SAP BAPI Connector Guide

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Understanding SAP BAPI connection metadata

You can view the import, export, and table parameters of the BAPI function as process objects when you publish the SAP BAPI connection.

BAPI Input and Output Process Objects

For any BAPI function, the input parameters are published in the <BAPI name>_INPUT process object and the output parameters are published in the <BAPI name>_OUTPUT process object. For example, if the BAPI name is BAPI_COMPANYCODE_GETDETAIL, you can view BAPI_COMPANYCODE_GETDETAIL_INPUT and BAPI_COMPANYCODE_GETDETAIL_OUTPUT process objects in the object list.

In a BAPI function, based on the requirement, you can specify the table parameters as input, output, or both. So, the table structure is replicated in both the input and the output process objects. The <BAPI name>_INPUT process object contains the Table_Input parameter and the <BAPI name>_Output process object contains the Table_Output parameter.

Although the table input and table output parameters have the same structure, you can view individual process objects for the table input and output parameters. For example, for the BAPI_COMPANYCODE_GETLIST BAPI function, the table parameter COMPANYCODE_LIST is listed as COMPANYCODE_LIST and COMPANYCODE_LIST1 process objects. In this scenario, the type of the Table_Input process object is COMPANYCODE_LIST and the type of the Table_Output process object is COMPANYCODE_LIST_1.

The <BAPI name>_INPUT process object contains the following objects:

BAPI import parameters

BAPI Table input parameters

The <BAPI name>_OUTPUT process object contains the following objects:

BAPI export parameters

BAPI Table output parameters

To view the field details in a process object, you can expand the process object. Based on the BAPI structure, the fields in a process object can be associated with a data type or with another hierarchical structure. All the fields in the process object are listed alphabetically.

The following image shows the import parameters of the BAPI_COMPANYCODE_GETDETAIL function in the SAP system:

View the Import parameters for the BAPI function

The following image shows the export parameters of the BAPI_COMPANYCODE_GETDETAIL function in the SAP system:

View the export parameters for the BAPI function

The following image shows the published import, export, and table metadata of the SAP BAPI connection that connects to the BAPI_COMPANYCODE_GETDETAIL function:

View the published metadata for the import, export, and table parameters for the BAPI function

Nested BAPI Structures

A BAPI function parameter can be associated with another structure or a data type, When a BAPI function parameter is associated with another structure, you can view the name of the structure in the

Type

field. Each structure in the BAPI function is listed as a process object in the published metadata.

For example, when you expand the Export process object, you can view the COMPANYCODE_ADDRESS, COMPANYCODE_DETAIL, and RETURN parameters. All these parameters are nested structures and are associated with another structure. Each nested structure is listed as individual process objects in the Objects list. So, you can view COMPANYCODE_ADDRESS, COMPANYCODE_DETAIL, and RETURN structures in the Object list. You can expand the process object to view all the fields and data types in the structure.

The following image shows the process objects in the published metadata of the SAP BAPI connection: