What is a Bapi?

Former Member · ‎2007 Jul 14

hi

I am new in the abap world. But I want to know what is a Bapi??

THanks for your help.

Cris.

Former Member · ‎2007 Jul 14

Hi Cristina,

Welcome to SDN......

BAPI (Business Application Programming Interface) is a set of interfaces to object-oriented programming methods that enable a programmer to integrate third-party software into the proprietary R/3 product from SAP. For specific business tasks such as uploading transactional data, BAPIs are implemented and stored in the R/3 system as remote function call (RFC) modules.

A nice way to work with your data without learning the SAP data model. BAPIs are functions that are "published" by SAP for customer use. They are very well documented and bring less surprises than internal functions. Go to transaction BAPI to get the tree of the functions by functional areas. In addition to simply using them for data extracts or updates you can look into their source code to understand how the data is organized (but this is not an easy task). BAPIs are the first thing to check if you need to update the data (the next thing would probably be BDC - described in Knowledge Corner as well). Using BAPIs for updates can speed up your program significantly (like 100 times!). You can use them to select the data, but of course if you know how to access the database directly, simple select will work faster. Sometimes BAPIs are the only way to get the data, as it is the case with accessing some objects in APO (that are stored only in "Livecache" memory).

some more info here...........

Here is the some basic things about BAPI i think it wil be useful to you

A BAPI is remotely enabled function module ie it can be invoked from remote programs like standalone JAVA programs, web interface etc..

You can make your function module remotely enabled in attributes of Function module but

A BAPI are standard SAP function modules provided by SAP for remote access. Also they are part of Businees Objest Repository(BOR).

BAPI are RFC enabled function modules. the difference between RFc and BAPI are business objects. You create business objects and those are then registered in your BOR (Business Object Repository) which can be accessed outside the SAP system by using some other applications (Non-SAP) such as VB or JAVA. in this case u only specify the business object and its method from external system in BAPI there is no direct system call. while RFC are direct system call Some BAPIs provide basic functions and can be used for most SAP business object types. These BAPIs should be implemented the same for all business object types. Standardized BAPIs are easier to use and prevent users having to deal with a number of different BAPIs. Whenever possible, a standardized BAPI must be used in preference to an individual BAPI.

The following standardized BAPIs are provided:

Reading instances of SAP business objects

GetList ( ) With the BAPI GetList you can select a range of object key values, for example, company codes and material numbers.

The BAPI GetList() is a class method.

GetDetail() With the BAPI GetDetail() the details of an instance of a business object type are retrieved and returned to the calling program. The instance is identified via its key. The BAPI GetDetail() is an instance method. BAPIs that can create, change or delete instances of a business object type

The following BAPIs of the same object type have to be programmed so that they can be called several times within one transaction. For example, if, after sales order 1 has been created, a second sales order 2 is created in the same transaction, the second BAPI call must not affect the consistency of the sales order 2. After completing the transaction with a COMMIT WORK, both the orders are saved consistently in the database.

Create( ) and CreateFromData! ( )

The BAPIs Create() and CreateFromData() create an instance of an SAP business object type, for example, a purchase order. These BAPIs are class methods.

Change( )

The BAPI Change() changes an existing instance of an SAP business object type, for example, a purchase order. The BAPI Change () is an instance method.

Delete( ) and Undelete( ) The BAPI Delete() deletes an instance of an SAP business object type from the database or sets a deletion flag.

The BAPI Undelete() removes a deletion flag. These BAPIs are instance methods.

Cancel ( ) Unlike the BAPI Delete(), the BAPI Cancel() cancels an instance of a business object type. The instance to be cancelled remains in the database and an additional instance is created and this is the one that is actually canceled. The Cancel() BAPI is an instance method.

Add<subobject> ( ) and Remove<subobject> ( ) The BAPI Add<subobject> adds a subobject to an existing object inst! ance and the BAPI and Remove<subobject> removes a subobject from an object instance. These BAPIs are instance methods.

BAPI FUNCTION MODULE->

GO THROUGH THE FOLLOING LINKS

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04/helpdata/en/7c/3ce3b765ba11d395fe00a0c94260a5/content.htm

http://www.sappoint.com/abap/bapiintro.pdf

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wbihelp/v6rxmx/topic/com.ibm.wbia_adapters.doc/doc/mysap4/m...

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wbihelp/v6rxmx/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.wbia_adapters.doc/d...

If you find it useful mark the points.....

~~Guduri

Former Member · ‎2007 Jul 14

A BAPI is nothing more than a function module which is remote enabled and does not raise any exceptions. These are designed to encapsulate some business process, like the creation of a purchase order. The interface is well defined and documented. This is so that a developer who is not necessarily familar with SAP or ABAP, can call this BAPI from outside the system via .net or java. You can create custom BAPIs, by following the naming conventions are creating in the BOR(Business Object Repository), but mostly developers use the BAPIs delivered by SAP.

These links gives you step by step eg for learning bapi.

http://www.erpgenie.com/sap/abap/bapi/example.htm

http://www.sap-img.com/bapi.htm

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04/helpdata/en/e0/9eb2370f9cbe68e10000009b38f8cf/frameset.htm

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04/helpdata/en/43/b46c1e53c111d395fa00a0c94260a5/content.htm

http://www.sappoint.com/abap/bapiintro.pdf#search=%22BAPI(SAP)%22

http://www.erpgenie.com/sap/abap/bapi/index.htm

http://www.erpgenie.com/sap/abap/bapi/conventions.htm

http://www.erpgenie.com/sapgenie/docs/BAPI%20Programming.doc

http://64.233.167.104/custom?q=cache:eyMZ5qPOH-0J:www.erpgenie.com/sapgenie/docs/BAPI%2520Intro.doc+...

http://64.233.167.104/custom?q=cache:c7cwsXMxq-UJ:www.sapdevelopment.co.uk/java/jco/bapi_jco.pdf+bap...

List of all bapis