WITH HEADER LINE, OCCURS, or INITIAL SIZE carry significant technical debt and implicit global state. In modern Clean ABAP and ABAP Cloud, use explicit TYPES, DATA statements with modern table types, standard RANGE OF types, and CLEAR instead of REFRESH.

Non-Compliant

TABLES mara.
RANGES lr_matnr FOR mara-matnr.
DATA lt_items TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF i WITH HEADER LINE.

Compliant

DATA lt_items TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF i WITH EMPTY KEY.
DATA lr_matnr TYPE RANGE OF matnr.

Automated QuickFix

This rule provides an automated QuickFix directly in Eclipse ABAP Development Tools (ADT):

1. Position the cursor on the flagged statement.
2. Press Ctrl + 1 (Quick Assist).
3. Select the automated refactoring to apply the clean syntax immediately.

Configuration & Thresholds

This check can be fine-tuned directly in the ATC Check Variant Editor (CHKV) in Eclipse ADT:

Parameter Name	Data Type	Default Value	Description & Guidance
CHECK_TABLES	Boolean	true	Detect obsolete TABLES declaration statement
CHECK_TYPE_POOLS	Boolean	true	Detect obsolete TYPE-POOLS declaration statement
CHECK_RANGES	Boolean	true	Detect obsolete RANGES declaration statement
CHECK_HEADER_LINE	Boolean	true	Detect internal tables with obsolete header lines (WITH HEADER LINE)
CHECK_OCCURS	Boolean	true	Detect obsolete INITIAL SIZE / OCCURS syntax
CHECK_INITIAL_SIZE	Boolean	true	Detect obsolete INITIAL SIZE additions
CHECK_COMMON_PART	Boolean	true	Detect obsolete DATA COMMON PART statements
CHECK_STATICS	Boolean	true	Detect STATICS declarations inside instance methods
CHECK_FS_STRUCTURE	Boolean	true	Detect FIELD-SYMBOLS with obsolete structure typing
CHECK_LOAD	Boolean	true	Detect obsolete LOAD-OF-PROGRAM statements
CHECK_PARAMETER	Boolean	true	Detect obsolete PARAMETER additions in selection screens
CHECK_REFRESH	Boolean	true	Detect obsolete REFRESH statement (prefer CLEAR)

Suppression

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

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

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

Related Rules

• Avoid Obsolete Arithmetic and Assignment Statements — #EC NO_OBS_ARITH
• Avoid Obsolete Control Flow and Procedural Forms — #EC NO_OBS_CONTROL
• Avoid Obsolete ABAP Memory and Context Statements — #EC NO_OBS_MEMORY

Technical Details

• Native ATC Class: ZCL_SKYLINT_NO_OBS_DECL
• Implementation File: zcl_skylint_no_obs_decl.clas.abap