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- 20 Uses for ABAP on SAP NetWeaver BW Projects
by Ned Falk, Senior Education Consultant, SAP America (February 2010)
SAP NetWeaver BW reduces the need for ABAP for most reporting tasks, but most SAP NetWeaver BW projects could benefit from having an experienced ABAPer available. This is particularly true for data preparation and preprocessing functions. The author shows how an ABAP programmer would be useful in 20 different areas.
- 6 Ways to Troubleshoot Common Issues with SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation Configuration
by Ryan Leask and Prakash Darji, Directors, BPC Solution Management, SAP BusinessObjects (July 2009)
Discover how using a well-planned approach for configuring SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation, version for SAP NetWeaver can also serve as the starting point for troubleshooting system-related problems that can arise.
- Advanced techniques for enhancing your SAP Enterprise Portal iViews with Visual
Composer — a purely model-driven, code-free development approach
by Karl Kessler, Product Manager, SAP NetWeaver, SAP AG
Visual Composer is a fully Web-based, graphical design environment included with SAP NetWeaver ’04 for developing iViews without the expense of custom code. The first article in this two-part series introduces the key components of the tool and shows you how to build a simple iView. This second article demonstrates some advanced techniques for improving the usability and look and feel of your iViews. It shows you how to add drill-down functionality and charts, how to integrate external Web content using HTML views, and how to leverage portal eventing for improved maintainability. It also explains how to provide default values for BAPI input fields and use operators to filter, sort, and group BAPI result data to save users time.
- Benefit from the Upgrade Support of the Enhancement Framework
by Thomas Weiss, Solution Manager, SAP NetWeaver Product Management Application Server ABAP, SAP AG (January 2010)
Using the new Enhancement Framework instead of classic modification technology saves a lot of time in an SAP upgrade. In contrast to the classic modification technology, all enhancements survive an upgrade. You need only to adjust an enhancement if the underlying SAP object has vanished or been incompatibly changed. The new transaction SPAU_ENH informs you about which objects you have to adjust and supports you in adjusting these objects.
- Best Practices for Driving SAP Initiatives via an Offsite Delivery Model
by Yosh Eisbart, Senior SAP Project Manager/Offsite Delivery Manager (April 2009)
Learn about the array of SAP offsite delivery methods and discover the importance of the role of an integration manager if you decide to implement one of them.
- Bring BPM-Based Process Models to Execution: Roles and Data Flow with the Process Composer
by Volker Stiehl, Chief Solution Expert, SAP AG (January 2010)
Developing multi-step interactive processes is a challenging task. Find out how to model the data flow within a business process. In addition, learn how to assign roles to your interactive steps and how to define conditions for gateways that care for the branches in your process flow. Finally see how to build, deploy, and run your business process.
- Build a Reduced-Size System Copy for Testing with TDMS Shellcreation
by Nils Krugmann, Consulting Lead TDMS Shellcreation, SAP Deutschland AG & Co. KG (January 2009)
SAP Test Data Migration Server (TDMS) is a high-speed data-extraction tool that you can use to populate your development, test, quality assurance, and training systems (called receiver systems) with data from your live production environment (called sender systems). A TDMS Shellcreation builds a receiver system as a reduced-size copy of the sender system; since it builds only a small system, it doesn’t consume as many resources as a full-system copy and requires only a fraction of the storage space. Shellcreation for SAP ERP systems is the only possible approach to creating a small receiver system for large sender systems. Learn how to navigate the Shellcreation process and avoid major pitfalls.
- Build Multiple Web Service-Consuming Flex Applications Using Proxy Classes
by Sandesh Darne, Consulting ERP Practice at L&T Infotech (October 2009)
Proxy classes for use in Web applications can be automatically generated by ActionScript, an SAP NetWeaver plug-in, integrated with Adobe Flex Builder 2 or via a wizard in Adobe Flex Builder 3. How the proxy classes are created isn’t as important as your understanding the proxy class structure. Learn how to deal with generated proxy classes to develop code in Flex applications that consume enterprise services.
- Build Rich Internet Applications in SAP Using Web Dynpro ABAP and Flex
by Krishnakumar (KK) Ramamoorthy, Deloitte Consulting, LLP (August 2010)
With Adobe Flash Islands, you can build effective user interfaces in SAP, employing Rich Internet application frameworks such as Adobe Flex. Find out how Flash Islands can integrate with Web Dynpro ABAP and how to set it up in your SAP system.
- Bulletproof Your SAP Implementations and Legacy-to-SAP Conversions
by Tom Sullivan, Senior IT Specialist (August 2009)
Find out the pitfalls that occur most often when converting from a non-SAP legacy system to an SAP system. Then discover best practices to help you avoid these pitfalls and see how you can apply them to your project.
- Call Portal iViews and SAP Screens within BSPs to Reduce Design Overhead
by Muhammad Usman Malik, Senior SAP Technical Consultant, Saudi Business Machines (SBM), Saudi Arabia (February 2010)
Business Server Pages are the best flexible way to deliver Web-based solutions in SAP systems. Instead of providing the same look and feel of standard SAP screens, developers can use the vast library of HTML and JavaScript. Find out how to decrease overhead by calling pre-deployed SAP screens and transactions through their iViews or the respective transaction code. In addition, discover how to include Single Sign-On (SSO) and how to call transactions in a non-portal environment.
- Capture accurate solution requirements the first time with exploratory modeling (xM): How to
nearly eliminate post-go-
live application design failures
by Heinz Roggenkemper, Executive Vice President of Development, SAP Labs
Ralf Ehret, Development Architect, SAP AG
Andreas Tönne, Lead Consultant, Cincom Systems
The lack of a common language between business users and developers during application development projects often results in developers spending a lot of time designing a solution that does not meet user needs. This article explores an approach to application development called exploratory modeling (xM) that reduces the risk of application design failure by using non-technical, business-level tools and concepts to create an application model, and then enabling fine-tuning of the model through shortened, interactive analysis and design cycles. The article starts by examining the root causes of design failures, and then defines the xM approach and discusses how it was successfully used in two projects.
- Case Study: How to Enhance the Web Dynpro ABAP User Interface in SAP Business Suite 7.0
by Thomas Weiss, Product Manager, SAP NetWeaver Solution Management Application Server ABAP, SAP AG, and Michael Kraeft, Development Architect, TD Core UI&AM, SAP AG (December 2009)
Walk through the following steps to enhance the Web Dynpro ABAP user interface of a standard SAP application by following a real-world example. Find out the advantages of using the Enhancement Framework to achieve this.
- Case Study: What Every Cutover Manager Should Know to Ensure a Smooth SAP Implementation
by Srinivasa (Srini) Munagavalasa PMP, Deployment Manager, C.A. Inc. (September 2009)
Cutover is one of the final steps for a successful implementation of any SAP project — and one of the most complex and critical components. A clear understanding of the processes, communication plan, staffing plan, resource requirements, execution steps, and expectations can help drive a successful cutover. Learn what is entailed in this process, what you need to do to make it successful, what to avoid, and what you need to keep an eye on.
- Composite Designer and SAP NetWeaver Business Process Management Minimize Composite Application Development Efforts
by Volker Stiehl, Solution Expert, SAP AG (October 2009)
With the introduction of the Composite Designer as part of SAP enhancement package 1 for SAP NetWeaver Composition Environment 7.1, a composite is treated as one entity for the first time. Learn how to work with the Composite Designer as your central cockpit for developing composite applications. See how to start with a skeleton of a business process that you are going to sketch with SAP NetWeaver Business Process Management.
- Configure SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation for SAP NetWeaver to Optimize System Performance
by Ryan Leask, Director, BPC Solution Management, SAP BusinessObjects and Prakash Darji, Director, BPC Solution Management, SAP BusinessObjects (January 2009)
Read about the underlying architecture for SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation 7.0, version for SAP NetWeaver. Learn how to set up the connectivity between the different SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation clients and servers, and how to change different ABAP and .NET settings to optimize system performance.
- Configure SAPSprint for Secure Server-Based Printing on Windows
by Michael Szardenings, Senior Developer, SAP AG (June 2009)
You can have as wide and varied a range of printing needs as you have business needs. Learn about the available SAPSprint options — what they are and what they do — so you can help your organization meet its specific printing needs.
- Connect Your Process Model to Web Dynpro Components and Services Using Composite Designer for Smooth Process Execution
by Volker Stiehl, Solution Expert, SAP AG (November 2009)
Discover what you have to consider if you want to integrate a Web Dynpro component or a Web service for persisting data in your process. After you develop your UIs and your Web service, find out how to connect them with the respective process steps.
- Consume Enterprise Services in Java Using SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio to Achieve Your Business Process Goals
by Prasad Illapani, Solution Architect/PL RIG Specialist, SAP Labs LLC (January 2009)
Find out how to connect to the Services Registry, download the service from it, and design, deploy, and test the service using the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) engine in an SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio environment. Learn how you can publish a service using SAP NetWeaver Administrator on the Java side, browse and download an enterprise service to SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio, and finally, develop, implement, and deploy a Web service client application using SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio.
- Data Transformation in SAP Standard ALE Distributed Business Processes: How to
Ensure an Efficient, Effective Implementation
by Arthur Wirthensohn, Senior Consultant, EDS Switzerland
SAP’s Application Link Enabling (ALE) is an integrated toolset for distributing data between SAP systems as well as between SAP and non-SAP systems. ALE offers a wide range of tools for performing data conversions between systems, each with its own advantages and limitations. This article outlines these data conversion tools — their capabilities, relative merits, and how to use them — and provides a structured approach for selecting the right tool, or combination of tools, for your own implementation, so that you can plan and build more cost-effective, more easily maintainable ALE interfaces.
- Database System Copies Made Easy — A Guide for Copying an Entire R/3 System to
a New Windows Platform
by Giovanni Davila, SAP Basis & Database Administration, Signature Fruit Company,
LLC
Sooner or later, every SAP Basis administrator faces the challenge of copying an entire R/3 system onto another server machine to create a test system, a disaster recovery server, or a report-only server, for example. Unfortunately, many administrators lack the knowledge and resources to properly clone an R/3 system. This article provides you with the tools you need to successfully copy a full database system to a Windows platform. By following the steps and checklists outlined in these pages, you can create a new system from the ground up, and best of all, you can automate subsequent copies using a downloadable script that saves you from many common mistakes.
- Debug Business Processes Built with SAP NetWeaver BPM to Resolve Errors Fast
by Volker Stiehl, Chief Solution Expert, SAP AG, (May 2010)
Developers are all used to finding bugs in common programming languages, but how does this work for graphical models? This article explains in detail how to solve your process issues by using the tools shipped with SAP NetWeaver Composition Environment.
- Define Secure Connections with the Destination Service in SAP NetWeaver AS Java
by Robert Heidasch, Business Semantic Applications, SAP AG (May 2010)
The modern component-based business applications comprise several components that often run on different machines. Establishing the identities of the communicating parties has become an important element in business operations. You need to protect your sensitive data against unauthorized access, which requires the establishment of secure communication channels. SAP NetWeaver Application Server Java provides the destination service that helps you configure secure connections to remote business applications and systems.
- Design and Format Barcode Labels Easily with a Custom ABAP Program
by Tomoyuki Niijima, Senior IT Architect, IBM Japan, and Vipin Nagpal, Senior Advisory Consultant, IBM India Pvt. Ltd. (June 2010)
Uncover a strategy that enables you to print barcode labels from SAP ERP using SATO printers. Find out how you can create a SATO Barcode Program language data stream from an ABAP report that contains the command for printing text, boxes, and barcodes.
- Designing a Solid, Lasting Landscape for Your SAP Enterprise Portal
Implementation: Identifying Your Key Requirements and Understanding Your Design
Options
by Rizwan Uqaili, Business Intelligence and Enterprise Portal Services, Rapidigm
SAP Enterprise Portal offers users a single, convenient access point to enterprise applications and documents, and IT teams a centralized infrastructure for handling scalability, redundancy, security, user authentication, external access, and content administration. The pressure to get a portal up and running, however, can yield a landscape you'll likely outgrow in 6 to 12 months. This article, the first in a two-part series on designing a strategic, cost-effective portal landscape, shows you how to identify the applications to run in your portal, their underlying requirements, and user accessibility and availability needs, and points out four critical security areas you need to consider.
- Designing a Solid, Lasting Landscape for Your SAP Enterprise Portal
Implementation: Using the Most Effective Technical Options to Meet Your Key
Requirements
by Rizwan Uqaili, Business Intelligence and Enterprise Portal Services, Rapidig
The only way to keep pace with the unavoidable, exponential growth of your SAP Enterprise Portal landscape without incurring significant cost, rework, and production interruptions is to base its design on a deliberate growth strategy. In the first installment of this two-part article series, I showed you how to precisely define your portal landscape requirements for today and tomorrow. Using five sample landscapes that can serve as a basis for your own design, this second installment discusses the specific technical options available to you for designing and sizing your portal landscape, and how to choose the ones that most effectively meet your identified needs.
- Develop Interactive Voice Applications with Ease Using Visual Composer
by Tilak Mitra, Senior Certified Executive Architect, IBM USA, and Dipankar Saha, Advisory System Analyst, IBM India (March 2009)
Learn how to build a storyboard for a voice application and configure it for deployment on the SAP NetWeaver Composition Environment 7.1 platform using the Voice Kit add-on.
- Develop, Debug, and Manage C/C++ Services in SAP Business Connector 4.8
by Ulrich Schmidt, Senior Developer, SAP AG (April 2010)
Discover how SAP Business Connector C/C++ services work internally. Find out when it’s best to use them and when you should avoid them. Uncover tips and tricks for creating and debugging SAP BC C/C++ services smoothly.
- Develop, Debug, and Manage Java Services in SAP Business Connector 4.8
by Ulrich Schmidt, Senior Developer, SAP AG (January 2010)
Find out how to develop SAP Business Connector (SAP BC) Java services using a state-of-the-art Integrated Development Environment (IDE) such as Eclipse, how to set up source code versioning for developing Java services in a larger team using a third-party code revision control system, and how to debug Java services on the fly in a live system.
- Developing Custom Applications for SAP Enterprise Portal - Starting with
the 'Right' Options in Light of SAP NetWeaver
by Patrick Dixon, Technology Integration, Deloitte
Writing a custom application for delivery via SAP Enterprise Portal (SAP EP) no longer means simply writing a custom ABAP report or module pool — SAP NetWeaver’s native support for Java and .NET, in addition to ABAP, has dramatically expanded the menu of languages, tools, and approaches available to you for custom development. This article is the first in a two-part series designed to help you make the right choice for developing custom content and applications and deploying them in your own SAP EP implementation. This first installment compares the pros, cons, prerequisites, and strategic implications of the options that are easiest to implement; the remaining options are covered in the second installment.
- Discover More Options for SAP E-Recruiting with Web Dynpro ABAP
by Vinay Naithani, Managing Consultant, HCL-Axon (August 2010)
See how to use Web Dynpro ABAP with your SAP E-Recruiting component without depending too heavily on technical skills. Configure the start page and different services for internal and external candidates, and adapt your configuration to other Web Dynpro ABAP applications offered in SAP enhancement package 4.
- Enhance All Layers of an Application with the New and Classic Enhancement Technologies
by Thomas Weiss, Product Manager, SAP NetWeaver Product Management Application Server ABAP, SAP AG (June 2009)
Working in cooperation with the classic append technology, the Enhancement Framework enables you to enhance all levels of an application from the Web Dynpro ABAP user interface over the application logic to the database layer. By going through a comprehensive example you will learn how to use the Enhancement Framework and discover the underlying principles and structures that make this technology so easy to work with.
- Enhance Standard BAPIs for Purchase Orders and Sales Orders Documents to Meet Business Needs
by Michal Krawczyk, SAP Integration Consultant, BCC, Poland (May 2009)
Learn how to modify standard, predefined interfaces that provide access to processes and data in business application systems, such as SAP ERP 6.0, to address your business requirements. Learn how to use append structures to create or change most of your SAP ERP documents.
- Ensure consistency and synchronization across your master data: Integrate your
classification changes into customer and vendor master data ALE scenarios
by Anthony Cecchini
Nearly every SAP customer has used standard ALE scenarios to distribute customer and vendor master data changes across their SAP system landscapes. However, prior to SAP NetWeaver ’04, the classification data associated with customer and vendor master data is not included in distributions. This article outlines a two-part solution for keeping master data and associated classification data in synch. The first half of the article shows you how to create an extended IDoc that includes the associated classification data when master data changes are distributed. The second half of the article shows you how to trigger this same IDoc when only classification data is changed.
- Expand portal navigation options and increase user satisfaction by enabling
object-based navigation in SAP NetWeaver Portal ’04
by Oliver Stiefbold
One of the most important determinants of a portal’s success is navigation, second only to the value of its content. If users can’t easily access (or remember) the location of portal content, they won’t use the portal, regardless of its quality. SAP NetWeaver Portal ’04 introduces a new solution for low-maintenance, ad-hoc portal navigation called object-based navigation (OBN). With OBN, users no longer need to search for and launch individual links or figure out which items can be dragged and dropped — they simply right-click on an OBN-enabled object to display a context menu and select an operation. This article demonstrates how to enable OBN in your own portal for improved navigation capabilities.
- Explore the technical procedures and settings for creating and securing RFMs in ABAP: Part 2 — A comprehensive guide
for SAP programmers and administrators
by Masoud Aghadavoodi Jolfaei, Development Architect, SAP AG
Eduard Neuwirt, Senior Developer, SAP AG
Although new communication protocols such as HTTP, HTTPS, and SOAP have gained
traction in recent years, remote function call (RFC) remains the most trusted
and widely used for connecting ABAP systems. This is the second article in
a two-part series that helps you create better performing and more robust ABAP
applications using RFC. The first installment introduced key RFC concepts and
discussed the five RFC types. This second installment explores more advanced
topics. It shows you how to design and develop remote function modules (RFMs)
that fulfill performance and security expectations, and how to properly maintain
RFC destinations for effective network communication.
- Five factors to consider before embarking on custom application development
by Patrick Dixon, Manager, Deloitte Consulting
Managing a globally distributed, heterogeneous system landscape is one of the biggest challenges project teams face. Fortunately, SAP Solution Manager provides a set of sophisticated tools that enable centralized administration of the systems throughout your landscape. For these tools to run smoothly, however, you need to properly configure the infrastructure upon which they rely. This article introduces you to how the infrastructure works and how it is configured using an SAP Solution Manager component called Solution Manager System Landscape (transaction SMSY), which houses the settings and system connections that enable SAP Solution Manager to access and manage satellite systems.
- Get Ready to Implement SAP Enhancement Packages for SAP ERP 6.0
by Christian Oehler, Suite Solution Architecture, Solution Management SAP Business Suite, and Thomas Weiss, Product Manager, SAP NetWeaver Product
Management Application Server ABAP, SAP AG (December 2008)
SAP’s enhancement package strategy allows you to implement the functionality that you need when you need it without having to worry about overriding your customizations or any other unknown side effects. Gain a better understanding of SAP’s latest software delivery strategy as you learn how to implement and activate individual enhancements with minimal maintenance efforts.
- Get started creating SAP Enterprise Portal iViews with Visual Composer — a
purely model-driven, code-free development approach
by Karl Kessler, Product Manager, SAP NetWeaver, SAP AG
In the past, creating iViews with customized user interfaces meant developing custom applications in ABAP, Java, or C#. Not anymore — SAP NetWeaver ’04 introduces Visual Composer, a graphical development environment for creating and maintaining iViews. iViews are built in a simple and flexible drag-and-drop fashion where the code is automatically generated, freeing developers to focus on more complex requirements. This article, the first in a two-part series, explores the Visual Composer architecture, its installation requirements, and its programming model, and shows you how to build an example iView. The second installment shows you how to enhance your iViews by incorporating some advanced features.
- Get Started with Cloud Computing and SAP Today
by Scott Wall, SAP R&D Manager, Solutions Network, Deloitte Consulting, LLP (June 2010)
Thinking about cloud computing? Not sure how to get started? Discover the different types of cloud computing models with a focus on Infrastructure as a Service. Included are immediate SAP use cases for applying cloud technology, SAP-specific challenges and support considerations, and guidelines for building your own hybrid cloud.
- Get the Maximum Out of a BRSPACE Online Reorganization
by Martin Frauendorfer, Service Architect, Active Global Support, SAP AG (February 2010)
BRSPACE online reorganizations provide possibilities for tasks such as reduction of fragmentation or adaptation of the tablespace design. For example, you can automatically improve data clustering by sorting table records or activating an index-organized table. Find out which scenarios can benefit from reorganization and then see how you can take BRSPACE to the next level.
- Get the Most Out of SAPSprint for Server-Based Printing in Microsoft Windows
by Michael Szardenings, Senior Developer, SAP AG (April 2009)
SAPSprint is the latest service for server-based printing on Windows. Learn how to install and configure this service with its default options. Drill down into the technical implementation to learn how to manage print requests, restart print processes, configure front-end printing, and include barcodes.
- Get Your eCATT Test Case Right the First Time
by Sapna Modi, Lead – SAP Consulting, Larsen & Toubro Infotech Ltd. (June 2009)
Follow these 11 tips to avoid errors when you use extended Computer Aided Test Tool to test your end-to-end business scenario transactions.
- Implement Logging and Tracing in Your Java-Based SAP NetWeaver '04 Applications
with Ease: A Developer's Guide
by Robert Heidasch, SAP NetWeaver Foundation Group, SAP AG
While implementing problem logging and tracing in custom-built ABAP applications has long been quick and easy, the same has not been true for Java-based SAP applications — until now. SAP NetWeaver ’04 provides a new common logging and tracing infrastructure for Java-based SAP NetWeaver components, including specialized APIs for implementing logging and tracing functionality in custom-built programs. Using examples, this article shows developers how to implement the SAP Logging API in Java-based SAP Web Application Server applications, how to use the Portal Runtime Logging API in SAP Enterprise Portal components, and how to achieve optimal performance when using these APIs.
- Implement Proven Testing Practices and Techniques for Large-Scale Global SAP Rollouts
by Jose Fajardo, President, SAPTESTING.NET (August 2009)
Learn how to avoid mistakes that plague many SAP implementations associated with flawed testing approaches. Take away valuable information that you can use as a baseline for either enhancing the status quo at your respective projects or for avoiding potential mistakes before testing is initiated.
- Improve communication between your C/C++ applications and SAP systems with SAP NetWeaver RFC
SDK: Part 1 — RFC client programs
by Ulrich Schmidt, Senior Developer, SAP AG
Guangwei Li, Senior Developer, SAP AG
SAP NetWeaver 7.1 introduces a new software development kit (SDK) for remote function call (RFC) communications: SAP NetWeaver RFC SDK. It is the successor to the well-known “classic” RFC SDK for SAP R/3, and you can use it in C/C++-based applications to enable communication with SAP back-end systems ranging from SAP R/3 4.0B to the latest SAP NetWeaver systems. This article is the first in a three-part series that examines the advanced features of SAP NetWeaver SDK and the communication between SAP systems and external C programs. This first installment looks at the design of SAP NetWeaver RFC SDK and explains the ideas behind it.
- Improve communication between your C/C++ applications and SAP systems with SAP NetWeaver RFC
SDK: Part 2 — RFC server
programs
by Ulrich Schmidt, Senior Developer, SAP AG
Guangwei Li, Senior Developer, SAP AG
This second installment of a three-part series continues exploring the SAP NetWeaver remote function call (RFC) software development kit (SDK), the successor to the RFC SDK for SAP R/3, by looking at the flexible capabilities of RFC server programs. You will learn how they automatically retrieve and cache structure information, receive calls from multiple SAP systems into one server program, protect the server from unauthorized access, and trigger all kinds of exceptions from the server. You will also find out how the RFC SDK makes it easy for RFC server applications to handle errors and gives the ABAP side of the system meaningful details about any error situations.
- Improve communication between your C/C++ applications and SAP systems with SAP NetWeaver RFC SDK: Part 3 — Advanced topics
by Ulrich Schmidt, Senior Developer, and Guangwei Li, Senior Developer, SAP AG
The new SAP NetWeaver remote function call (RFC) software development kit (SDK) provides a reliable and highly efficient communications protocol for exchanging data between C/C++-based applications and SAP systems. This article, the final installment in a three-part series, looks at some advanced SAP NetWeaver RFC SDK topics, including how to handle transactional RFC (tRFC) and queued RFC (qRFC), construct hard-coded metadata descriptions, handle RFC callbacks, and use single sign-on (SSO) and Secure Network Communication (SNC). You will also find out how the iDocClient and iDocServer programs work and how to test them.
- Improve your business processes with quick and easy enhancements to PDF documents: A toolbox
for modifying PDF files
using ABAP
by Cord Jastram, Software Engineer,
Computer Sciences
Corporation, Germany
Forms are the lifeline of modern business, and
the well-known PDF technology enables you to easily
send forms via email, post them on the Internet,
archive them, or print them offline. But what if
you want to quickly modify a PDF document — add encryption,
attachments, or background text, for example — without
having to open Adobe Acrobat and click through the
various buttons and menu items? This article introduces
the PDF Toolbox, an open-source solution that allows
ABAP developers to programmatically modify existing
PDF documents with ease. It takes you through the
components of the solution, walks you through an
example that uses it, and shows you how to enhance
and deploy it.
- Increase the efficiency of your RFC communications with bgRFC — a scalable and transactional
middleware framework
by Wolfgang Baur, Developer,
Omar-Alexander Al-Hujaj, Developer,
Wolfgang Röder, Development Architect, SAP AG
In high-volume process communication scenarios,
the most commonly used remote function call (RFC)
types are asynchronous RFC (aRFC), transactional
RFC (tRFC), and queued RFC (qRFC). However, aRFCs
are not guaranteed, and while tRFCs and qRFCs follow
the guaranteed “transactional” model
in which RFC calls succeed or fail as a group, their
scalability is limited. To bridge these gaps, SAP NetWeaver 2004s SP14 introduces the background RFC (bgRFC) type, which improves runtime through efficient, highly
scalable, transactional processing of large numbers
of sequential function calls. This article explains
the most important concepts of bgRFC and shows you
how to use bgRFC in your programs to create highly
scalable integration solutions.
- Integrate Adobe Flex into Your Web Application Development Environment to Increase Web Services Consumption
by Sandesh Darne, Consulting ERP Practice at L&T Infotech (April 2009)
Learn how Adobe Flex fits into the SAP development environment and how to use this partnership to create robust applications. Learn how to drill down into a Web service to explore its details in order to apply suitable Web service consumption and development strategies for your application.
- Integrate Web Dynpro into your SAP NetWeaver Portal to create dynamic, flexible applications
by Jochen Guertler
Combining Web Dynpro (to create state-of-the-art, Web-based business applications) and SAP NetWeaver Portal (to securely deliver applications to users) can provide more robust results than simply creating an iView in the portal to display the application. Instead, you can build professional portal systems that provide users with the best of both technologies: appealing, secure, and dynamic applications that you can quickly customize. Using an example, this article demonstrates how a tight coupling of Web Dynpro and SAP NetWeaver Portal allows you to create sophisticated, state-of-the-art portal applications.
- Integrating Non-SAP Data and Web Content into Your SAP Enterprise Portal — A
Guided Tour of Your Options, Which to Use, and When
by Patrick Dixon, Technology Integration, Deloitte
A portal that offers a single point of seamless access to various internal and external systems and content can save users a significant amount of time and frustration, and improve productivity. To achieve these benefits, however, users need to actually use the portal, and the key to getting users to use the portal is to provide the content that they need. The first installment in this article series showed you how to use the wizards, tools, and predeveloped business packages available for SAP Enterprise Portal 5.0 and 6.0 to integrate transactions, reports, and data from your SAP systems, including SAP R/3 and SAP BW, into your portal. This second installment shows you how to bring your non-SAP systems, including corporate email systems, third-party SQL databases, and Web-based content from intranet and Internet sources, into the fold.
- Introducing the Enhancement Framework — a new way to enhance SAP programs without having to
modify them
by Thomas Weiss, Product Manager, NetWeaver Product Management Application Server
Michael Acker, Development Architect, NetWeaver Foundation ABAP Workbench, SAP AG
The Enhancement Framework as of SAP NetWeaver 7.0 is the new and state-of-the-art way for customers to adapt SAP development objects to their needs. Enhancements as objects in the customer namespace cause far less work during an upgrade than the classic modifications, which are overwritten in every upgrade and must be reapplied. This article elaborates the basic idea of the enhancement technology by comparing it to modifications, gives an overview of the whole framework, and explains how to best use it.
- Introducing the SAP Java IDoc Class Library Part 1: An Easier Way to Write Java
Programs That Create and Send IDocs to an SAP System
by Robert Chu, Integration and Certification Center, SAP Labs LLC
Writing programs that exchange Intermediate Documents (IDocs) with an SAP system has traditionally been difficult, requiring you to either spend considerable time and effort writing complex custom code or license expensive third-party middleware. But it doesn’t have to be that way anymore. This article, the first in a two-part series, introduces the new SAP Java IDoc Class Library, a free add-on to the SAP Java Connector. Through many working examples, you will learn how to use this library to write efficient and reliable Java programs that compose and send IDocs to an SAP system (i.e., IDoc client programs), and how to implement robust transactional RFC (tRFC) management for the IDoc client programs.
- Introducing the SAP Java IDoc Class Library Part 2: An Easier Way to Write Java
Programs That Receive and Process IDocs from an SAP System
by Robert Chu, Integration and Certification Center, SAP Labs LLC
Interface programming, especially writing programs that send or receive SAP Intermediate Documents (IDocs) for data exchange, can be a time-consuming and labor-intensive task. The new SAP Java IDoc Class Library reduces the complexity, time, and expense associated with writing such programs in Java. This second installment picks up where the first leaves off and shows you how to use this library to write Java programs that receive and process IDocs coming from an SAP system (i.e., IDoc server programs), and how to implement robust transactional RFC (tRFC) management for the IDoc server programs.
- Key Parameters Help Optimize SAP Extended Memory on AIX 64-Bit Kernel
by Vipul Shah, Performance Analyst and Team Lead, Wipro Technologies (June 2010)
Properly managing your system memory can lead to improved performance and lower operating costs. Find out how SAP Extended Memory helps you achieve these goals and discover the main parameter settings to help solve common memory challenges.
- Leveraging the R/3 Warehouse Management Structure with the MM-MOB and WM-LSR Interfaces
by Michael Ottenstein
Integrating the R/3 Warehouse Management (WM) module with mobile data entry devices and external warehouse management systems is made possible by two interfaces — Mobile Data Entry (MM-MOB), which enables mobile entry and transfer of data to and from SAP, and Warehouse Control Unit (WM-LSR), which enables the sending and receiving of information between the warehouse control units in the SAP environment and automated storage and retrieval systems, fork-lift control systems, picking systems, and carousels. These two interfaces open up a vast array of application scenarios. This article teaches developers the things you need to understand in order to implement an MM-MOB- or WM-LSR-based application scenario.
- Master the five remote function call (RFC) types in ABAP: Part 1 — A comprehensive guide for
SAP programmers and administrators
by Masoud Aghadavoodi Jolfaei, Development Architect, AG
Eduard Neuwirt, Senior Developer, SAP AG
Remote function call (RFC) is the de facto protocol
of choice of SAP developers, system architects, and
administrators, and is the basis of nearly all major
integration points in an SAP system landscape. You’ve
probably used RFC to call function modules on other
SAP systems, or used one of SAP’s standalone
RFC libraries. But did you know that there are other
SAP-supplied RFCs that optimize system resources and
performance? This article, the first in a two-part
series, takes you on a brief tour of the five RFC types
available with SAP Basis 4.0B and higher, and teaches
you how to use them in your ABAP programs.
- Navigate the Complexities of Currency Conversion for More Accurate Management Reporting
by Jens Koerner, SAP NetWeaver BI Solution Architect, Inforte, a Business & Decision Company (February 2009)
Since dealing with multiple currencies has become commonplace in a global economy, it’s no surprise that currency conversion is needed everywhere in global organizations that implement and run SAP software solutions. While currency conversion was mainly the purview of the ERP system in the past, ERP systems no longer carry that burden alone. Today’s managers want reports on aggregated data in various currencies. Uncover the hidden complexities of currency conversion in management reporting, and discover easy-to-understand examples that help you communicate these complexities to project stakeholders to ensure that your solution will meet all multi-currency reporting requirements.
- Optimize Application Integration by Running Risk Analysis and Remediation for SAP NetWeaver Portal
by Frank Rambo, Director, Regional Implementation Group (RIG) EMEA, SAP GRC (July 2010)
The Web-based environment of SAP NetWeaver Portal provides business users in your organization secure access to a wide array of SAP and non-SAP applications, information, and services, such as SAP ERP, analytics, business intelligence, and document repositories. The diversity of content delivered to your business users through SAP NetWeaver Portal may come with user access-related risks to be analyzed, monitored, and mitigated. Learn how to integrate SAP NetWeaver Portal into SAP BusinessObjects Access Control 5.3 and include it in your risk analysis, risk mitigation.
- Overcome Offsite Delivery Challenges and Improve Productivity
by Yosh Eisbart, Senior SAP Project Manager/Offsite Delivery Manager (September 2009)
Learn how you can maximize your offsite delivery capabilities using both SAP Solution Manager and work tracking tools, such as VersionOne and Microsoft Project.
- PDK Installation and Customization for SSO Access to SAP Systems: Essential
Lessons for Developers and Implementation Teams
by Carl Vieregger, Principal Consultant, IBM Business Consulting Services
In SAP's Enterprise Portal, iViews provide an integrated view of the business information that is vital to your organization. While SAP offers ready-made iViews, to fully realize the benefits you will want to build iViews customized to your particular organization. The Portal Development Kit (PDK) is SAP's platform for building custom Java iViews. This article describes the installation of the PDK, outlines the post-installation steps for enabling single sign-on (SSO) access to SAP component systems, and provides expert tips and insights that are not part of the standard documentation.
- Provide more efficient master data management integration with SAP’s new mass
interfaces and extractor programs
by Michal Krawczyk, SAP Integration Consultant, BCC, Poland
Enterprise service-oriented architecture (enterprise SOA) requires that you update your approach to building applications that use master data objects, such as customer or vendor data, especially in terms of integration with SAP NetWeaver Master Data Management (SAP NetWeaver MDM) or other MDM tools. SAP has introduced mass message interfaces
for transferring master data, as well as programs for both IDoc and ABAP proxy message types. Find out what steps are necessary to configure the new mass message interfaces and extractor programs to achieve the greatest productivity.
- Quick Tip: 3 Easy Methods for Finding Enhancements
by Muhammad Usman Malik, Senior SAP Consultant, Saudi Business Machines, Saudi Arabia (April 2009)
You use enhancements to improve and mold business processes according to company standards. Learn how to find enhancements quickly to increase efficiency and minimize effort when seeking to locate a particular enhancement.
- Quick Tip: 3 Steps to Set Debug Options for Fast Issue Resolution
by Ryan Leask, Director, BPC Solution Management, SAP BusinessObjects and Prakash Darji, Director, BPC Solution Management, SAP BusinessObjects (May 2009)
Learn how to debug ABAP code with greater control by specifying users who are responsible for debugging programs and applications and by setting breakpoints.
- Quick Tip: 5 Steps to Integrate Third-Party Testing Tools into Your SAP System
by Judith M. Myerson, President/Owner (August 2009)
When you add untested third-party tools to your SAP system you can encounter issues during the integration process. Find out how you can save time and work when testing and integrating third-party tools, and discover what corrective actions you need to take to integrate them.
- Quick Tip: Apply Your Documents and Media Files to SAP Transactional Data
by Michael A. Moore, SAP Technical Architect (May 2010)
SAP provides a document management solution to allow SAP application users to attach images of assets, documents, and other objects and associate them with transactional data. The system provides security, change management, search capability, and integration with desktop applications such as Microsoft Office.
- Quick Tip: Enhance Source Code in Just 4 Steps — Without Modifying Standard Code
by Muhammad Usman Malik, Senior SAP Consultant, Saudi Business Machines, Saudi Arabia (July 2009)
With Enhancement Framework it is possible to change business logic in standard applications without modifying them. These enhancements are easy to trace in different development systems and in upgrades. SAP provides various implicit enhancement points to incorporate and mold standard application outcome to fit business requirements. Follow four steps to find and implement implicit enhancements.
- Quick Tip: Implement SSL Certificates from Visual Administrator to Meet Security Needs
by Ameya Pimpalgaonkar, SAP NetWeaver Consultant, L&T Infotech (September 2009)
Follow this process when you want to secure your SAP NetWeaver Portal with SSL quickly, but don’t want to change your corporate portal security settings. This process also avoids certificate conflicts that may arise.
- Quick Tip: Make the Most of SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 Transformations
by Umesh Manoor, Senior SAP BI Consultant, Fujitsu Consulting, and Kedar Patil, Senior Consultant, Infosys Technologies Limited (January 2009)
Learn a few tips to create transformations and migrate Web templates.
- Quick Tip: SAP’s Path to the Cloud
by Michael A. Moore, SAP Technical Architect (May 2010)
SAP is positioning its applications and providing management tools to take advantage of cloud computing implementation models. Find out what is currently available for cloud computing, what is to come, and which SAP Notes can help you with your cloud project.
- Quick Tip: Simplify Model-Based Integration Content Configuration by Using Process Models
by Peter Gutsche, Dr., SAP AG (November 2009)
A new feature in SAP enhancement package 1 for SAP NetWeaver Process Integration 7.1 allows you to use predefined process component interaction models as configuration templates. This helps automate integration content configuration. Find out about the basic configuration steps involved in using these process component interaction models.
- Quickly Resolve SAP Interactive Form Issues for Seamless Printing Workflow
by Michael Szardenings, Senior Developer, SAP AG (May 2010)
The SAP Interactive Forms software by Adobe (SAP Interactive Forms) offers an enhanced look and interaction capabilities. However, using SAP Interactive Forms can cause obstacles within the printing workflow. Understanding the issues that may arise helps you set up your printing environment for SAP Interactive Forms.
- Quickly Solve Custom Application Problems Using Java Debugging
by Robert Heidasch, Enterprise Services Infrastructure, SAP AG (September 2009)
SAP NetWeaver provides functionality to detect and analyze potential application and system problems. However, sometimes you need more information than what the standard SAP NetWeaver system provides, such as internal application information. Find out how you can use SAP NetWeaver Application Server Java and SAP NetWeaver Development Studio to delve deeper into the debugging process.
- Real-Time Business Process Analytics with SAP NetWeaver BPM and SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer
by Volker Stiehl, Chief Solution Expert, SAP AG (May 2010)
With the latest version of SAP NetWeaver Composition Environment (7.2), you can write back any business-related data that you find useful for analysis. You can create charts to visualize the aggregated data using SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer. A new reporting activity in your process model allows you to obtain detailed insight into processes by means of performance indicators. Here are the necessary steps to implement analysis on process data.
- Real-Time, Outbound Interfaces to Non-R/3 Systems Made Simple with Change Pointers, Message
Control, and Workflow
by Amy Stapleton
Developers often struggle with custom ABAP/4 code or database logging to devise ways to track changes to data and then to trigger output of that changed data across outbound interfaces to non-R/3 systems. The onus of creating a way to track changes as they occur rests squarely on the shoulders of these developers, but it doesn't have to. There are easier, more automated ways to facilitate real or near real-time outbound interfaces: change pointers, message control, and workflow.
The benefits of tapping into these pre-existing SAP R/3 mechanisms can be significant. You can track changes to data and automatically trigger your outbound interface without writing any custom ABAP/4 code in Customer Exits and without turning on database logging. This article will show you that it's not difficult to do.
- Resolve System Issues Quickly with Detailed Logging and Tracing Options
by Ryan Leask, Director, BPC Solution Management, SAP BusinessObjects, and Prakash Darji, Director, BPC Solution Management, SAP BusinessObjects (April 2009)
Discover the logs and trace options that provide comprehensive information that you can use to resolve issues without debugging programs and applications. Learn the types of logs available within the different tiers of the architecture of the system. Find out how you can set a trace to solve user-specific issues.
- SAP Business Connector 4.8 and SAP NetWeaver PI Compared: When to Use Each
by Ulrich Schmidt, Senior Developer, SAP AG (October 2009)
Understand what integration platforms are and how you use them with SAP systems. Find out the similarities and differences between SAP’s two main integration platforms: SAP Business Connector and SAP NetWeaver Process Integration.
- SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation: Add Sophisticated Enhancements Through the Shared Query Engine BAdI
by Ryan Leask, Senior Director, EPM Solution Management, SAP BusinessObjects and Prakash Darji, Director, BPC Solution Management, SAP BusinessObjects (January 2010)
Discover a few of the available ways to enhance SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation, version for SAP NetWeaver. These enhancements often take the form of BAdIs and are implemented through ABAP coding. The authors take you through a detailed example of one such BAdI, the Shared Query Engine BAdI, and supply the code necessary to adapt the process for your own needs.
- SAP NetWeaver 7.0 Upgrades: A Project Manager’s Point of View
by Steve Leone, PMP, Senior SAP Delivery Consultant, COMSYS (May 2009)
Project managers need to make scope decisions, determine resource needs, and define schedules regarding SAP NetWeaver 7.0 upgrades. Learn how to achieve those goals using the information presented here that is based on SAP-recommended Best Practices and the experience of the author.
- SAP NetWeaver 7.0: A Step-by-Step Guide for the Latest ABAP Dictionary Enhancements
by Ahsan Majeed, Senior Development Consultant, Descon Engineering Limited (May 2010)
SAP developers and development managers can increase their programming skills by familiarizing themselves with the new ABAP Data Dictionary enhancements introduced in SAP NetWeaver 7.0. These new enhancements enable IT administrators to reduce costs because objects are enhanced instead of modified.
- SAP NetWeaver Business Rules Management: Externalize Critical Business Logic for Enhanced Flexibility
by Volker Stiehl, Chief Solution Expert, SAP AG (July 2010)
Discover how the Rete engine in SAP NetWeaver Business Rules Management helps you define business logic — without the need for IT assistance. As this logic is encapsulated and handled in a dedicated environment, business experts can adapt rules during runtime to react to changing market conditions.
- SAP NetWeaver Business Rules Management: Tips for Testing and Working with Business Rules
by Volker Stiehl, Chief Solution Expert, SAP AG (July 2010)
After you create business rules, you need to test them to ensure they work as expected. Find out the best way to test your rules. Then see how you can create Web services from them and run your rules using the Web service navigator. Finally, obtain an understanding about how a rules engine works in detail and how you can influence the rule’s execution sequence.
- SAP NetWeaver Composition Environment 7.2: New Feature Improves Development of Loosely Coupled SOA-Based Applications
by Volker Stiehl, Chief Solution Expert, SAP AG, (February 2010)
Find out how the latest version of SAP NetWeaver Composition Environment (7.2) helps you to build enterprise-ready composite applications. Focus on the asynchronous write pattern and how you can use the Business Process Modeling Notation together with SAP NetWeaver Business Process Management to execute process models.
- SAP NetWeaver PI 7.1: Process Integration Modeling a Challenge? ES Repository Simplifies with a Top-Down Approach
by Peter Gutsche, Dr, SAP AG (October 2009)
Software architects and developers involved in service-oriented architecture projects can use the Enterprise Services Repository to design integration content following a top-down approach. This approach facilitates your design work because you have an overview of the content objects that belong to your integration scenarios as well as how these objects are related to each other. Keeping your design work and the created content transparent and interlinked saves you time and effort.
- SAP NetWeaver Process Integration 7.1: Plan for and Achieve Better Performance When Integrating Legacy Applications
by Susanne Rothaug, Solution Manager SOA Middleware, and Udo Paltzer, Product Manager SOA Middleware, SAP AG (August 2009)
Explore the fundamental performance improvements that have been made in SAP NetWeaver Process Integration 7.1. Learn how to make these changes part of your project when planning the performance of your integration scenario for a legacy application.
- Secrets to Successful Data Conversions
by Srinivasa (Srini) Munagavalasa, PMP (July 2010)
Converting data from a legacy system to an SAP system can be a daunting task. Follow experienced advice for planning and executing your data conversion strategy, from developing project scope to testing and monitoring the data conversion. Included with these tips are two downloads: a sample Microsoft Visio data dependency planning chart and a conversion project plan checklist.
- Secure Your Enterprise Application with Authentication in SAP NetWeaver Web AS Java
by Robert Heidasch, Business Semantic Applications, SAP AG (December 2009)
One of a company’s worst nightmares is the theft of customer or other confidential data. To avoid having unauthorized parties view this data, you should secure your enterprise applications. Find out how you can carry this out by using the Java Authentication and Authorization Service in SAP NetWeaver Application Server Java.
- Select and Transfer a Time Slice of Data for Testing with SAP Test Data Migration Server 3.0
by Manfred Gonschor, Consultant at ENERGY4U GmbH, Germany (January 2009)
The new SAP Test Data Migration Server (TDMS) is an automated solution for creating test systems that can be a real alternative to full-system copies. It can pare down the size of your test system in a variety of ways, the most popular of which is to copy only a time slice of your production data to populate your test system. This article gives you an idea of the capabilities of TDMS, provides a detailed walkthrough of how to use it to create a reduced-size test system, describes its technology and process types, and gives you some hints on how to get it running in your landscape. Learn how TDMS’s new technology can save you time, money, and memory in your non-production systems and benefit your organization.
- Set Up a Trusted Relationship Between SAP NetWeaver AS Java and ABAP for Secure SSO
by Robert Heidasch, Business Semantic Applications, SAP AG (August 2010)
You can set up ticket authorization between two SAP systems to enable users to apply single sign-on when they need to access both systems. You can use either an HTTP connection or a Remote Function Call connection for this purpose. Use the provided guidelines to determine which authentication type can fulfill your requirement. See how to configure the connection using the destination service with ticket-based authentication in the back-end communication.
- Simple Command Helps You Debug Faster and More Accurately
by Sapna Modi, Lead –SAP Consulting, L&T Infotech (April 2010)
Using the /hs command can help you not only debug system programs, it can also help you clarify vague error messages and uncover the database tables and fields involved in reports. Find out two ways you can use the /hs command to quickly solve coding problems.
- Simplify Development Work for Data Exchanges with the ADBC API
by Roger Colaco, Solution Architect, Fujitsu America Inc. (July 2010)
The ADBC API is a little-known option for exchanging data between two systems. ABAP database connectivity is an option when you need to exchange data to stage in the target system because it provides better control when performing database updates and data retrieval from the non-SAP system. Find out how to set up and use the ADBC API.
- Six Tasks to Ensure a Successful External-Facing Portal Implementation
by Ameya Pimpalgaonkar, SAP NetWeaver Consultant, L&T Infotech (March 2009)
To implement an external facing portal, you first need to configure the server side of the portal. Learn how to prepare the necessary portal components and develop light top-level navigation with interactive hover functionality, configure master rules and a URL alias, and implement security for this single point of access for your external portal users.
- Streamline data entry of paper-based documents into your SAP system using Adobe
Acrobat Professional OCR functionality
by Cord Jastram, Software Engineer, CSC
Businesses deal with thousands of paper documents each day. But how do you get data from these documents into your SAP system? One answer is to enter the data manually, which can be a laborious and time-consuming process. Another is to implement an integration solution, which can be very expensive. There is a better, more affordable solution — you can leverage Adobe Acrobat Professional's OCR technology to read scanned documents, and then using a custom Acrobat plug-in, load the data immediately to the SAP system, or save the data for subsequent upload, enabling users to work both online and offline. This article shows you how the plug-in works and how to develop and deploy the solution.
- Take a Serious Look at the “A” in SOA and Gain Flexible, Adaptable Architecture
by Volker Stiehl, Chief Solution Expert, SAP AG (February 2010)
Understand what the ideal architecture for an enterprise-ready composite application should look like. Discover the pitfalls involved, how to avoid them, and how your decisions influence the overall complexity of the final application. By following these recommendations, you can develop applications that are well prepared for your always-changing IT landscape.
- The Office Document Toolbox for creating RTF documents and spreadsheet files
using ABAP: Part 1 — Introducing a toolbox
for creating RTF documents
by Cord Jastram, Software Engineer, Computer Sciences Corporation, Germany
You can create Microsoft Word and Excel applications in ABAP using the COM interface. However, using the COM interface can be cumbersome and requires a certain level of technical knowledge. As an alternative, the author has developed an open-source solution — the Office Document Toolbox — that ABAP developers can use to create word processing documents in Rich Text Format (RTF) and spreadsheets in Excel XLS format, presented in a two-article series. This first article explains the underlying design structure of the toolbox and then focuses on the RTF part of the toolbox. The information here will prepare you for the second article that will present the Excel spreadsheet solution.
- The Office Document Toolbox for Creating RTF Documents and Spreadsheet Files Using ABAP:
Part 2 — Reading and Writing Excel Documents
by Cord Jastram, Software Engineer, Computer Sciences Corporation, Germany (December 2008)
As an alternative to using the COM interface (which can be cumbersome) for creating Microsoft Word and Excel files in ABAP, you can use the Office Document Toolbox, an open-source solution, to create word processing documents in Rich Text Format (RTF) and spreadsheets in Excel XLS format. Learn how to read and write Excel files using ABAP and to create a new Excel file. Also, learn how to extend the functionality of the toolbox.
- Tips and Tricks for Using BAPIs in Accounting Documents
by Sergey Korolev, Independent ABAP Consultant (February 2010)
Posting accounting documents with BAPIs can be somewhat tricky — generating a simple accounting document turns into a report with several hundred lines of code. Accounting functionality is highly dependent on company specifics and legislation, so to make your program more stable against accounting business changes, you have to be able to derive automatically as many customizing parameters as possible. Here are some methods to make the task simpler. Included are three sample programs to help you understand the best way to use BAPIs when posting accounting documents.
- Troubleshoot the Three SAPSprint Root Error Categories for Server-Based Printing on Windows
by Michael Szardenings, Senior Developer, SAP AG (October 2009)
A failed printout can delay or disrupt important meetings or cause you to miss deadlines. See how to avoid printer failures when using SAPSprint by analyzing the three most common types of errors. Also find answers to common SAPSprint issues in the SAPSprint FAQs.
- Understanding and Optimizing Your ALE Data Distribution: Controlling ALE
Processing
by Arthur Wirthensohn, Senior Consultant, EDS Switzerland
Application Link Enabling (ALE) is the standard SAP tool of choice for linking an SAP system to another SAP system, to an application integration system like SAP XI, or to any subsystems, and for distributing data across such systems. However, it is all too easy for such distributions to cause reduced system availability and poor performance for other users and processes. To address these issues, you need to understand how ALE data distributions work — how they utilize work processes, how processing loads can be distributed, when and how to couple or decouple ALE processes, and when and how to use packets for processing. This article provides you with a foundation for that understanding by taking you through the data distribution process and identifying opportunities for controlling and optimizing it.
- Understanding and Optimizing Your ALE Data Distribution: Minimizing Data Volume
by Arthur Wirthensohn, Senior Consultant, EDS Switzerland
If you are involved in setting up or maintaining data distribution using SAP's Application Link Enabling (ALE) technology, you have a role to play in ensuring that the distribution performs well and uses system resources efficiently. This is the second installment of a two-part article series designed to help you do just that. The first installment dealt with processing capacity and availability. This second installment shows you how to minimize the amount of data to be processed. You will learn how to filter out unnecessary data, how to use ALE tools and features to further minimize data during the distribution process, and how to implement the tools and features that yield the biggest performance gains.
- Unveil the power of loosely coupled composite applications by replacing services for additional functionality
by Volker Stiehl, Product Manager, SAP AG
One of the key benefits of composite applications is its flexibility, the capability to replace services to accommodate different functional needs. Whether you are upgrading to the newest SAP release, adding new business logic, or integrating new back-end systems — a common requirement in mergers and acquisitions — composite applications
enable you to “plug ‘n’ play” different functional implementations by using a common interface. The replacement technique shows you how to replace services without affecting their consumers. Learn how it can help you face the challenges of changing business or IT requirements. Once you have used it, you’ll never let it go.
- Use ABAP’s Object Services to build object-oriented enterprise applications and divide database access from application logic
by Christian Assig, Developer, IOT GmbH, Germany; Aldo Fobbe, Mgr. of Product Dev. & Tech., IOT GmbH, Germany; and Arno Niemietz, Founder and
Managing Dir., IOT GmbH, Germany
ABAP’s Object Services — the Persistence Service and the Transaction Service — provide many advantages when developing software in ABAP. They open up ABAP programming to all the possibilities and advantages of object-oriented software development. For IOT GmbH, the fundamental concepts of Object Services have proven themselves entirely in practice, making our applications more robust, homogenous, and intuitive. Learn how using Object Services
led to a clean division between database access and application logic, as well as considerable time-savings in development. The question of adding an integrated lock service to Object Services is also discussed.
- Use SAP ES Explorer to Streamline Integration of Microsoft .NET Applications and SAP Business Applications
by Robert Heidasch, Enterprise Services Infrastructure, SAP AG (June 2009)
Building new service-oriented business applications requires the integration of applications written in different languages running on different platforms. SAP Enterprise Services Explorer allows the discovery and consumption of enterprise services in any type of Microsoft application and programming language supported by Microsoft Visual Studio .NET — e.g., Windows Forms application, Windows Web application (ASP.NET), Windows smart client applications, and Microsoft Office applications.
- Use SAP NetWeaver PI 7.1 tools for provisioning and consuming enterprise services in ABAP
by Prasad Illapani, Solution Architect, NW-RIG, SAP Labs LLC and Dr. Susanne Rothaug, Product Manager SAP NetWeaver, SAP AG
What is the best way to create and provision enterprise services in a service-oriented architecture (enterprise SOA) environment? This article shows you how to model, implement, configure, publish, and consume enterprise services in ABAP using the tools of SAP NetWeaver Process Integration (SAP NetWeaver PI) 7.1 to provide and consume enterprise services, including using SAP Enterprise Services Repository and the Services Registry. It also shows you how to test the enterprise service with the SAP Web Services Navigator tool. Learn how to create language-independent service interfaces and their platform-specific back-end representations.
- Use SAP NetWeaver Portal’s powerful collaboration capabilities to enhance communication between local and remote users
by Patrick Dixon, Associate Partner, IBM Corporation
Most IT projects would not succeed without some kind of collaboration. SAP NetWeaver Portal allows users to work together through its Knowledge Management (KM) component, which contains the Content Management (CM) functionality that enables collaboration, and which integrates the SAP system’s search and classification engine (TREX) to provide customized search results. This article explains how KM, CM, TREX, and their underlying architecture support collaboration, and looks at three SAP tools that foster communication between local and remote users: Collaboration Rooms, the Universal Worklist, and Instant Messaging.
- Use SAP Solution Manager Change Request Management to Support Your Implementation Project
by John Osburn, Principal Technical Consultant, SAP Consulting Services – Midwest, SAP America, Inc.(April 2010)
Learn how to deploy and manage change requests within an implementation project by using Change Request Management (ChaRM).
- Use the Enhancement Package for SAP ERP strategy to develop and enhance Web Dynpro ABAP applications
by Karl Kessler, Product Manager, SAP AG
Web Dynpro ABAP is SAP’s standard for developing user interfaces (UIs) for Web applications in ABAP. With the Enhancement Package for SAP ERP strategy, this powerful Web programming model is even more productive because it supports both new application development and existing application enhancement. Part 1 of this two-part series shows you how to develop flexible applications in Web Dynpro ABAP using a BAPI service call. Part 2 will explain how to enhance existing Web Dynpro applications. Web Dynpro plays a vital role both in developing custom applications and in enhancing prepackaged applications.
- Web services or RFCs — choosing the right technology for your SAP integration
challenges
by Prof. Dr. Willi Nüßer
RFC is a well-established and trusted approach to integrating different applications in an SAP environment, but Web services, now supported with SAP Web Application Server 6.40, is emerging as a viable alternative based on open standards. Each approach has its strengths and limitations depending on the situation at hand, so when does it makes sense to use which? This article compares and contrasts the Web service and RFC approaches in terms of performance and transactional behavior to help you assess the role that each technology should play in your own SAP environment.
- When and How to Use Source Code Plug-Ins
by Thomas Weiss, Product Manager, SAP NetWeaver Product Management Application Server ABAP, SAP AG (July 2009)
Learn in a comprehensive example how to define and implement enhancement points and sections and understand how to use these enhancement options most efficiently.
- Work with Enhancement Technologies and Make Your Enhancement Project Switchable
by Thomas Weiss, Product Manager, SAP NetWeaver Product Management Application Server ABAP, SAP AG (July 2009)
Learn how to work with enhancements of a global class — such as post-methods — and get to know how to plan, structure, and implement a project in which you make your enhancements switchable. Assign the relevant packages to a switch, assign the switch to a reversible business function, and switch the whole project on in transaction SFW5.
- XML Messaging with the SAP Business Connector Part 1: Direct IDoc-XML Data
Exchange and Outbound IDoc-to-XML Data Mapping with Flow Services
by Robert Chu, Integration and Certification Center, SAP Labs
XML messaging between your SAP system and your business partner's system typically involves exchanging IDocs between your system and your SAP Business Connector (BC), mapping data between the IDocs and the desired external XML format, and then exchanging the XML documents between the BC and the external system. This article, the first of a two-part discussion, shows you how to use the IDoc-XML format to exchange XML documents with your partners directly, and for scenarios where this is not an option, shows you how to send documents to your partners in other XML formats using a widely adopted technique called flow services.
- XML Messaging with the SAP Business Connector Part 2: Outbound IDoc-to-XML Data
Mapping with XSLT and Java Services, and Inbound XML-to-IDoc Data Mapping
by Robert Chu, Integration and Certification Center, SAP Labs
As most of us know all too well, a smooth flow of information between your business partners' systems and your own can have a large impact on the success of your business processes. The SAP Business Connector (BC) enables you to easily and reliably exchange IDocs with your partners via XML messaging over the Internet. This article, the second of a two-part discussion, details two data-mapping options for sending IDoc data to your partners in non-SAP XML formats: XSLT transformation and Java services. It also shows you how to enable your system to receive non-SAP XML documents and outlines the special considerations involved.
- XML-Enable Your ALE Distributed Business Processes for Simplified, Standardized
Data Exchange with Non-SAP Systems via HTTP
by Arthur Wirthensohn, Senior Consultant, EDS Switzerland
While tRFC is the most commonly used communication technology for ALE distributed business processes, it is a proprietary SAP technology. So what do you do if you need to send data to a partner with a non-SAP system, and you aren’t yet ready to invest in an additional integration system? As of SAP Web Application Server 6.20, new features in ALE allow you to exchange data using a standardized communication protocol (HTTP) and a standardized data format (XML). This article acquaints you with the capabilities and limitations of HTTP/XML distributions, so you can decide whether it is right for you, shows you how to set one up, and explains what you need to know about potential distribution errors.
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