Step by step: How to configure SAP Cloud Integration to communicate with the SAP Ariba APIs by using the HTTP adapter

SAP Ariba application details

Step 2 – Create and set up integration flow in SAP Cloud Integration

⚡ Create an integration flow in SAP Cloud Integration following the guidelines below.

Given that it is possible to receive large amounts of data from the SAP Ariba Operational Reporting APIs, there might be a need to paginate the response. This is taken in consideration in the integration flow, hence why there is a looping process in it.

To understand how pagination works in the SAP Ariba APIs, check out the explanation in Exercise 08 of the Cloud APIs virtual event – Data pagination with SAP Ariba APIs.

I created the externalized parameters below to ensure that the integration flow is reusable.

Externalised parameters

Integration Process

The integration flow includes an integration process that can start on a schedule and a looping process call to handle the SAP Ariba response pagination. The loop will stop when the header pageToken value is STOP. This is handled by the script responsible of processing the SAP Ariba API response.

Retrieve Operational Reporting data from SAP Ariba (Local integration process)

This local integration process retrieves the operational data from SAP Ariba and stores it in a Data store entry. Below, the details  and screenshots on what each block in the process is doing:

• Ariba Setup: Sets the externalised parameters as header values for the integration flow to use them when calling SAP Ariba.

Ariba Setup – Message headers

• Set Ariba dateFilter parameter (Groovy script): Specify the date filter expected when calling the view template. The dateFilter included in the script will set a date based on the externalised parameters specified.

def Message setAribaDateFilter(Message message) {
    def messageLog = messageLogFactory.getMessageLog(message)
    
    //Get Headers 
    def map = message.getHeaders();
    def updatedDateFrom = map.get("updatedDateFrom")
    def updatedDateTo = map.get("updatedDateTo")

    def dateFrom = "updatedDateFrom"
    def dateTo = "updatedDateTo"
    
    // Set the value for filters query parameter
    if(updatedDateFrom != "" && updatedDateTo != "") {
        message.setHeader("dateFilter", '{"' + dateFrom + '":"'+ updatedDateFrom + '","' + dateTo + '":"'+ updatedDateTo + '"}')
    } else {
        def dates = calculateDates(map.get("dateInterval", 60) as int)
        
        def dateFilter = '{"' + dateFrom + '":"' + convertDateToAribaStringFormat(dates[0]) + '","' + dateTo + '":"' + convertDateToAribaStringFormat(dates[1]) + '"}'
        
        message.setHeader("dateFilter", dateFilter)
        messageLog.setStringProperty("dateFilter", dateFilter)
    }
       
    return message
}

• GET Operational Reporting data (HTTP to SAP Ariba):

SAP Ariba HTTP connection

• Process SAP Ariba response (Groovy script): This script checks for the PageToken value in the API response and handles its value. This will be used to indicate if the looping process should continue or finish. It also sets the value of the data store entry.

def Message processAribaResponse(Message message) {

    def messageLog = messageLogFactory.getMessageLog(message)

    //Body
    def body = message.getBody(String);
    
    // Convert payload to JSON object
    def jsonSlurper = new JsonSlurper()
    def object = jsonSlurper.parseText(body)

    if(!("Records" in object) || object.Records == []) {
        // No elements to process
        message.setHeader("pageToken", "STOP");
        message.setProperty("entryId", "Response");
        
    } else {
        
        // Retrieving PageToken from payload if one exists
        if("PageToken" in object) {
            messageLog.setStringProperty("PageToken", object.PageToken);
            message.setHeader("pageToken", object.PageToken);
            message.setProperty("entryId", "Response_" + object.PageToken);
        } else {
            messageLog.setStringProperty("PageToken", "NONE!");
            message.setHeader("pageToken", "STOP");
            message.setProperty("entryId", "Response");
        }
    }

    return message;
}

• Write API response: The response from the SAP Ariba API will be stored in the data store. The name of the data store will be AribaOperationalReporting and the entry will be Response and/or Response_{PageToken} if there is pagination.

Write Data Store – Processing

Now that all steps are completed, we deploy the integration flow and check the execution and the data store in SAP Cloud Integration.

As we can see, we have retrieved data from the SAP Ariba APIs. We can now use this integration flow as a starting point when integrating SAP Ariba API with other services, e.g. SAP HANA Cloud, SAP BW/4HANA 2.0, Google’s BigQuery.

You’ve made it to the end of the post 👏 👏. Thank you. I’ve covered how we can retrieve data from the SAP Ariba APIs and implement pagination in SAP Cloud Integration, by using the looping process call. I hope this blog post simplifies and accelerates your SAP Ariba integrations.