IDocs (Interface Documents) are modeled as UML classes (cf. TXTRAW01). Such classes can be serialized into SAP IDoc tables (arrays) by the <<SAPIDocRecordComposer>>.

There are two situations in which you may want to compose an IDoc data buffer:

You want to map an IDoc object (e.g. TXTRAW01, see figure below) to a String, keeping the structure of the data (mostly done, if you want to write the IDoc to a file).
This is done by an action having the stereotype <<SAPIDocComposer>> (see Composing to String).
You want to map an IDoc object (e.g. TXTRAW01, see figure below) to a SAP tables structure (mostly done, if you want to perform an SAP RFC).
This is done by an action having the stereotype <<SAPIDocRecordComposer>> (see Composing to SAP Tables).
After having composed an IDoc object, you can send it to an SAP backend using IDOC_INBOUND_ASYNCHRONOUS. The necessary interface is already part of the base components. Refer to tRFC Service for more information on how to implement the call.

Figure: UML Class Model of IDoc TXTRAW01

BRIDGE > IDoc Handling > sap_idoc_parser_classes.png

Composing to String: <<SAPIDocComposer>>

The <<SAPIDocComposer> takes one ore more IDoc objects as input and composes a String containing the object data. The structure of the data is kept (padding).

The following examples are demonstrating some applications of the <<SAPIDocComposer>>.

Composing a Single IDoc to an IDoc String

Figure: SAPIDocParser, Single IDoc to a String

BRIDGE > Composing IDocs > sap_idoc_composer_idoc_to_string.png

Composing Multiple IDocs to an IDoc String

Figure: SAPIDocComposer, Multiple IDocs to a String

BRIDGE > Composing IDocs > sap_idoc_composer_mult_to_string.png

Composing to SAP Tables: <<SAPIDocRecordComposer>>

The <<SAPIDocRecordComposer> takes one ore more IDoc objects as input and composes an array of structured control records and an array of structured data records (as expected for SAP tables).

Composing a Single IDoc to SAP Tables

Figure: IDoc Composer with a IDoc-array to Tables

BRIDGE > Composing IDocs > sap_idoc_composer_idoc_to_tables.png

Composing Multiple IDocs to SAP Tables

Figure: IDoc Composer with a IDoc-array to string

BRIDGE > Composing IDocs > sap_idoc_composer_mult_to_tables.png

Composing to XML: <<SAPXMLIDocComposer>>

The <<SAPXMLIDocComposer> takes one ore more IDoc objects as input and composes a Blob containing the object data. The structure of the data is kept (padding).

The following example is demonstrating an application of the <<SAPXMLIDocComposer>>.

Composing Multiple IDocs to an XML Blob

Figure: SAPIDocParser, Multiple IDocs to XML

IDoc Composition and SAP R/3

The above examples show how to compose IDocs version of 4.x. However, SAP R/3 3.x systems use IDocs, too. These IDocs are handled similar as in version 4.x. The differences between composing version 4 and version 3 IDocs are as follows :

IDoc3 Composer Stereotype: <<SAPIDoc3Composer>>
IDoc3 Stereotype: <<SAPIDoc3>>, this is taken into account if the import was done in version 3 mode (see Importing SAP IDoc Meta Data).