Knowing The Development Software

This chapter makes you acquainted with the necessary software and software tools
that is recommended for the developments and how it is installed.

Chapter Contents
Preparations
Install The RFC Development Kit
Installing a Webserver for R/3 Development
Testing Internet Information Server Installation
Telling VB Where to Find the OCX Controls
Windows Scripting Host vs. Visual Basic
Microsoft Message Queue
XML Extended Markup Language

Knowing The Development Software

Preparations

10

Before you can start we strongly recommend to be sure that the following preparations
have been done correctly. Especially be sure that the SAPGUI is installed completely on
the computer which you want to connect to R/3.
Unfortunately it is not trivial to install and set-up the software to create and maintain web
application on a Windows web server. So take the following steps carefully and make full
installs of the provided software as long you are in the development phase.
Install The SAP R/3 RFC Developer Kit With A Complete SAPGUI Installation

We recommend to do a complete installation of the SAPGUI on the computer which you want
to connect to R/3. If you plan a connection to the internet this will be the web server, i.e. the
computer which runs the Internet Information Server or whatever web server you decide to
use. Unless you are a 100% UNIX pro we do not recommend to develop under UNIX.
Install The Internet Information Server

You have to install a web server to service the browser requests. The web server will both
process all user requests received via the internet and handle and control the whole
communication with R/3. A developer version of IIS comes as part of the NT Options Pack.
Install Your Favorite Programming Language
20

Install the development environment of your favorite programming language. If you do not
have one we recommend to make use of the Windows Scripting Host (WSH) and Visual
Basic Script (VBS). VBS is part of the IIS features and the Windows Scripting Host is
installed with the basic WINDOWS installation. If you plan to develop large and sophisticated
applications the number one choice is Borland Delphi by Inprise Corp.
Register The Object Libraries With Your IDE

Your interactive development environment (IDE) needs to know where it finds the necessary
object libraries. Some IDEs are clever enough to derive this information from the registry
others like Visual Basic need to be taught where to find them. If you fail to do so, your IDE will
probably complain about not finding the libraries although they are present.

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Principles components to call R/3 from ASP

Calling R/3 From ASP (Simple)

DCOM

Web browser calls web server

Response

Web Browser
(Internet Explorer, Netscape)

Response

DCOM

ASP interprets request and

calls an ActiveX component

Active Server Page

on Web Server

Response

RFC

Component access database

e.g. via remote function call

DCOM Active/X Component

(VB application)

ABAP

Response

R/3 RFC Function Module

R/3 Database

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Install The RFC Development Kit

R/3 communicates with the PC via a specially defined TCP/IP transport layer. The
specifications of this RFC transport is proprietary to SAP. In order to access R/3 via
RFC you have to use the object libraries which come with the SAPGUI and are
automatically installed with a full SAPGUI installation.
Install The SAP R/3 RFC Developer Kit With The SAPGUI

R/3 implements CORBA compliant object models. These are defined to be used as an
interface shim between the external program and R/3. You must go via these objects to
communicate with R/3. The objects for NT clients are implemented in a couple of DLLs which
need to registered with the WINDOWS registry.
40

Note: Install the complete SAPGUI on the computer which will connect to R/3 via RFC. This will
install all necessary objects on the PC and take care of registry entries.
We recommend to do a complete installation of the SAPGUI on the computer which you
chosen to connect to R/3. If you plan a connection to the internet this will be the computer
which executes the Internet Information Server. The RFC SDK setup will install all the object
libraries on the PC and register them appropriately with the Windows registry. Of course you
could selectively copy the DLLs and OCX files which you need, only. The difficult part is
registering the objects. If you are truly embarrassed by the non used objects you can delete
them from the registry later.
Why Do I Have To Register My Objects?

50

The WINDOWS registry is the central directory for the WINDOWS run time processor where it
finds the necessary information to execute and dynamically link programs. All WINDOWS
compliant programs are required to register with the WINDOWS registry and access all DLLs
via the object class identifier found there. You should not be mislead that WINDOWS can
execute programs which are not or only partly registered. This is due to the WINDOWS DOS
compatibility modus, i.e. WINDOWS can execute programs which have been written for the
old versions of WINDOWS 3.11 and older.
What Will Be In The Registry?

The installation will create an own category SAP in the software section. Here the SAPGUI
and the RFC objects will find the necessary information, e.g. the path names of the directories.
The run time information of the objects is written as a multitude of entries into the
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT section of the registry, one entry per object.
Where Do The Files Go?
60

The SAPGUI installation copies the productive DLLs and OCX files to the WINDOWS
common files directory. This is a WINDOWS predefined directory where applications put public
files which are designed to be accessed by multi-threading applications. The name of this
directory may vary depending on language and set-up setting. If you made an English
language installation using the default parameters and installation directories the common file
directory is to be found in
C:\Program Files\Common Files\SAP
The full path name is specified in the registry in the software -> SAP -> SAP Shared
key entry.
Sample Common Files location of an English WINDOWS default installation

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SAPGUI installation creates a sub-section the software section of the registry

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SAP category in the software section of the registry

Registry Entries for RFC Developer Kit

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Installing a Webserver for R/3 Development

A webserver is a simple listener agent, that receives requests from a client, interprets them and
presents a matching result. There is a variety of webserver applications on the
market, which are more or less alike.
Simple web servers available for windows have a typical size of several hundred Kilobyte, so
they are pretty small. There size may vary with the degree of features and flexibility.
We will give some hints on how to install a web server application on a typical Windows
NT/2000 or Windows 98/Millenium Workstation. Our preferred web server for development is
the Microsoft Personal Web Server which comes free with Microsoft FrontPage.

Prerequisites for Webserver Installation

80

You can install a web server on your workstation. To install it on an NT computer, you need to
have NT Local Administrator rights, which are necessary to modify any registry entries and to
install new DLLs. To make the web server function, your computer needs to have TCP/IP
protocol install.
However, for developing web server applications your computer needs not to be really
attached to the network. In that case your computer will be client and server at the same time.
If your computer is already part of a functioning network, then you would not need to do
anything more. If you can login locally to R/3, this is surely the case.

Installing the Webserver

90

Now you can install your web server using the installation and set up procedure provided by
the web server software. The installation will install the web server program files and create a
set up configuration, which defines a certain directory on your computer as the web server
root directory. Personal Webserver together with FrontPage creates a directory called
C:\WWWROOT where the drive letter may vary. Personal web server is started as a front end
application and will show a small icon in the Windows system tray (the right end of the task
bar), called the web manager, where you can modify some parameters of the software. Older
versions of the Personal Webserver will also show in the Windows Control Panel where you
can do additional setup.

Testing Your Installation

After a successful installation you can test the webserver by calling it via your web browser.
Start the Internet Explorer on the server and enter as URL, the IP address of your local
computer, which is always "[Link]". This will display the default page of your web server.
Test the URL [Link]
100

1. Calling your browser

2. Enter "localhost" or "[Link]" or your computer's IP address as URL
Entering the URL [Link] should display the web server welcome screen

The browser will then display the web server default or welcome page, if everything is installed
correctly. The welcome screen can be set by the web server administrator to any arbitrary
HTML document.

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Entering the URL [Link] should display the web server welcome screen

Troubleshooting hints
Self-pinging your server

IP address [Link] or DNS-name localhost are always assigned to the local computer If
there are problems try the following from the command line :
3. ping -a [Link]

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If this fails, your TCP/IP protocol is probably incorrectly installed. Advise: Reboot does always
good or reinstall TCP/IP.
Ping the localhost

Try now whether your local DNS lookup works fine with the following command:
4. ping localhost
If this steps fails but ping [Link] worked fine, your local [Link] file is corrupt or
missing. In Windows there must be the file [Link] or [Link] present in the the
Windows directory (the directory where Windows is installed to). A typical content is the
following:
Contents of file [Link]
#
Copyright
#
[Link]
#
[Link]
[Link] localhost

(c)
[Link]
[Link]

1998
#

Microsoft
source
client

Corp.
server
host

Check your IP setting with winipcfg

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There is a standard program delivered with all Windows releases winipcfg . This displays
your current IP settings. Check your network installation for eventual conflicts or
inconsistencies.

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Testing Internet Information Server Installation

Microsoft Internet Information Server is part of the free Windows NT Options Pack. It can also
be downloaded free of charge from the [Link] web site.
The Microsoft Internet Information Server is a product that comes free of charge with the
Windows NT Options pack. It consists of FrontPage server extensions and the Personal
Webserver. To install it, you need to follow the instructions that come with the IIS. If the
installation has been successful you should see the default welcome screen, when you call
the site [Link]
Personal Webserver PSA supports full power of IIS including ASP
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The Personal Webserver is a simple web server with the same capabilities as the whole
Internet Information Server. The only limitation is, that it is not designed to handle multiple
request at the same time. This is fine for development purposes. It naturally supports Active
Server Pages ASP to develop server-side Visual Basic Scripts.
Calling the [Link] web site should display the IIS [Link] page

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Example IIS [Link] page of Personal Webserver

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Telling VB Where to Find the OCX Controls

140

150

VB uses a complicated strategy to locate the OCX and DLLs which are used in a project. The
safest way to ensure that VB knows the OCX you want to use, is to tell it explicitely to
the IDE.
A typical Visual Basic program makes intensive use of class libraries which are stored in DLL
files or as OCX-controls. Although the object classes contained therein are generally well
registered in the WINDOWS registry, Visual Basic does not recognize them automatically
unless it is told where to look for them.
In the menu entry "Reference" of the Visual Basic IDE you can tell which DLLs or OCX files
should be actively searched for classes and objects, when a program is compiled or executed.
SAP's OCX controls are usually stored in the WINDOWS common files directory, which
exists in every proper WINDOWS installation. In a standard US-English installationthe
directory
would
be
named
by
default
as
:
\Program Files\Common Files\Sap\System
.
However, the path to common files is a registry option, so it can be changed at and after
installation. Especially non-English installation rename the directory to a name in the local
language to its own gusto.
VBA lets you set references to type libraries
VB lets you specify the libraries to use during development

SAP OCX controls are installed to the Windows Common Files directory
The OCX controls are usually found in the location
\Program Files\Common Files\Sap\System .

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SAP Logon, RFC and Table Factory controls should always be referenced

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10

These are the libraries which you need at least

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Windows Scripting Host vs. Visual Basic

The Windows Scripting Host (WSH) is a class library and VBscript interpreter. The WSH is an
add-in to every Microsoft operating system. For Windows it is a program called
[Link], for DOS [Link]. The WSH is also delivered with the Internet
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Information Server and Internet Explorer. It uses generally the same runtime
environment as Visual Basic and Visual Basic for Application do, in fact VBscript is
the VBA of the operating system.
Windows Scripting Host is part of the Windows operating system and lets you program scripts in a Visual
Basic language subset

180

Microsoft equips the runtime of their basic operating system products with an interpreter that is
capable to execute text-based scripts on Windows NT/2000/9x. The interpreter is called
Windows Scripting Host; the language used is Visual Basic Script. Other operating systems
come with similar scripting engines, e.g. UNIX provides the RSH script processor and Apache
web servers provide the PERL scripting host. VBscript is generally spoken a variant of Visual
basic for Applications (VBA) equipped with special class libraries to be used by the operation
system. This is mainly the FileSystemObject, which is used to do every kind of action with files
on a hard drive.
Download always the latest version of WSH from [Link]

You should always download and install the latest version of the Windows Scripting Host. The
files
are
distributed
free
of
charge
on
the
Microsoft
download
sites
[Link] .
Difference between Visual Basic (VB), Visual Basic Script (VBS) and Visual Basic for Application (VBA)

There is a permanent confusion even among developers what the difference between the
three members of the Visual Basic family is. Generally the three are all the same. The main
difference and the reason to distinguish them are there main purpose and manner of usage.
Visual Basic
Full compiler version of VB. Programs are usually developed in a
sophisticated Interactive Development Environment (IDE) and
then compiled. Principally there are no run time programs
required, however this is not really true as your programs usually
rely on the existence of registered DLLs being installed on the
executing computer.
Visual Basic Script
Interpreter version of VB. Programs are stored in ASCII text files
and executed by an interpreter program. The programs required
are [Link] to run from a DOS command line and
[Link] to execute from a running Windows environment.
Visual Basic for
Interpreter version, which comes along with the Microsoft Office
Application
Suite. It has the same functionally as VBS in addition to
application specific add-ons, e.g. a library to access the
spreadsheet methods of MS EXCEL.
VBscript is a variation of Visual basic for Application

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If you develop with Visual Basic Script you can do it also with Visual Basic for Application.
Microsoft EXCEL or Microsoft WORD are equipped with a limited version of the VB IDE. The
main advantage of the IDE is that you can use object browsing and object typing. With typed
objects the IDE will show you interactively the available properties and methods of an object,
so you would not need to look them up in the documentation. You can export VBA code to a
plain text file and execute as VBScript.
ASP uses WSH to interpret VBscript and Jscript commands

VBScript is the native language of the Internet Information Server. All VBScript and Jscript
commands are interpreted by the WSH. If you use VB web classes or other compiled
programs then ASP makes use of its capability to call any registered DCOM object, in other
words: VBScript calls your compiled DLL. If you write applications for Microsoft Internet
Information Server (IIS) I suggest that the WSH be your primary choice over the VB compiler
if you are not really a Visual Basic freak. As long as your applications are mutating, i.e. they

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200

are changing rapidly (and internet applications really do), the WSH is much easier to handle
and maintain because you are dealing with text files and changes are effective the same
moment you save them to disk.

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Microsoft Message Queue

The Microsoft Message Queue Manager allows the developer to exchange messages between
independently running processes. The processes may run on the same server or on
remotely connected servers. This is helpful if you connect to expensive or only
temporarily available resources like leased lines or extremely busy servers.
Message queues lets you place requests in a queue and retrieve the result at a later moment

210

Imagine the common situation that you connect to your database through a busy web page.
With many simultaneous sessions trying to access the database this may cause long waiting
times. With a message queue you can deposit your request to a server, which eventually
processes it and places the propagated result back in the queue for you to pick it up, when
you find it appropriate. While your server takes care of the queue you can spend time doing
something more useful and meaningful.
Message queues are a central momentum in client server developments

Actually a powerful message plays a central role in any client server environment. Especially if
you find your application back in a huge server farm, the message queue together with the
transaction server will take away the burden from you to care for load balancing and pooling
threads. A message queue server could start an instance of every important task on every
application server and send it immediately to sleep. Only when it monitors a heavy request for
a certain application it wakes them up as necessary.
Message queues are also used to collect tasks for later or batch execution

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Another common application of a message queue is to collect requests for delayed

processing, e.g. as a batch job during off-peek times. Typically this is done with print
documents like invoices which are due to be sent and thus printed once a week only. The SAP
R/3 NAST table is such a message queue and the ABAP RSNAST00 is the matching handler
for it.
Message queues is part of the windows NT or Windows 2000 system

The Microsoft Message Queue is part of the Windows NT and 2000 server installation.

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Use of a message queue as dispatcher in app server farms

Message Queue Communication

IIS
Server

IIS
Server

IIS
Server

Web Server Farm

Central Message Queue

R/3 App
Server

R/3 App
Server

R/3 App
Server

R/3 Application Server Farm

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XML Extended Markup Language

XML is a plain ASCII document format meant to exchange data between correspondents.
Although we will not use XML as communication language in the examples of this
publication, you should sooner or later become familiar with XML. Therefore we
230
introduce some tools to facilitate working with XML.
XML is the lingua franca of the internet

XML is known as the lingua franca of the internet. It is a plain text language, like HTML, which
is structured but also human readable at the same time. A structured language is a
precondition for efficient and deterministic automated processing, while the human readability
makes error processing much easier when the automated processing failed for some reason.
XML Document Browser e.g. XMLSPY

You can browse XML documents conveniently with Internet Explorer 5 or greater and
Netscape 6 or greater. However, the formatting capabilities of the browsers are limited and
editing documents is not supported. Therefore you should look out for a good XML editor that
is able to display structured documents in matrix formats, like XMLspy found at
[Link] which is a complete XML IDE development environment.
XML Document ActiveX [Link]
240

Microsoft provides a complete XML building and parsing library ([Link]). This class can
create a valid XML document and if assigned a document, the document is parsed and the
components are presented in a tree like structure as children of the document object. That
makes programming easy.

Registry entries of XML related DLLs

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Details of the [Link] class

[Link].1.0
ProgID:
Version:
CLSID:
TypeLib Name:
TypeLib:
File Location:
Status:
File Size:
Created:
Last Modified:
Accessed:
File Description:
Company Name:
File Version:
Internal Name:
Legal Copyright:
Original Filename:
Product Name:
Product Version:
VB Object Creation
VB Object Type

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[Link].1.0
1.0
{2933BF90-7B36-11d2-B20E-00C04F983E60}
Not Defined
{d63e0ce2-a0a2-11d0-9c02-00c04fc99c8e}
D:\WINNT\System32\[Link]
File Exists
537360 Bytes
11/18/00 [Link]
12.10.1999 13:00
04/30/01
XML OM fr Win32
Microsoft Corporation
5.00.2920.0000
[Link]
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp. 1981-1999
[Link]
Betriebssystem Microsoft(R) Windows (R) 2000
5.00.2920.0000
Set obj = CreateObject("[Link].1")
Dim obj As New XMLDocument

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