SAP CDS Views: Complete Beginner's Guide

CDS (Core Data Services) is the backbone of modern SAP development. Every S/4HANA application and Fiori app uses CDS.

What is a CDS View?

A CDS view is a semantic layer on top of database tables. Instead of writing SELECT statements in ABAP, you define a structured data model.

Basic Syntax

@AbapCatalog.viewEnhancementCategory: [#NONE]
@AccessControl.authorizationCheck: #NOT_REQUIRED
@EndUserText.label: 'My First CDS View'

define view entity ZI_Material
  as select from MARA as _Mara
{
  key _Mara.MATNR as MaterialNumber,
      _Mara.MTART as MaterialType,
      _Mara.MEINS as BaseUnit
}

Use our CDS View Generator to generate this boilerplate automatically!

Essential Annotations

• @AccessControl — Controls DCL (Data Control Language) application
• @EndUserText.label — Display name in Fiori
• @Semantics — Field semantic meaning (amount, currency, etc.)

Association vs Join

In CDS, prefer associations over JOINs for better performance:

define view entity ZI_Material
  as select from MARA as _Mara
  association [0..1] to MARC as _MarcData
    on $projection.MaterialNumber = _MarcData.MATNR
{
  key _Mara.MATNR as MaterialNumber,
      _MarcData.WERKS as Plant
}