ABAP Connectivity

ABAP as a foundation for many applications offers a broad range of integration and connectivity technologies for remote SAP- and non-SAP systems. Universal internet protocols like HTTP and data formats like XML and SOAP can be used as well as SAP-proprietary protocols and formats like RFC/BAPI, IDoc and ALE/EDI.

Developers can expose ABAP-based functionality as a Web or enterprise service by publishing the service definition in the Enterprise Service Repository, creating a server-side proxy, and implementing the service using the ABAP programming language.

ABAP Service Provisioning and Consumption

 

SAP NetWeaver Application Server ABAP provides business logic for many applications, such as SAP Business Suite and SAP Business ByDesign, and therefore must necessarily be able to communicate with other ABAP and non-ABAP application servers. In the course of time, the format for exchanged data has altered from ABAP-only to universal. Nowadays, data will mostly be exchanged between servers using universal Internet protocols like HTTP, HTTPS, XML or SOAP. Due to their hiscorical roots and their wide spreading, SAP- proprietary formats like RFC, IDoc, ALE/EDI oder BAPI still continue to have a right to exist.

 

Web Services for ABAP

 

Web services represent the strategy for communication within SAP NetWeaver and between other systems. They are a uniform technology that allows you provide and consume services independently of implementation and the underlying protocol. Furthermore, you can do so both within SAP NetWeaver and in the communication with other systems.

The ABAP Workbench offers an environment where you can publish, search for, and call Web services. It enables the SAP Application Server to act both as a server and client for Web services.

Web Service Framework

 

 

Getting Started

Web Services Development in ABAP  

This is the SDN topic page on web services development with ABAP.

 

Access SAP Business Functions (ABAP) via Web Services   (PDF 1 MB)

The goal of this article is to show readers who are new to SAP and web services that there are many different ways to access SAP ABAP business functions via web services through different SAP NetWeaver components.

 

Enterprise Services

 

Enterprise services are basically highly integrated Web services combined with business logic and semantics that can be accessed and used repeatedly to support a particular business process. Enterprise services provide business processes or business process steps that can be used to compose business scenarios while ensuring business integrity and ease of reuse.For storage the Enterprise Service Repository and Registry are provided by SAP NetWeaver.

 

Getting Started

Enterprise Service Repository and Registry  

This is the SDN topic page on ESR.

Enterprise Services Repository and Registry   (PDF 2 MB)

This presentation describes the features of the ES Repository and the Services Registry.

Service Implementation in ABAP  

Part 3 of the blog series "An in depth look in Enterprise SOA."

Other Methods of Connectivity

 

SAP-proprietary formats for data exchange still exist due to the wide-spread of different SAP releases. Nevertheless, please be aware that these data exchange methods are not first choice anymore and should only be used when absolutely indispensable.

RFC (Remote Function Call)

 

Communication between applications of different systems in the SAP environment includes connections between SAP systems as well as between SAP systems and non-SAP systems. RFC is the standard SAP interface for communication between SAP systems, when SAP systems should communicate directly and should or can not use Web services. The RFC calls a function to be executed in a remote system.

 

Getting Started

RFC   (in SAP Help Portal)

Get the basics of RFC from this SAP Library chapter.

Master the Five Remote Function Calls (RFC) Types in ABAP, Part 1: A Comprehensive Guide for SAP Programmers and Administrators   (PDF, 1 MB)

This SAP Professional Journal article takes you on a tour of five key types of RFC.

BAPI (Business Application Programming Interface)

 

BAPIs are still available but will be replaced by Enterprise Services technology (ESR), in future. The most important BAPIs are already available as Enterprise services.

Getting Started

BAPIs   (in SAP Help Portal)

Get an impression on what BAPIs are and how to program with them from this library chapter.

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