IDoc and SAP ALE

IDoc (Intermediate Document) is a data structure used by SAP to exchange data between R/3, R/2 and external systems.

The "SAP Service" allows Lobster Integration to exchange IDocs with SAP systems via the ALE protocol. From Lobster Integration's point of view, an IDoc is a fixed-record data structure with a control record and a larger number of data records of different types. The exact structure is described by the IDoc type. There are a large number of different IDoc types with a unique name for different message types. The structure templates for these IDoc types can be read directly from the connected SAP system. Lobster Integration also supplies all standard IDoc types in versions 46C, 700 and 750 as structure templates.

IDoc and SAP Process Integration/Exchange Infrastructure

The SAP Process Integration (SAP-PI) is an advancement of the SAP Exchange Infrastructure (SAP-XI) and is available in all current SAP systems. The data exchange is based on XML. Consequently, there is an XML representation for each IDoc type. From Lobster Integration's point of view, this is a normal XML file treated with the same concepts as other XML files.

The provided IDoc structure templates cannot be used for XML IDocs. Instead, the XML schema file (XSD) must be generated in the SAP system (e.g. with transaction WE60), which can then be used to create the source or target structure in a profile.

Distinction

Unfortunately, SAP users and consultants do not always exactly distinguish between ALE IDocs and XML IDocs. Since XML IDocs are treated as normal XML files in Lobster Integration, make sure to clarify if you are dealing with XML IDocs before you start implementing any profiles in your project.

Exporting the structure description using the SAP transaction WE60

For both IDoc basic types and IDoc extensions (CIM), the XML schema definition XSD and a parser file can be exported from the SAP system in which the IDoc type is defined. In addition, the technical description of the IDoc type is also available there as HTML and can be exported as three contiguous HTML files. See also section Creating a parser file for SAP IDoc structures. Note: The XSD file for XML IDocs must be requested from the SAP team. If the file name extension is ".xml", it must be changed to .xsd before importing.