How to decode SAP text from from STXL.CLUSTD ?

Question

I know ! The "proper" way to read STXL.CLUSTD is through SAP ABAP function. But I'm sorry, we are suffering badly from performance problem. We have already make our decision to go directly to the database (Oracle), and we don't have any plan to revert our decision yet since everything goes so much better so far.

However, we've came across this issue. The text in STXL.CLUSTD field was stored in an incomprehensible format. We cannot find any information about its encoding format via google. Anybody can hint me how to decode text from STXL.CLUSTD ?

Thanks

Answer 1

Short version: You don't. Use the function module READ_TEXT.

Long version: You're looking at a so-called cluster table. See http://help.sap.com/saphelp_47x200/helpdata/en/fc/eb3bf8358411d1829f0000e829fbfe/frameset.htm for the details. The data you see is an internal representation of the text, somehow related to the way the ABAP kernel handles the data internally. This data does not make any sense without the metadata. If you change the original structure in an incompatible way, the data can no longer be read. Oh, and did I mention that the data does not contain a reference to the metadata? When reading the contents of these tables, even in ABAP, you need to know the original source data structure, otherwise you're doomed. Without the metadata and the knowledge of how the kernel handles these data types at runtime, you'll have a hard time deciphering the contents.

Personal opinion: Direct access to the database below the SAP R/3 system is a really bad idea since this not only bypasses all safety measures, but it also makes you very vulnerable to all structural changes of the database. The only real reason for accessing the database directly is not lack of performance, but lack of (ABAP) knowledge, and that should be curable :-)