Skip to Content
Technical Articles
Author's profile photo Maria Trinidad MARTINEZ GEA

NEW!!! SAP Business One Service Layer – SQL Query

As of SAP Business One 10.0 FP 2011 you can directly create SQL queries via Service Layer and run them directly without previously requiring the creation of a view. This is a great feature that I’m happy to share as I’m sure you will appreciate!!!

Let me explain with some samples how you can easily use this feature. Full details are available in the document Working with SAP Business One Service Layer “4 SQL Query” chapter.

Check also this great video to see it in action!

Of course this feature is only to query data and not to update or post new data as you know SAP Business One database cannot be modified via SQL queries and only via the provided APIs (be it DI-API or Service Layer).

How to create a new query

The first step to run a query via Service Layer is to create the query with a POST request:

POST https://server:50000/b1s/v1/SQLQueries 
{
 "SqlCode": "MyNewSQLQuery",
 "SqlName": "GetItems",
 "SqlText": "select ItemCode, ItemName, ItmsGrpCod from OITM"
}

How to execute your sql query

Once the SQLQuery created you can execute your query via the List function.
The List function can be invoked in the following way with verb GET or POST:

GET https://server:50000/b1s/v1/SQLQueries('MyNewSQLQuery')/List
POST https://server:50000/b1s/v1/SQLQueries('MyNewSQLQuery')/List

Upon success, the service returns a JSON payload, containing the exact columns requested in the SQLQuery select clause.

{
 "odata.metadata" : "https://server:50000/b1s/v1/$metadata#SAPB1.SQLQueryResult",
 "SqlText" : "select [ItemCode], [ItemName], [ItmsGrpCod] from [OITM]",
 "value" : [
  {
    "ItemCode" : "i001",
    "ItemName" : "i001",
    "ItmsGrpCod" : 100
  },
  {
    "ItemCode" : "i002",
    "ItemName" : "i002",
    "ItmsGrpCod" : 100
  },
...
]
}

As you may imagine many options are available for this feature, here you have a short list I want to share with you, please check the documentation to get all the details.

SQL Keywords

You can create much more complex queries by using keywords like orderby, groupby, right join, left join, inner join,…

SQL Functions

Currently, only the aggregation functions and a limited set of other functions like sum, avg, max, min, left, right, distinct, count, lower, upper, isnull, ifnull,… are supported. More functions would be considered for support in future according to customers’ requirements. Don’t hesitate to create a request in our SAP Business Customer Influence session!

Allowed tables and fields

The documentation provides the full list of allowed tables you can query, we find of course OITM, OCRD, ORDR, OINV, OCRP, ORTT,… among many others.

By default for each table all fields can be read.
You can limit the columns you want to expose by configuring the fields to be excluded or included with the “ColumnExcludeList” and “ColumnIncludeList”:

{
  "TableList": [
    "ADM1",
    "ORDR",
    "CINF"
  ],
  "ColumnExcludeList": {
    "ORDR": [
    "CreateDate",
    "UpdateDate"
    ],
    "CINF": [
      "Algo",
      "AliasUpd",
      "TrailDays"
    ]
  },
  "ColumnIncludeList": {
    "ADM1": [
    "CurrPeriod",
    "Street"
    ]
  }
}​

Check the documentation for details on how to configure the AllowList file.

Queries with parameters

You can create queries with parameters, in the following example :docTotal is a parameter:

POST https://server:50000/b1s/v1/SQLQueries HTTP/1.1
{
 "SqlCode": "sql01",
 "SqlName": "queryOnOrder",
 "SqlText": "select DocEntry, DocTotal, DocDate, comments from ordr where DocTotal
> :docTotal"
}

Then when we execute the query we provide the parameter value either in the body if using a POST request:

POST https://server:50000/b1s/v1/SQLQueries('sql01')/List 
{
 "ParamList": "docTotal=10.1"
}

or in the URL if using a GET request:

GET https://server:50000/b1s/v1/SQLQueries('sql07')/List?docTotal=10.1 

Pagination 

The paging mechanism on the server side is a MUST for the List function of entity SQLQueries, as it can protect the server resource from exhausting in case there are millions of records returned in one roundtrip, or in the case of a careless user joining multiple big tables without applying correct filtering conditions.

The Service Layer allows clients to change the default paging size by specifying the following request header, but please don’t abuse of this option and keep the value as lower as possible to improve performances:

Prefer: odata.maxpagesize=5

SQLQueries CRUD Operations

You can of course get the list of SQLQueries available on your Service Layer as well as create, modify and delete SQLQueries. Please check the documentation for more details.

SQL Normalization

As you know the Service Layer supports both Microsoft SQL Server and SAP HANA databases. In order to provide a unified development experience the Service Layer internally parses and normalizes the raw SQL identifiers based on the underlying database.

I don’t want to repeat myself but I really recommend you to check the document Working with SAP Business One Service Layer “4 SQL Query” chapter to get all the details. This blog is just a short overview of the available capabilities!

Hope you will enjoy this new feature.

Let us know!

Assigned Tags

      42 Comments
      You must be Logged on to comment or reply to a post.
      Author's profile photo Suhut Wadiyo
      Suhut Wadiyo

      Good news in 2021

      Author's profile photo REYNERIO ABANTO
      REYNERIO ABANTO

      Hi, I am testing and see message: "Unrecognized resource path" Which version of SAP B1 support this feature?

      Author's profile photo Maria Trinidad MARTINEZ GEA
      Maria Trinidad MARTINEZ GEA
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Reynerio,

      As of SAP Business One 10.0 FP 2011, the Service Layer on Microsoft SQL Server and SAP HANA supports a highly flexible SQL Query.

      Please check the official documentation for more details and create a post in the SAP Community sharing what you have tested and the error message you get so other experts can help solving your issue.

      https://help.sap.com/doc/6ab840ef2e8140f3af9eeb7d8fef9f06/10.0/en-US/Working_with_SAP_Business_One_Service_Layer.pdf => Section 4. SQL Query

      Regards,
      Trinidad.

       

      Author's profile photo Edgar Rivera
      Edgar Rivera

      This works on SAP Business One for SAP HANA?

      Author's profile photo Maria Trinidad MARTINEZ GEA
      Maria Trinidad MARTINEZ GEA
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Edgar,

      As of SAP Business One 10.0 FP 2011, the Service Layer on Microsoft SQL Server and SAP HANA supports a highly flexible SQL Query.

      Please check the official documentation for more details
      https://help.sap.com/doc/6ab840ef2e8140f3af9eeb7d8fef9f06/10.0/en-US/Working_with_SAP_Business_One_Service_Layer.pdf => Section 4. SQL Query

      Hope this helps
      Trinidad.

      Author's profile photo USUARIO NOVOTIC 3
      USUARIO NOVOTIC 3
      What a nice one!

      I am testing the new functionality and user data tables are not supported yet.

      I have tried to add a user data table in the list of allowed tables file, but the Service Layer reponses with "user defined table @XXXX Not Supportted ".

       

      Is expected that, in the future, SQLQuery can be performed on user data tables?.
      Thanks

      Author's profile photo Maria Trinidad MARTINEZ GEA
      Maria Trinidad MARTINEZ GEA
      Blog Post Author

      Hi,

      Interesting requirement indeed.
      Please post your request for UDTs queries into the Customer Influence system (S-user required).

      Regards,
      Trinidad.

       

      Author's profile photo USUARIO NOVOTIC 3
      USUARIO NOVOTIC 3

      Hi.

      The feature "User Define table on SQLQuery for Service layer" is part of SAP Business One 10.0 Feature Package 2102

      https://influence.sap.com/sap/ino/#/idea/263917

      Thanks.

      Author's profile photo Benjamin Gamaben
      Benjamin Gamaben

      How could I do a search by text using like '% searching%' with parameters

      Author's profile photo Maria Trinidad MARTINEZ GEA
      Maria Trinidad MARTINEZ GEA
      Blog Post Author

      Hi,

      Could the "like" keyword help?

      select CardCode from ordr where CardCode like 'c%'

      Please check the document Working with SAP Business One Service Layer “4.6 SQL Keywords” sectionto get the full list of SQL keywords supported.

      Hope it helps
      Trinidad.

      Author's profile photo Zdenek Chládek
      Zdenek Chládek

      Hi,
      right now I am trying it, but in my case when I call the query it returns:

      502 Proxy Error
      The proxy server received an invalid response from an upstream server.
      The proxy server could not handle the request.
      Reason: Error reading from remote server502 Proxy Error

      Probably I will need increase ProxyTimeout :_(
      Regards Zdenek

      Author's profile photo USUARIO NOVOTIC 3
      USUARIO NOVOTIC 3

      Hi Zdenek Chládek

      We had been trying to make a sql query as you said, but we get with an error. Afeter many tries we make the conclusion that the problem is with user fields.
      Every time we try to select an user defined fiel we get an error (502), but if we do not place any user defined field in the query the query works as normal.
      Maria Trinidad MARTINEZ GEA  Any suggestion or idea?

      Author's profile photo Andy Bai
      Andy Bai

      an example:

      GET /b1s/v1/SQLQueries('s1')/List
      
      
      
      
      {
      "SqlText": "select [U_F1] from [@MYTBL]",
      "value": [
      {
      "U_F1": "test data"
      },
      {
      "U_F1": "test data1"
      },
      {
      "U_F1": "i001"
      },
      {
      "U_F1": "i002"
      }
      ]
      }
      Author's profile photo Maria Trinidad MARTINEZ GEA
      Maria Trinidad MARTINEZ GEA
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Txema,

      Have you tried to restart SL after adding the UDF?

      Can you please try with a simple query like my colleague Andy did? It works fine for him.

      If you cannot make it work after restart please create a support incident so it can be investigated further by our support team.

      Regards,

      Trinidad.

      Author's profile photo USUARIO NOVOTIC 3
      USUARIO NOVOTIC 3

      hi Maria Trinidad MARTINEZ GEA , Andy Bai

      I think that your Service Layer is working on a SQLServer enviroment. It´s Correct?.

      We are testing SQLQuery funcionality in SAP HANA enviroment.

       

      GET---> SQLQueries('sqlPPPP')

      {
          "odata.metadata": "https://SERVERNAME/b1s/v1/$metadata#SQLQueries/@Element",
          "odata.etag": "W/\"356A192B7913B04C54574D18C28D46E6395428AB\"",
          "SqlCode": "sqlPPPP",
          "SqlName": "PruebaSQLParams",
          "SqlText": "select \"U_USE\" from \"@NVT_FT_USO\"",
          "ParamList": null,
          "CreateDate": "2021-05-10",
          "UpdateDate": "2021-05-10"
      }

       

       

      GET-->SQLQueries('sqlPPPP')/List

      <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN">
      <html>
      
      <head>
      	<title>502 Proxy Error</title>
      </head>
      
      <body>
      	<h1>Proxy Error</h1>
      	<p>The proxy server received an invalid
      		response from an upstream server.<br />
      The proxy server could not handle the request<p>Reason: <strong>Error reading from remote server</strong></p>
      	</p>
      </body>
      
      </html>
      

       

       

      Thanks!!

      Author's profile photo Charles Simpson
      Charles Simpson

      Hello,

      I am trying to make a post call but I keep getting this error. Is there something I am missing or is the below not allowed?

      {
          "SqlCode": "WebItems",
          "SqlName": "GetWebItems",
          "SqlText": "SELECT (OnHand - IsCommited + OnOrder) as available FROM OITM  WHERE T0.U_WebItem  = 'Y'"
      }

      Error:

      {
         "error" : {
            "code" : 701,
            "message" : {
               "lang" : "en-us",
               "value" : "Invalid SQL syntax:, line 1, character position 14, mismatched input '-' expecting FROM"
            }
         }
      }
      Author's profile photo Taylan Kammer
      Taylan Kammer

      You use T0 in the WHERE clause but don't seem to have defined T0. It might work when you simply remove the T0 and just use U_WebItem on its own, because you only have one table in the FROM clause anyway.

      Author's profile photo Charles Simpson
      Charles Simpson

      Right that isn't the issue though the T0 is just a typo but isn't causing the error. The issue is :

      (OnHand - IsCommited + OnOrder)
      Author's profile photo Taylan Kammer
      Taylan Kammer

      Interesting. Have you tried without the parentheses?

      Author's profile photo Charles Simpson
      Charles Simpson

      Yes and with and without the alias. According to the documentation this should work.

      Author's profile photo Taylan Kammer
      Taylan Kammer

      I just tried it and you're right, this seems to be a bug. I would open a support ticket if you haven't already.

      Author's profile photo Jaswantjit Parmar
      Jaswantjit Parmar

      Hi Taylan/Charles,

      Did you guys end up getting this to work? We are having some trouble with this exact problem on version 10 HANA FP 2111.

      {
          "SqlCode": "Sq01",
          "SqlName": "ItemAvailable",
          "SqlText": "SELECT T0.ItemCode,T0.U_Program_St_Dt,(T1.OnHand-T1.IsCommited) As Available FROM OITM T0 INNER JOIN OITW T1 ON T0.ItemCode = T1.ItemCode Where  T1.WhsCode='01'"
      }

      With the following response from the service layer:

      {
          "error": {
              "code": 701,
              "message": {
                  "lang": "en-us",
                  "value": "Invalid SQL syntax:, line 1, character position 64, mismatched input '.' expecting FROM"
              }
          }
      }

       

      Any feedback is appreciated! Thanks!

      Jaz

      Author's profile photo Taylan Kammer
      Taylan Kammer

      This is a really great feature. But two things are missing in my opinion:

      Firstly: Someone who is allowed to create queries should also be allowed to execute queries ad-hoc. Think of it like creating a query, executing it, then deleting it again.

      Secondly, and this is crucial: It must be possible to allow normal users to create queries (and/or execute ad-hoc queries) because otherwise this is almost useless for loosely-coupled third-party applications that are targeted for cloud deployments of SAP Business One.

      Currently only a superuser is allowed to create queries, and cloud operators don't give customers a superuser login. This means every time an updated third-party application needs a new query or a modification to an existing query, the cloud operators have to make a manual change, if they support doing that at all!

      If this issue was addressed, this feature would bring cloud-based deployments of SAP Business One a bit closer to the flexibility of on-premises deployments in terms of supporting third-party extensions.

      Author's profile photo Brian Watts
      Brian Watts

      Hi Taylan -

      I've been developing an integration with our CRM software (Salesforce) and needed a way to load a specific Business Partner address without having to load all 4,000 addresses that are associated with some of our BP's - and the SQLQuery gave us the perfect solution.

      So, I understand why you're saying it's not a good solution for your loose-coupled cloud scenario, but, you might be overstating the case by calling it "almost useless."

      Author's profile photo Rajesh Khater
      Rajesh Khater

      To load a specific Business Partner, you could have also used the BusinessPartners endpoint with a specific CardCode, like this:

      https://localhost:50000/b1s/v1/BusinessPartners('C00002')

       

      Author's profile photo Saniston Rodrigues de Jesus
      Saniston Rodrigues de Jesus

      Hi!

      How can I pass more than one param to ParamList?

      I take error:

      {
          "error": {
              "code": 704,
              "message": {
                  "lang": "en-us",
                  "value": "Parameter error."
              }
          }
      }

      Trying this JSON:

      {
          "SqlCode" : "sql01purinst",
          "SqlName": "queryOnPCH6",
          "SqlText": "SELECT T1.DocEntry, T0.InstlmntID AS InstallmentId, T0.DueDate, T0.DunDate AS LastDunningDate, T0.InsTotal AS Total, T0.PaidToDate, T0.InstPrcnt AS Percentage, T0.DunnLevel AS DunningLevel, T0.InsTotalFC AS TotalFC, T0.Ordered AS PaymentOrdered FROM PCH6 T0 INNER JOIN OPCH T1 ON T1.DocEntry = T0.DocEntry WHERE T1.CardCode = :cdcode AND (T1.BPLId = :bp AND T0.InsTotal <> T0.PaidToDate)",
          "ParamList": "cdcode,bp"
      }
      Author's profile photo Taylan Kammer
      Taylan Kammer

      I think you should leave out the ParamList from the JSON you're sending. It will be generated automatically.

      Author's profile photo Thomas Due
      Thomas Due

      I cannot get sql queries to work. Everything else I have tried works fine, so the service layer IS running.

      I try this

      POST https://bitp-des-005:50000/b1s/v2/SQLQueries

      with this body:

      {
          "SqlCode":"01",
          "SqlName":"List",
          "SqlText":"SELECT PriceList, Price, Currency, Factor, PriceType FROM ITM1 WHERE ItemCode=:itemCode",
          "ParamList":"itemCode"
      }

       

      And receive this response:

      {
          "error": {
              "code": "299",
              "message": "Internal server error."
          }
      }

      I cannot figure out what I am doing wrong. Do I need to do something to enable SQL queries?

      I am using SAP B1 10.0 FP2108.

       

      Sincerly,

       

      Thomas

      Author's profile photo Quentin Schär
      Quentin Schär

      Hi Thomas

      Just in case it has not been resolved for you, I found this post (https://answers.sap.com/questions/13575285/sql-queries-with-service-layer-returns-error-code.html)

      that describes the following solution:

      • uninstall Servicelayer
      • delete Folder "Program Files\SAP\SAP Business One ServerTools\ServiceLayer"
      • install Servicelayer

      Kind regards

      Quentin

      Author's profile photo Thomas Due
      Thomas Due

      I much appreciate your comment, but that is actually my own question as well 🙂

      But, it has been resolved, thank you.

      Author's profile photo Brian Watts
      Brian Watts

      Thomas,

      We had a couple of SQLQueries working great for us, until a recent upgrade.

      Now we are also getting the Code 299 / Internal Server Error response.

      Our SAP technicians haven't been able to replicate the issue in response to our incident ticket.

      How did you resolve this?

      Author's profile photo Thomas Bauer
      Thomas Bauer

      Hello,

      that's a nice feature. It could become a perfect addition in combination with standard Service Layer routes.

      Anyway, we struggle with the amount of accessible tables. For example, we cannot access Service Calls (OSCL). But it seems like there are many other missing tables.

      Is there a roadmap for tables to be integrated? On the current state of this feature (published over a year ago) I cannot rely and base my application.

      Best regards

      Thomas

      Author's profile photo Thomas Bauer
      Thomas Bauer

      Ah, it works like this. Documentation talks mostly about removing tables from the allowlist, but we were actually pretty stupid to not try adding columns to it. Works like a charm:

       

      If you need access to more tables then you need to add the tables to the allowlist.

       

      Please try the below steps.

      1. Open /usr/sap/SAPBusinessOne/ServiceLayer/conf/b1s_sqltable.conf. (This file is in JSON format)

      2. Add the required tables in TableList:

      3. Save the file.

      4. restart the service layer.

      5. Now try to create SQLQueries.

       

      Please refer to page 161, of the service layer guide.

      https://help.sap.com/doc/6ab840ef2e8140f3af9eeb7d8fef9f06/10.0/en-US/Working_with_SAP_Business_One_Service_Layer.pdf

       

      Author's profile photo Rajesh Khater
      Rajesh Khater

      The Page No can change from version to version.

      Refer to the section 4.5 Query Allowlist and under that 4.5.1 Table Allowlist

       

      Author's profile photo chamod dilshan
      chamod dilshan

      I try to add a user-defined table in the list of allowed tables file (Table name "SYNC")

      {
       "TableList": [
       "ADM1",
       "ORDR",
       "CINF",
      "SYNC"
       ],
       "ColumnExcludeList": {},
       "ColumnIncludeList": {}
      }

      with this body:

      {
       "SqlCode": "getSyncItems",
       "SqlName": "GetItems",
       "SqlText": "select ItemCode, ItemName  from SYNC"
      }

      And receive this response:

      {
          "error": {
              "code": 402,
              "message": {
                  "lang": "en-us",
                  "value": "Bad configuration in file 'b1s_sqltable.conf'"
              }
          }
      }
      Author's profile photo Rajesh Khater
      Rajesh Khater

      It will work if you prefix the UDT name with @ i.e. @SYNC

      I just tried with a UDT table. Basically you have to give the table name exactly as it is in the database.

      Author's profile photo Walter Prado
      Walter Prado

      Hi, I am testing and see message: "Unrecognized resource path"

      I have SAP Business One 10.0 FP 2020

       

      POST https://XXXXXXXX:50000/b1s/v2/SQLQueries

      {
       "SqlCode": "MyNewSQLQuery",
       "SqlName": "GetItems",
       "SqlText": "select ItemCode, ItemName, ItmsGrpCod from OITM"
      }
      Res
      ---------------------------------------------------------------
      {
          "error": {
              "code": 200,
              "message": {
                  "lang": "en-us",
                  "value": "Unrecognized resource path."
              }
          }
      }
      Why?
      Author's profile photo Victor Serrano Escobar
      Victor Serrano Escobar

      Hi Walter,

      Maybe the problem is because Service Layer requests are case sensitive. For example, for logon, make sure that you are using →/b1s/v1/Login instead of →/b1s/v1/login.

      Best regards

      Walter.

      Author's profile photo Peter Jensen (AG)
      Peter Jensen (AG)

      Hi

      Has anyone found a solution to this error:

      SELECT T0.ItemCode,(T0.OnHand-T0.IsCommitted) AS 'Available' FROM OITM T0 WHERE T0.ItemCode = 'A00001'

      Request:

      {
          "error": {
              "code": 701,
              "message": {
                  "lang": "en-us",
                  "value": "Invalid SQL syntax:, line 1, character position 32, mismatched input '.' expecting FROM"
              }
          }
      }
      Author's profile photo Rajesh Khater
      Rajesh Khater

      You try any SQL with the + (addition or concatenation) or - (subtraction) or * (for multiplication) operators, it is not working.

      It seems to be a limitation of Service Layer. These operators are not documented in the Service Layer Guide under the section SQL Keywords and SQL Functions or anywhere else. So I am assuming that the Service Layer does not support these operators.

      The Service Layer Guide mentions this:

      "From the practical usage perspective, the Service Layer is designed to support the following subset of SQL keywords, which are most commonly used by partners"

      It seems their research missed the fact that usage of + and - operators is very very common !

      Even common functions like CAST or CONVERT are not supported.

      Author's profile photo Edinaldo Alves Nascimento
      Edinaldo Alves Nascimento

      Olá, preciso de ajuda!

       

      Estou tentando criar uma consulto que utiliza DAYS_BETWEEN, porém estou recebendo o erro abaixo:

       

      Consulta: 

      SELECT
      T0.CardCode,
      COUNT(T0.CardCode) AS QtdDebit,
      SUM(T1.Debit) AS DebitTotal
      FROM JDT1 T1
      INNER JOIN OINV T0 ON T0.DocNum = T1.BaseRef
      WHERE T1.TransType = 13
      AND T1.ShortName = T0.CardCode
      AND T1.BalDueDeb = T1.Debit
      AND T1.MthDate IS NULL
      AND (DAYS_BETWEEN(CURRENT_DATE, T1.DueDate)) < 0
      GROUP BY T0.CardCode

       

      Error:

      {

          "error": {
              "code": 701,
              "message": {
                  "lang": "en-us",
                  "value": "Invalid SQL syntax:SELECT\r\n\t T0.CardCode,\r\n\t COUNT(T0.CardCode) AS QtdDebit,\r\n\t SUM(T1.Debit) AS DebitTotal \r\nFROM JDT1 T1 \r\nINNER JOIN OINV T0 ON T0.DocNum = T1.BaseRef \r\nWHERE T1.TransType = 13 \r\nAND T1.ShortName = T0.CardCode \r\nAND T1.BalDueDeb = T1.Debit \r\nAND T1.MthDate IS NULL \r\nAND (DAYS_BETWEEN(CURRENT_DATE, T1.DueDate)) < 0 \r\nGROUP BY T0.CardCode, line 11, character position 5, Cannot support this function or expression: 'DAYS_BETWEEN'"
              }
          }
      }
      Author's profile photo Guray Mollov
      Guray Mollov

      Units of Measure tables must be added to "Allowed Tables" list.