Advantages & Disadvantages of using prefixes in BRF+ object naming

[former_member510138]

Hi guys,

I have tried searching SCN for an answer, but couldn't find much.

I would like to know if there are real advantages/disadvantages in using prefixes in BRF+ object names, for example:

DTB_some_name for a Decision Table

RUL_some_name for a Rule

RST_some_name for a Ruleset

FRM_some_name for a Formula and so on.

Thanks in advance 🙂

[pokrakam · Accepted solution]

Good question. Not a big fan myself, but some projects are obsessed with naming conventions so I use them when it makes client happy. People like structure, even when it's redundant. 🙂

Personally I don't see the point, I can't think of any scenario where you could mistakenly use a ruleset instead of a formula. I'm not ever going to search for a decision tree by putting DTR* in the name field based on the assumption that everyone used that prefix. No, I'm going to search by expression type = decision tree.

Everything has icons, and is organised by type in the object tree, so it's easy to distinguish.

Arbitrary naming conventions are more often than not inconsistently followed, and then you get the issue that standard SAP is guaranteed to use different names, so what's the point?

Rather use the limited space to provide a more descriptive name instead of wasting 4 valuable characters, e.g. routing_per_ord_type_and_cntry.

[former_member510138 · Accepted solution]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your prompt response, I kind of had the same argument regarding stealing the 4 chars from the names, but was worried I might be missing something, as I am only new to the whole SAP experience.

Kind Regards

🙂

[christianlechne]

From my experience, there is no advantage in using prefixes. The notion of prefixing your objects often comes from the (often also senseless) naming conventions in the ABAP development area. As Mike already stated, all objects types of BRFplus have an icon that identifies the type and are all grouped accordingly. Searches in BRFplus can usually be restricted to specific objects, so there is no advantage in this area neither.

The point to stress is that the names of the objects should contain a readable, understandable name. In a perfect scenario, you should be able to read the rules and their objects in BRFplus in the form of sentences that can easily be understood (at least that is the goal). That is also a reason for the recommendation to switch off the display of technical names (even in expert mode) and keep the short text empty to achieve this goal. So from my perspective there are only disadvantages when it comes to putting a prefix to a BRFplus object

[former_member510138]

Hi Christian,

Thanks a lot for taking time to respond to me too. Totally agree with everything, you and Mike are saying.

Kind Regards,

🙂