topic Re: difference b/w idoc and bapi in Application Development and Automation Discussions

difference b/w idoc and bapi

Former Member — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:20:33 GMT

hi all,

can anyone tell me the difference between idoc and bapi

Re: difference b/w idoc and bapi

Former Member — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:28:52 GMT

Hi,

The basic difference between a BAPI and IDOC.

1. BAPI is a function module whereas an IDOC is a

structure containing number of segments.

2. BAPI is developed in SE37 transaction whereas IDOC

related development can be done through the WEDI

transaction.

https://forums.sdn.sap.com/click.jspa?searchID=11870920&messageID=4821322

Regards

Kiran Sure

Re: difference b/w idoc and bapi

Former Member — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:30:06 GMT

ALE

ALE is SAP proprietary technology that enables data communications between two or more SAP R/3 systems and/or R/3 and external systems. When a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution such as R/3 is implemented, companies have to interface the ERP system with legacy systems or other ERP systems.

ALE provides intelligent mechanisms where by clients can achieve integration as well as distribution of applications and data.

ALE technology facilitates rapid application prototyping and application interface development, thus reducing implementation time.

The ALE components are inherently integrated with SAP applications and are robust, leading to a highly reliable system.

ALE comes with application distribution/integration scenarios as well as a set of tools, programs, data definitions, and methodologies that you can easily configure to get an interface up and running.

BAPI

BAPIs provide a stable, standardized method for third-party applications and components to integrate into the Business Framework. These interfaces are being specified as part of SAP's initiative with customers, partners and leading standards organizations. Also, SAP has implemented the emerging Object Application Group (OAG) specifications with BAPIs.

Pros and Cons for both BAPI and Call Transaction

BAPI

One of the big plusses for BAPIs is that the interface and function are not supposed to change. This is a big plus when you do upgrades or hot packs because the transaction can change (format, required inputs etc) which means you then need to update the call transaction.

Some of the BAPIs are better documented and easier to use than others.

You usually need to perform the BAPI that actually does the COMMIT after you call your BAPI.

The Program coding for calling a BAPI is usually cleaner than setting up the screen flow etc for the Call Transaction.

You don't need to worry about special data circumstances interrupting the normal data flow of the screens and causing errors because of that.

BAPIs probably have better performance since they don't do the screen flow processing.

In general if the BAPI exists for the transaction you want to perform and you can figure out how to use it the BAPI is probably the best way to go.

This is just from my experience working with both BAPI and Call Transaction. I have had some very good successes with BAPIs, but very occasionally found that I could not get the BAPI to perform the update I needed.

The interface concept of the classic R/3 is based on two different strategies: Remote Function Calls (RFC) and data exchange through IDoc message documents. RFC makes direct and synchronous calls of a program in the remote system. If the caller is an external program it will call an RFC-enabled function in R/3 and if the calling program is the R/3 system it will call an RFC-function in another R/3-system or it will call a non-R/3 program through a gateway-proxy (usually rfcexec.exe).

BAPIs are a subset of the RFC-enabled function modules, especially designed as Application Programming Interface (API) to the SAP business object, or in other words: are function modules officially released by SAP to be called from external programs.

IDocs are text encoded documents with a rigid structure that are used to exchange data between R/3 and a foreign system. Instead of calling a program in the destination system directly, the data is first packed into an IDoc and then sent to the receiving system, where it is analyzed and properly processed. Therefore an IDoc data exchange is always an asynchronous process. The significant difference between simple RFC-calls and IDoc data exchange is the fact, that every action performed on IDocs are protocolled by R/3 and IDocs can be reprocessed if an error occurred in one of the message steps.

While IDocs have to be understood as a data exchange protocol, EDI and ALE are typical use cases for IDocs. R/3 uses IDocs for both EDI and ALE to deliver data to the receiving system. ALE is basically the scheduling mechanism that defines when and between which partners and what kind of data will be exchanged on a regular or event triggered basis. Such a set-up is called an ALE-scenario.

The philosophical difference between EDI and ALE can be pinned as follows: If we send data to an external partner, we generally speak of EDI, while ALE is a mechanism to reliable replicate data between trusting systems to store a redundant copy of the IDoc data.

Reward if Helpfull,

Nraresh.

Re: difference b/w idoc and bapi

prasanth_kasturi — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:30:09 GMT

hii,

There are many differences between IDOCs and BAPIs.

Idoc and BAPI are both are SAP-objects.

Idoc adapter used for ASync- communication.

Rfc adapter used for sync-async communication.

BAPIs in 3.1 are synchronous; in 4.+ they can be asynchronous (and I

believe they then drive certain ALE/IDOCs).

BAPIs are called from the outside-in. That is, an external program

invokes a BAPI that gets data from SAP to display or updates data in

SAP. The BAPI concept does not include an event concept -- you cannot

tell SAP that when certain events happen to a "business object", to fire

a message or a file to an external system.

BAPIs are invokable from Java or C/C++ or Visual Basic (and I think some

people are using Delphi).

In 3.1x there are very few BAPIs to use. In 4.+ SAP has added a large

number.

BAPIs are not totally immune to upgrades but if they are to be retired

you supposedly will have them supported for two releases. Whether those

are point or letter releases, I don't know. I believe that IDOCs may

be more changable from release to release.

BAPIs are reasonably well documented and there is a common place to look

to see what is available. IDOCs -- I have heard -- are poorly

documented in terms of finding them, and IDOCs were done differently by

different groups in SAP.

check the link

http://abapprogramming.blogspot.com/2007/08/difference-between-idocs-and-bapi.html

regards

prasanth

Re: difference b/w idoc and bapi

Former Member — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:32:46 GMT

Hi,

A BAPI exchanges information with R/3 in a similar way to IDocs, but the BAPI can call a program directly in the call system. IDocs, on the other hand, communicates asynchronously and stores the data it receives before it can process the data. This means you get an established protocol for exchanging data between R/3 and an external system, while BAPIs can't write a protocol unless the application itself does.

*reward points