Exception classes let you state multiple texts describing the different possible errors that they can represent.

However, there exists an option to associate it with a message class (SE91). This allows texts to be defined as classic SE91 messages instead of being defined directly in the exception class. And it has advantages.

At first, defining texts directly in the exception class sounds easier. This is what I used to do, up until recently, when I discovered the benefits of the association between the two.

For example, instead of having to use the GET_TEXT() method, put the result in a string and then doing a MESSAGE of this string, you can use the exception’s instance directly with the MESSAGE command. Isn’t this great?

In other words, instead of:

DATA: text TYPE string.
TRY.
    RAISE EXCEPTION TYPE zcx_abapinho.
  CATCH zcx_abapinho INTO o_exc.
    text = o_exc->get_text( ).
    MESSAGE text TYPE 'I'.
ENDTRY.

You can just do this:

TRY.
    RAISE EXCEPTION TYPE zcx_abapinho.
  CATCH zcx_abapinho INTO o_exc.
    MESSAGE o_exc TYPE 'I'.
ENDTRY.

This happens because when you associate an exception class with a message class, SAP automatically adds the interface IF_T100_MESSAGE to the class, thereby allowing this convenient additional feature.

Another advantage is that you can continue to define errors like you always have: using SE91 message classes, thereby keeping things consistent.

Thanks to Sergio Aguirre for the photo.

Greetings from Abapinho