Whenever you start a program in which selection screens are defined, the system displays a set of input fields for database-specific and program-specific selections.
To select a certain set of data, you enter an appropriate range of values.
If you often run the same program with the same set of selections (for example, to create a monthly statistical report), you can save the values in a selection set called a variant.
Note
You can create any number of variants for any program in which selection screens are defined. Variants are assigned exclusively to the program for which they were created.
You can also use variants to change the appearance of the selection screen by hiding selection criteria. This is particularly useful when you are working with large selection screens on which not all of the fields are relevant.
Reports, module pools, and function groups may have several selection screens. It is therefore possible to create a variant for more than one selection screen.
Variants are an interface between the user and the selection screen.
They can be used both in dialog and in background mode, although their uses are slightly different.