Subject: SAP Gateway | SAP Field
In today’s enterprise systems, data volume continues to grow at an exponential rate. Within the SAP landscape, managing and delivering large datasets efficiently becomes crucial—especially when these datasets are exposed via OData services through the SAP Gateway. One of the most effective techniques to optimize performance in such scenarios is server-side paging.
Server-side paging is a method of data handling where only a small portion (a “page”) of the full dataset is retrieved and sent to the client upon request. Unlike client-side paging, where the entire dataset is first fetched and then segmented on the client, server-side paging handles the segmentation on the server before the data is transferred.
This reduces:
SAP Gateway is a technology that facilitates the consumption of SAP data through OData services. When dealing with large tables—such as MARA (material master), BKPF (accounting documents), or custom Z-tables—fetching all records at once can lead to:
Here’s where $skip and $top query options in OData come into play. These parameters enable developers to implement server-side paging by retrieving only a subset of the entire dataset.
Example:
/sap/opu/odata/SAP/ZPRODUCT_SRV/ProductSet?$skip=0&$top=100
This fetches the first 100 entries from the ProductSet collection.
Here’s how server-side paging can be implemented step-by-step in a Gateway project:
In the Model Provider Extension (*_MPC_EXT) class, set the paging capability for your entity set.
METHOD define_entityset.
DATA: lo_entityset TYPE REF TO /iwbep/if_mgw_odata_entity_set.
lo_entityset = model->get_entity_set( 'ProductSet' ).
lo_entityset->set_paging_enabled( abap_true ).
ENDMETHOD.
In the Data Provider Extension (*_DPC_EXT) class, enhance the GET_ENTITYSET method to read the $skip and $top parameters.
METHOD productset_get_entityset.
DATA: lv_skip TYPE i,
lv_top TYPE i.
lv_skip = io_tech_request_context->get_paging_skip( ).
lv_top = io_tech_request_context->get_paging_top( ).
" Apply these to your SELECT query
SELECT * FROM zproduct
INTO CORRESPONDING FIELDS OF TABLE et_entityset
UP TO lv_top ROWS
OFFSET lv_skip.
ENDMETHOD.
This ensures that only the requested portion of data is fetched and returned.
$top value if the client does not provide one to avoid full table scans.$top.Server-side paging is a critical optimization technique for handling large datasets within the SAP Gateway framework. By retrieving data in manageable chunks and using OData query options like $skip and $top, SAP developers can build scalable, efficient, and responsive applications that meet modern performance expectations.
Whether you are exposing standard SAP tables or custom business logic via OData, server-side paging is not just a performance tweak—it’s a necessity.