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Heap References and Stack References The objects referenced by references can be in the heap or in the stack. Objects in the heap are instances of classes or are anonymous data objects. Objects in the stack are the global data objects of programs and the local data objects of procedures stacked there.
Heap references point to objects or parts of objects in the heap Heap references are object references or data references. They are created either when new objects are created in the heap using the statements CREATE OBJECT or CREATE DATA, or when applying the statement GET REFERENCE or the addition REFERENCE INTO to data objects in the heap. Heap references are always memory-preserving, which means that for as long as a heap reference points to an object or a part of an object, it is not deleted by the Garbage Collector.
Stack references point to objects or parts of objects in the stack Stack references are always data references and are created exclusively by applying the statement GET REFERENCE , the reference operator REF , or the addition REFERENCE INTO to data objects in the stack. Stack references are not memory-preserving. A non-initial object reference always points to an instance of a class and is therefore always a heap reference. A data reference can be a heap reference or a stack reference:
A data reference is a heap reference if it
points to an instance attribute or a part of an instance attribute of an object,
points to an anonymous data object or a part of an anonymous data object.
A data reference that points to a data object or a part of a data object in the stack is a stack reference. A part of a data object is either a component of a structure, a line of an internal table, or a subarea specified by an offset/length. Heap references preserve memory and therefore cannot become invalid, with one exception: a heap reference to a line of an internal table becomes invalid if the table line is deleted. Stack references also become invalid if the referenced data object is removed from the stack, that is, when the associated procedure ends. The latter also applies to the local data in instance methods. The predicate expression IS BOUND for an invalid reference is false.
Latest notes:
For field symbols, the same applies in regard to preserving memory and validity as to data references. Field symbols to which objects or parts of objects are assigned in the heap are memory-preserving.
Internal tables are dynamic data objects and have a special role because they have their own memory management, which occupies and releases memory regardless of the statement CREATE and Garbage Collector. This means that heap references that point to lines in internal tables can become invalid. This is not the case for strings, since no references to substrings of strings are allowed.
Whether a reference is classified as a heap reference or a stack reference is determined by its value and not by the type of the reference variable in which it is stored. Assignments between reference variables in particular do not change the corresponding properties of the copied references. NON_V5_HINTS ABAP_HINT_END
ABAP_EXAMPLE_VX5 The heap reference heap_ref on the stack points to an anonymous data object in the heap. The stack reference stack_ref also on the stack points to heap_ref. ABEXA 01048 ABAP_EXAMPLE_END
