Data format/encoding of Transport files?

[Former Member]

Hello everyone,

When an export is done, two files are generated - an Rxxxx and Kxxxx file.

The K file contains transport information (I can see it with a utf-8 text editor) and the R file the contents of the transport. However, I cannot determine what encoding is used - looks like some type of binary file.

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT KIND OF ENCODING AND HOW I CAN CONVERT THIS TO A NON-BINARY FORMAT?

I've tried the SAR utility but this does not seem to work.

I have searched for this a bit but have come up empty.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks, John

[Dirk98 · Accepted solution]

Hi John,

the format in which the data are stored in the data file is AFAIK a SAP own format. So, I don't think you will find any other tool which is able to read this file. But you don't need another tool, you have R3trans.

With the command

R3trans -l <data file> [-w <logfile>] [-v <verbose level>]

you can list the content of a data file. R3trans writes this content into the log file trans.log by default, but this can be changed with the -w option. And with the option -v you can increase the verbose level (just specify a number > 1) to let R3trans write more details into the log.

Just try it, perhaps it matches your needs...

Best regards,

Dirk

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hello Dirk,

thank you so much for your reply. I will try this first thing this week and let you know if it has worked.

Best Regards, John

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Dirk,

Thanks for this nice trick. I just tried it and it works perfectly.

I keep it in my tool box for future use !

Regards,

Olivier

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Yes - I tried it as well and it looks great! This has been a BIG HELP.

Thank you - John

[Former Member]

Hi,

2 files are associated to a transport request i.e K and R

K file is control file which contain the phases needs to carry out on R file.

R file is a actual data file. Data is always written in encoded format. You can not decode it.

As per my knowledge there is no such tool by which you can decode the data in Rxxx file.

regards,

Sachin Rane.

[Former Member]

Hi Sachin,

thank you for your reply. Although you may not know of a tool, it is clear that the SAP import process must decode the R file to create the objects in the target system. This is most likely done via a call to some program (system level) invoked by the TP program that imports the file.

Does anyone know what this program is?

Best, John

[Former Member]

Hi,

Yes, that's correct tp is able to read the data from R file. However there is one more program R3trans which can read this data. tp & R3trans both are the transport tools.

tp call R3trans to do data read and write in database. R3trans only can connect to database. So at OS level tp calls r3trans to perform the DB activity on it's behalf.

go through following sap help link it will give you an idea about how tp and r3trans works together.

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw70/helpdata/EN/3d/ad5a8a4ebc11d182bf0000e829fbfe/frameset.htm

Regards,

Sachin Rane.

[Former Member]

Thank you Sachin.

Still hoping someone will know what kind of encoding is used!

Best, John