ABAP Part III

Lesson 01: Batch Data Communication

Lesson Objectives

After completing this lesson, participants will be able to -

▪ Know the different Data Transfer Methods
▪ Use BDC Data Transfer
• Session Method
• Transaction Method

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Introduction

Data is transferred from an external system into the SAP R/3 System
Data Transfer is used when,
▪ Transfer data from an external system into an R/3 System as it is installed.
▪ Transfer data regularly from an external system into an R/3 System.
SAP applications support the data transfer of numerous SAP business
objects
The data transfer program specifies the data format definition that is
necessary to import the data into the R/3 System.
Once the data has been exported it can be imported into the system
using a generated data transfer program.

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BDC

Programming technique for loading data into SAP

BDC is a combination of ABAP/4 Programming and built in SAP

functionality

Simulates the act of a user entering data into an SAP transaction.

The system picks the data from Database using ABAP/4 program and
feeds it to an SAP system using the corresponding transaction screen by
screen

The programmer can choose whether the transactions should run

immediately or at a later time

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Why BDC?

When a company decides to implement the SAP R/3 to manage business-

critical data, it usually does not start from a no-data situation

A SAP R/3 project comes in to replace or complement to an existing

application.

In the process of replacing current application and transferring

application data, two situations might occur:
▪ The first is when application data to be replaced is transferred at once and only
once.
▪ The second situation is to transfer data periodically from external system to
SAP and Vice versa.

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Why BDC?

It is very difficult to transfer large amount of data manually from an

external system into the R/3 System.

A data transfer method is required that transfers the data automatically

in the background without user intervention.

BDC is a very good answer to this problem.

Using BDC the data can be transferred both at once and periodically
depending on the users’ requirement.

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BDC

The data transfer can be two- way

▪ Outbound
• Outbound is a data transfer from SAP to SAP / Non SAP.

SAP
SAP
Non-SAP
▪ Inbound.
• Data transfer from External System into SAP

SAP

SAP
Non-SAP

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Methods for transferring Data

There are three ways to transfer the data into SAP from any external
system.
▪ SESSION METHOD
▪ CALL TRANSACTION
▪ DIRECT INPUT.

SESSION Method and CALL TRANSACTION are called as BATCH INPUT

Methods

Direct Inputs are standard programs to post the data into SAP.

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Advantages of Batch Input

Processes large data volumes in batch

Can be planned and submitted in the background

No manual interaction is required when data is transferred.

Data integrity is maintained as whatever data is transferred to the table

is through transaction .Hence batch input data is submitted to all the
checks and validations.

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Steps involved in writing a Data Transfer Program

Analyzing Transaction

Declaring Internal Tables

Transferring Data From Flat Files into internal Tables

Population of BDCDATA into Internal Table

Looping internal table to any of the data transfer methods

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Analyzing Transaction

The following steps are involved in Analyzing transaction

▪ The name, Type and length of the field

▪ Screen number and name of the module pool program

▪ Determine the mandatory fields

▪ Determine the fields which accepts standard values

▪ Determine if data conversion is required when converting to SAP format

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Declaring Internal Tables

Three internal tables to be declared

▪ Internal table with structure similar to

• The flat file

• DDIC structure BDCDATA

• DDIC Structure BDCMSGCOLL

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Transferring Data from flat file to Internal Table

Depends on the source of the file

The flat file can be in

▪ Presentation Server

▪ Application Server

Depending on the server , the programming is done in ABAP to upload

data from flat file to internal table.

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Transferring Data from flat file to Internal Table

If the flat file resides on the presentation server the function module
GUI_UPLOAD is used.

The important parameters of GUI_UPLOAD are

▪ Filename

▪ FileType

▪ Has_field_seperator

▪ Data_tab

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File residing on the Application Server

If the file is residing on the application server, the following statements

are used :
▪ OPEN DATASET for opening files
• OPEN DATASET <dsn> [Additions].
• OPEN DATASET <dsn> FOR INPUT.

▪ CLOSE DATASET for closing files

• CLOSE DATASET <dsn>.

▪ DELETE DATASET for deleting files

• DELETE DATASET <dsn>.

▪ READ DATASET <dsn> INTO <f> [LENGTH <len>] for Reading Data from Files

▪ TRANSFER <f> to <dsn> [LENGTH <len>] for writing Data to Files

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Population of BDCDATA into the Internal Table

After uploading data to internal table, the BDCDATA internal table is

filled with values required to process single record .

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Loop

Loop this internal table and employ any of the below mentioned methods
of data transfer

▪ CALL TRANSACTION

• CALL TRANSACTION <tcode> USING IT_BDCDATA MESSAGES INTO IT_BDCMSGCOLL

▪ SESSION METHOD

• Insert the IT_BDCDATA into a session by calling the Function Module -

BDC_INSERT and is processed

▪ DIRECT INPUT

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Call Transaction Method

The Conversion program uses the ABAP statement CALL TRANSACTION

USING to run an SAP transaction

External data does not have to be deposited in a session for later

processing.

The entire batch input process takes place inline in the program.

Processing batch input data with CALL TRANSACTION USING is the

faster of the two recommended data transfer methods.

Legacy data is processed inline in the data transfer program.

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Call Transaction Method (Contd.)..

CALL TRANSACTION <tcode>

USING <bdc_tab>
MODE <mode>
UPDATE <update>
MESSAGES INTO <BDCMSGCOLL_TAB>.

– Where
<tcode> : Transaction code.
<bdc_tab> : Internal table of structure BDCDATA.
<mode> : Display mode.
<update>: Update mode.
<BDCMSGCOLL_TAB> : Internal table of structure BDCMSGCOLL.

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BDCMSGCOLL

BDCMSGCOLL has the following structure:

Field Name Description

TCODE BDC Transaction Code
DYNAME Batch input module name
DYNUMB Batch input screen number
MSGTYP Batch input message type
MSGSPRA Language ID of a message
MSGID Batch input message ID
MSGNR Batch input message number
MSGV1 Variable part of a message
MSGV2 Variable part of a message
MSGV3 Variable part of a message
MSGV4 Variable part of a message
ENV Batch input monitoring activity
FLDNAME Field name

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Structure of the BDC Table

Field Type Length Description

Program CHAR 40 Program name of the transaction
DynPro NUMC 4 Screen number of the transaction
DynBegin CHAR 1 Indicator for new screen
Fnam CHAR 132 Name of the database field from screen
Fval CHAR 132 Value to submit to field

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BDC

After the BDC table has been built, it has to be submitted for SAP
Processing

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BDC - Display Mode

Specifies whether the whether data transfer processing should be

displayed as it happens.

There are 3 display modes to be chosen from:

▪ ‘A’ - stands for ‘Display all’. All screens and the data that goes in them appear
when we run the program.

▪ ‘N’ - stands for ‘No display’. All screens are processed invisibly, regardless of
whether there are errors or not. Control returns to the program as soon as
transaction processing is finished.

▪ ‘E’ - stands for ‘Display errors only’. The transaction goes into display mode as
soon as an error in one of the screens is detected. The errors can then be
corrected .

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BDC - Update Mode

Specifies how updates produced by a transaction should be processed

3 update modes are available.

▪ A’ - ‘Asynchronous updating’.

• The called transaction does not wait for any updates it produces, to be
completed.
• Results in faster execution of the data transfer program.
• ’Asynchronous processing’ is NOT recommended for processing any larger
amount of data because the called transaction receives no completion
message from the update module in asynchronous updating.
• The calling data transfer program, in turn, cannot determine whether a called
transaction ended with a successful update of the database or not.

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BDC - Update Mode

‘S’ - ‘Synchronous updating’.

▪ The called transaction waits for any updates that it produces to be completed.
▪ Execution is slower than with asynchronous updating because called
transactions wait for updating to be completed.

▪ The called transaction will return any update error message that occurs to the
program.

▪ It is much easier to analyze and recover from errors.

• ‘L’ - ‘Local updating’.

▪ If the data is updated locally, the update of the database will not be processed
in a separate process, but in the process of the calling program.

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The Messages Parameter

When the records are uploaded in database table by Session Method

error record is stored in the log file.

In Call transaction there is no such log file available and error record is
lost unless handled.

The MESSAGES specification indicates that all system messages issued

during a CALL TRANSACTION USING are written into the internal table
< BDCMSGCOLL_TAB >

Return Codes: Values Explanation

0 Successful
<=1000 Error in Dialog Program
> 1000 Batch Input Error

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Session Method

The second way of data transfer is by submitting the BDC session to the
system for batch processing.

Several transactions can be processed together

Unlike Call Transaction data is not processed immediately

It’s placed into the SAP batch queue for later processing.

There is a transaction as SM35 which allows the user to view the results
of a batch job that has been processed by the system.

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Session Method (Contd.).

A session records transactions and data in a special format that can be

interpreted by the R/3 System.

The data that a session enters into transaction screens is subject to the
same consistency checking as in normal interactive operation.

Batch input sessions are subject to the user-based authorization

checking that is performed by the system.

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BDC Function Modules

There are three functional modules to be called from BDC Program for
submitting the transactions for processing

▪ BDC_OPEN_GROUP: for creating session

▪ BDC_INSERT: Transferring data from internal table(BDCDATA) to session.

▪ BDC_CLOSE_GROUP: Closing session

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Important Aspects of Session Interface

Asynchronous processing

Transfers data for multiple transactions

Synchronous database update

A batch input processing log is generated for each session

Sessions cannot be generated in parallel.

The batch input program must not open a session until it has closed the
preceding session.

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Steps to Work With Session Method

• Generate the batch input session using function module BDC_OPEN

_GROUP.

• BDC_OPEN_GROUP has the following Export Parameters:

▪ CLIENT
• Client in which the session is to be processed
▪ GROUP
• Name of the session to be created
▪ HOLDDATE
• The session is locked and may not be processed until the date specified
▪ KEEP
• Retains session after successful processing
▪ USER
• The user name that is used for checking authorizations if a session is started in
background processing

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Transaction of the Session

For each transaction of the session

▪ Enter the value for all screens and fields in the BDC data structure, that must
be processed in the transaction (i.e. fill the internal table IT_BDCDATA).

▪ Use function module BDC_INSERT to transfer the transaction and the

IT_BDCDATA to the session.

▪ BDC_INSERT has the following Parameters

• TCODE
– The transaction code to be run
• POST_LOCAL
– Parameter to update data locally.
• DYNPROTAB
– The BDCDATA structure that contains the data that is to be processed by the
transaction.

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Close the batch input session

Close the batch input session with function module BDC_CLOSE_GROUP

▪ BDC_CLOSE_GROUP needs no parameters.

▪ It automatically closes the session that is currently open in the program.

▪ A session must be closed before another session is open from the same
program.

▪ A session cannot re-opened once it has been closed.

▪ A new call to BDC_OPEN_GROUP with the same session name creates a new
session with the same name.

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Processing the Session

Process the Session Online through SM35 in Background through

program RSBDCSUB.

▪ Repeat from the Step 2, for each transaction, when multiple transactions has
to be processed through the same Session.

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Procedure

Schedule ‘RSBDCSUB’ to run periodically in one or more background

jobs.

If there are batch input scheduled to run regularly, separate jobs can
be scheduled for each of the scheduled data transfers.

The start time for the RSBDCSUB job can be set according to the batch
input schedule.

Variants can be used to restrict RSBDCSUB only to the batch input

sessions that is expected.

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Prerequisites

▪ Start the batch input management tool (SM35):

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Procedure

To start the session, mark the session and choose PROCESS from the
toolbar

Choose how to run a session and with what logging and display options

Run Modes

▪ There are 3 ways to run a session

• Process/Foreground
• Display Errors only
• Background

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BDC

▪ Process/foreground:
• Transactions that contain errors can be corrected and step through transactions that
have not yet been executed.

▪ Display errors only

• This mode is like Process/foreground except that transactions that have not yet been run
and which do not contain errors are run non-interactively.
• If an error occurs, processing stops and the screen upon which the error occurred is
displayed.
• With Process foreground or Display errors only mode, transactions that have the status
Incorrect can be restarted

▪ Background:
• This mode is used to schedule a session for immediate processing in the background
processing facility.

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Displaying Session Logs

▪ The batch input system keeps a detailed log of each session that is
processed.

▪ The log contains not only progress messages from the batch input
system itself, but also error messages from the transactions that are
processed.

▪ To analyze an error in a session, start checking the session log for

relevant messages.

▪ A session log is kept only if the session was generated with the KEEP
option or if the session is aborted or contains an error.

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Session Status

Sessions in the session queue are sorted by date and time of generation
and are grouped in different lists according to their status.
Possible statuses are as follows:
▪ New:
• Session was created and recorded but not yet processed.

▪ Incorrect :
• Held in the session queue because of errors in transactions (Errors in sessions)

• Transactions that contain errors are aborted

• All correct transactions are processed.

• A session can be restarted to correct the erroneous transactions with one of the
interactive execution modes offered by the batch input system.

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Status

▪ Processed:
• It refers to all those sessions that have been successfully run.
• The log generated can be displayed by the session.
• All completed sessions generate a log.
• A completed session cannot be run a second time.
• Note:
• Only sessions that were generated with the KEEP option are held in the queue
after processing.
• Other sessions are deleted after they are successfully completed.

▪ In processing:
• This status is seen only if the queue is displayed while a session is being run.

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Status (Contd.).

▪ In Background:
• This status appears only if the Session is processed in the Background Mode

▪ Being Created:
• This status is seen only if the queue is displayed while a session is being generated

▪ Locked:
• Status when the session is locked

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Direct Input Method

Direct input is a method for automatically transferring large quantities of

data to the SAP R/3 System without the need for online processing.

Data can be transferred at the time of installation and also at a later

point of time

Direct input can be used at different times for different purposes:

▪ To transfer existing data when installing the SAP R/3 System
▪ To change current data when the SAP R/3 System is in operation

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Summary

In this lesson, you have learnt:

▪ The different Data Transfer Methods
▪ How to use BDC Data Transfer
• Session Method
• Transaction Method

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Review Question

Question 1: The ABAP program _____ can be scheduled as a periodic job

in the R/3 background processing system.

Question 2: CALL TRANSACTION USING is the faster than Call session

and Direct Input method of data Transfer.

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