Some of the requests that I received are about certifications, facing interviews, books and real time SDLC methodologies in SAP XI .I will try to address those aspects in the upcoming series by providing the focused path for working in SAP XI. This is the continuation of the blog Aspirant to learn SAP XI...You won the Jackpot if you read this!-Part I .Read the PART I before! Here we will discuss the various components of SAP XI and provide useful information for mastering the components.
Mastering Components of SAP XI
I assume that architecture is blue printed before you read on! If not then read that first otherwise you will get lost onto a dense forest.
System Landscape Directory: System Landscape Directory is the place where you register the meta data about integration systems in the landscape. You create software components, products, technical and business systems. Integration Repository uses the details of software component created here as a shipment unit for developing the message interfaces and mapping objects etc. Integration Directory uses the details of business systems for configuring the adapters and technical routing.Refer this The specified item was not found. by our little muse Michal. Use this to delve deep Creating Products and SWCV .
Many a times we need to re-use repository objects like message types, data types across various software components. We achieve this in SAP XI by creating dependencies. Refer this The specified item was not found.
The most familiar thing with SAP XI is kind of weird errors that might occur due to incorrect settings and authorization problems. In the previous blog I provided the configuration information and system readiness check that has to be done for your safety and not breaking your head. Refer this Resolving SLD Authentication Problem.
Integration Repository: We use this tool to develop the integration scenarios, message types, data types, interfaces and mapping objects and designing integration processes. I don’t cover all the objects information as it is very much available in SAP Help but cover the most complex objects of the Integration Repository.
Integration Scenarios: This is the place where you model the integration scenario and process flow from sender system to the receiver system in your project landscape. It is pictorial representation of what we are going to work in SAP XI. Refer to Companion Guide to Integration scenario. I don’t think you need any more info after reading this blog.
Integration Processes: We design a ccBPM if we need to do the stateful message processing that is you need to manipulate the message once it reaches SAP XI and before sending it to the receiver. Refer Walkthrough with BPM which is a very well compiled blog and The specified item was not found. which provides a way to see what actually happens at the runtime.One of the most confusing things in BPM is to understand about the correlation but as a guide I have to explain that too. Refer sravya.talanki2/blog/2005/08/24/do-you-like-to-understand-147correlation148-in-xi . Don’t miss to read out aloud as it is important in real time projects XI ccBPM Performance: under-perform or out-perform? .
Message Interfaces: The message interfaces in the integration repository are Outbound Interface,Inbound interface and Abstract Interface.Outbound interfaces are used to recieve messages from sender ,Inbound interfaces to send messages to the recievers and the Abstract interfaces are used to communicate from integration server to ccBPM or vice versa.
Mapping Objects: The most complicated for the new comer is to learn the mapping in SAP XI and am sure many will love this section. SAP XI supports four kinds of mapping Message Mapping, Java Mapping, ABAP Mapping and XSLT mapping to map the source message to the receiver message.
Message Mapping : Here we map the source message to the target using the graphical editor of SAP XI. Refer Message Mapping Simplified - Part I and sravya.talanki2/blog/2005/12/08/message-mapping-simplified-150-part-ii.Read this for advanced concepts of message mappings New functions in the Graphical Mapping Tool XI 3.0 SP13 and Introduction to queues in message mapping.We can enhance the message mapping using the user defined functions and please refer The specified item was not found. . Refer the SAP help for more examples Mapping Examples.
XSLT Mapping : XSLT is an open standard for mapping source XML and Target XML. Refer Generic XSLT Mapping in SAP XI, Part I and Generic XSLT Mapping in SAP XI, Part II .
Java Mapping: We can also map the source messages to target messages using JAVA API. Refer Using JAXP to both parse and emit XML in XI Java mapping programs and also Testing Java Mapping outside SAP XI.
ABAP Mapping: Using ABAP API’s also we can map the source and target messages .Refer ABAP Mapping.
Multi Mapping: This is not a type of mapping but a kind of mapping that has to be used when you need to map a source message to multiple target messages or vice versa. We have to do it in ccBPM for previous SP levels but now we can do it without ccBPM for 1: N messages .Refer jin.shin/blog/2006/02/07/multi-mapping-without-bpm--yes-it146s-possible for 1:N or N:1 messages and Illustration of Multi-Mapping and Message Split using BPM in SAP Exchange Infrastructure for M:N messages.This blog Various multi-mappings and Optimizing their Implementation in Integration Processes (BPM) in XI. provides optimization techniques.
Evaluate Mapping Techniques: When I shop for chocolates I really take time to choose one good brand if I shown wide range and I choose the brand based on my priorities. Similarly you have to evaluate the mapping relevant to your project ! How do you do that? Refer Comparing Performance of Mapping Programs.
Value Mapping and Mapping Lookups : Value mapping is nothing but mapping the values of source message to the target message at the runtime.For Ex: Source system represents the male gender as 1 and target system represents the gender as Mr.We map th source to target using value mapping.Refer value mapping.We use a mapping look up if the representation mapping is dynamic and doesnot remain the same everytime. Refer The specified item was not found. and siva.maranani/blog/2005/08/23/lookup146s-in-xi-made-simpler and Webservice Calls From a User Defined Function..
Acessing the System Parameters : The most frequently raised question is about acessing the system parameters during the runtime.Refer Accessing System Parameters in Mapping Runtime .
Arghhhhhhhh! I thought I will complete the series in two episodes but was not able to cover all the information. With this I completed Integration Repository and System Landscape Directory objects and I will try my best to complete the series in next episode. If not then don’t beat me. It will be useful if it covers all the aspects of SAP XI aspirants.
