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Introducing BEA eLink Adapter for R/3 BAPI/RFC
This topic introduces BEA eLink Adapter for R/3 BAPI/RFC. It includes the following main sections:
About BEA eLink Adapter for R/3 BAPI/RFC
BEA eLink Adapter for R/3 BAPI/RFC (Business Application Programming Interface / Remote Function Call) is the infrastructure of choice for application integration with the SAP R/3 environment. BEA eLink Adapter for R/3 BAPI/RFC works with mission-critical, high-performance middleware to enable easy application integration with and real-time access to SAP R/3 transactions, functions and data.
A production-proven solution, eLink Adapter for BAPI/RFC provides an enterprise-based approach to integrating SAP R/3 with applications in all industry-leading computer environments.
SAP R/3 Environment Integration Issues
SAP R/3 is a complete information technology solution that provides an integrated suite of financial, distribution, human resources, and manufacturing applications that can be customized to meet customer needs.
Many firms implementing SAP R/3 realize that full integration between SAP R/3 and their own applications is crucial in order to maximize the effectiveness of their entire environment. However, because numerous, heterogeneous computing environments exist across the enterprise, integration has been costly to implement and difficult to maintain.
BEA Enterprise Application Integration Solution
BEA eLink Adapter for R/3 BAPI/RFC assures ready, high-performance and transparent access to mission-critical applications and information across the network with a single, standard programming interface.
BEA eLink Adapter for R/3 BAPI/RFC builds gateways that can be customized for specific customer needs. These gateways enable interoperability between BEA middleware applications and legacy mainframe environments. Utilization of BEA eLink Adapter for R/3 BAPI/RFC provides distributed access to SAP R/3 data from industry-leading applications and eliminates the need for applications running in the SAP R/3 environment in order to access `bet-the-business' data and functions.
Key Benefits
BEA eLink Adapter for R/3 BAPI/RFC Business Applicability
In addition to empowering the successful integration of TUXEDO-enabled applications with SAP R/3 in heterogeneous multi-platform environments, eLink Adapter for R/3 ALE makes it possible for companies to access SAP R/3 services, maintain secure business data, and simplify forward migration to new releases of SAP R/3. BEA eLink Adapter for R/3 BAPI/RFC's integration efficiency has the robustness and high-performance required of a permanent element in the overall business solution.
Licensing Requirements
The eLink adapter for R/3 BAPI/RFC requires the following two licenses for operation:
Figure 1-1 shows the architecture of BEA eLink Adapter for R/3 BAPI/RFC:
Figure 1-1 Architecture of BEA eLink Adapter for R/3 BAPI/RFC
BEA eLink Adapter for R/3 BAPI/RFC includes the following components:
BEA eLink Adapter for R/3 BAPI/RFC communicates with R/3 via SAP's BAPI/RFC technology. The adapter provides for bi-directional communication between R/3 and eLink.
Integration Strategies
The BEA eLink Adapter for R/3 BAPI/RFC provides for a request/response from R/3 to eLink and from eLink to R/3 as shown in Figure 1-2. See your SAP documentation for more information about SAP BAPI/RFC technologies.
Figure 1-2 Communication between BEA eLink Adapter for R/3 BAPI/RFC and SAP R/3
Integrating Applications with R/3
This section introduces the key concepts involved in integrating TUXEDO-enabled applications with R/3 using BEA eLink Adapter for R/3 BAPI/RFC. It includes the following topics:
BEA eLink Adapter for R/3 BAPI/RFC and TUXEDO-enabled applications communicate by exchanging TUXEDO FML32 buffers. Client applications that need access to the data and functionality of R/3 use the TUXEDO application to transaction monitor interface (ATMI) to send request messages to the BEA eLink Adapter for R/3 BAPI/RFC and receive the response messages. The messages exchanged are FML32 buffers. Server applications that allow R/3 access to their data and functionality will use the TUXEDO ATMI to receive request messages from BEA eLink Adapter for R/3 BAPI/RFC and send response messages.
For more information on the features of TUXEDO, programming with the TUXEDO ATMI, and encoding and decoding FML buffers, see the TUXEDO Programmer's Guide and the BEA TUXEDO Reference Manual (Section 3C).
FML32 Field Definitions
BEA eLink Adapter for R/3 BAPI/RFC comes with an FML field table (cr3_bapi.fml file) that defines the fields used in FML32 buffers. This file resides in the following directory:
your eLink installation path/elink/adapters/sapr3_bapi/config
The cr3_bapi.fml file contents are as follows:
Listing 1-1 FML Field Table (cr3_bapi.fml file)
# eLink Adapter for R/3 BAPI/RFC
# name number type flags comments
# eLink error FML fields
# name number type flags comments
ELINK_ADAPTER_ERR_CODE 200 string - -
ELINK_ADAPTER_ERR 201 string - -
ELINK_APP_ERR 202 string - -
Note: The field numbers are default values only. You can change these values if they are already in use by another application.
Table 1-1 describes these FML fields:
|
Field Name |
Description |
|---|---|
|
CR3_ERROR_TEXT |
Error text. |
|
ELINK_ADAPTER_ERR_CODE |
eLink error category. |
|
ELINK_ADAPTER_ERR |
BEA eLink Adapter for R/3 BAPI/RFC error code and text. |
Note: BEA eLink Adapter for R/3 BAPI/RFC imposes no restriction on the length of string values sent and received using TUXEDO. The size is determined by the target application. For example, the length of an import parameter is specified by R/3. Note that the maximum size of a TUXEDO message is 2GB.
See your TUXEDO documentation for more information about FML32 buffers and field definition tables.
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