Table of Contents

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  1. Preface
  2. Part 1: Getting Started with PowerExchange for SAP NetWeaver
  3. Part 2: Data Integration Using PowerExchange for SAP Dynamic ABAP Table Extractor
  4. Part 3: Data Integration Using ABAP
  5. Part 4: IDoc Integration Using ALE
  6. Part 5: Data Integration Using BAPI/RFC Functions
  7. Part 6: Data Migration
  8. Part 7: Business Content Integration
  9. Part 8: SAP BW Data Extraction
  10. Part 9: Loading Data to SAP BI
  11. Appendix A: Data Type Reference
  12. Appendix B: Code Pages and Unicode Support
  13. Appendix C: Glossary

PowerExchange for SAP NetWeaver User Guide for PowerCenter

PowerExchange for SAP NetWeaver User Guide for PowerCenter

IDoc Integration Using ALE

IDoc Integration Using ALE

You can integrate PowerCenter with mySAP applications using Application Link Enabling (ALE) to send and receive Intermediate Documents (IDocs). IDocs are messages that exchange electronic data between SAP applications or between SAP applications and external programs.
The message-based architecture of ALE comprises three layers:
  • Application layer.
    Provides ALE an interface to R/3 to send or receive messages from external systems.
  • Distribution layer.
    Filters and converts messages to ensure that they are compatible between different releases of R/3 and R/2.
  • Communications layer.
    Enables ALE to support synchronous and asynchronous communication. You use IDocs for asynchronous communication.
The architecture of ALE provides a way to send IDocs as text files without connecting to a central database. This allows applications to communicate with each other without converting between formats to accommodate hardware or platform differences.
ALE has the following components:
  • Logical component.
    Determines how messages flow between the various applications or systems.
  • Physical component.
    Transport layer that routes IDoc messages using the tRFC (Transactional RFC) protocol.
  • Message types.
    Application messages that classify categories of data. For example, ORDERS and MATMAS (Material Master).
  • IDoc types.
    Data structure associated with the message type. For example, MATMAS01, MATMAS02 for MATMAS. IDocs contain the data belonging to the message type.
IDocs contain three record types:
  • Control record.
    Identifies the message type.
  • Data records.
    Contain the IDoc data in segments.
  • Status records.
    Describe the status of the IDoc. Status record names are the same for each IDoc type.

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