Preface – This post is part of the Differences in ABAP for Interviews series.

Introduction

Before discussing the difference between Check Table and Value Table, let’s have a short introduction of the two.

Table validation is a concept through which the field is restricted to have certain values.

Field level validation and domain level validation are two concepts of table validation. Field level validations are done to validate entries at field level with the help of a check table whereas domain level validations are done to restrict the values of the field at domain level with the help of fixed values of the domain and value table of the domain.

Check Table

Check Table is a table that contains all the valid entries for a field. Fields of a database table whose data type is determined by data element can be assigned the check table. The field of the table to which the check table is assigned is considered as a foreign key field and is part of the foreign key of the table. The table becomes a foreign key table and the primary key of the check table is the foreign key of the foreign key table.  The entries of the primary key of the check table are used as an input help (F4 help) for the foreign key field.

Value Table

Value Table is a table that contains all the valid entries of a domain and this domain can be reused in multiple tables. This is maintained at domain level and whenever a foreign key relationship has to be created, the system looks for the value table field, if found, it automatically proposes that name as a check table to generate a foreign key proposal.

This is a kind of master check and is maintained as a customization object i.e. to enter values to this table a development transport request has to be created and transported.

Now, let’s have a look at their difference.

Difference between Check Table and Value Table