Since Builder 6.0.11.3, the SAP Adapter supports the SAP NetWeaver libraries. This resulted in some changes concerning the IDoc Handling (see also Adapting the Services from the SAP Migration Guide). The IDoc handling described on the following pages refers to the use of SAP NetWeaver.
If you are still using the old SAP libraries, please refer to Parsing and Composing IDocs in Bridge Versions Before 6.0.11.3.

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).