Connecting to SAP

[Former Member]

Hi There,

Does anyone know the steps needed to connect to SAP.

We are a web applications development company and we have a Client that is a SAP customer and they keep all their documentation using SAP.

We are in the process of writing an application for them but some of the content needs to come from their files held in SAP

How can we connect to SAP and extract this content.

We use Asp.Net and I have heard that there is a Dot Net Connector available. Are there any other ways of connecting using connection components available for Visual Studio 2010.

Thanks for any light you can cast on this.

Best Regards,

Steve Wilson.

[former_member723190]

Hi Steve,

may be you can check ERPConnect.

It's a great dotnet component, which is very easy to use.

(no I'm not working for that company

And it's not very expensive.

You can download an evaluation copy from their site.

You will be able to access BAPIs, tables, and many things in SAP.

BR/ggo.

[Former Member]

Hi There,

Thanks for the post.

Do you have a link to the ERPConnect. I have looked via google and there are quite a few sites with that title.

Thanks again for your help.

Best Regards,

Steve.

[Former Member]

Hi Steve,

There are multiple options...

• In case you front-end is SharePoint: Duet Enterprise

• Connect to native SAP webservices: Enterprise Services if available for the data and functionality your client requires; SAP native/proprietary BAPI webservices otherwise

• BizTalk WCF LOB Adapter SDK

• Thirdparty products, like Sitrion, ERPConnect, WinShuttle

You can find information links and experiences with some of them on my [http://williamvanstrien.blogspot.com]

Best regards, William.

[Former Member]

Hi William,

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it.

No it is not a sharepoint front end.

We are developing in Asp.Net and need to create a connection into SAP.

I am working a little in the dark as I do not know what connections SAP support or indeed what database technology they use (MS SQL, Oracle etc)

Ideally I would like to create a connection string the same as I do when connecting to MS Sql Server. I thought this is where the SAP .NET Connector would come in to play. Have you had any experience with this?

Thanks for taking the time to help I do appreciate it.

Best Regards,

Steve.

[Former Member]

Hi Steve,

As for your concern in using SAP .NET connector, SAP provide developer with BAPIs- which may be considered as SAP's RFC.

The approach is well-described as in Mr.William post. Most of the system I got to know use web service + .NET connector to call the BAPIs and retrieve data from SAP.

You may also need SAP consultants to specify the BAPIs/fields/tables related to your customer's report.

[Former Member]

Hi Dang,

Thanks for the reply.

Do you have some example connection code, just to see how I would go about it.

Where can I get the BAPIs?

Also, How do I get the info on SAP web services + .NET connector. Nothing seems to be available.

Thanks for your time & help, it's appreciated.

Best Regards,

Steve.

[Former Member]

Hi Steve,

You can find the .NET Connector in SAP Marketplace. This site is only available for SAP partner/customer, so, you should have your customer download the package. There are few sample codes come within its document.

As told in last post, the customer will give you the list of BAPIs, either you should have SAP consultants analyze and give solution according to each report.

Hope that helps.

[Former Member]

Hi Dang,

Thanks for the reply.

That's perfect thanks for the info.

I'll get onto the client to download the package. Do you have a direct link to it so I can give it straight to my client because they will not know what to look for.

Thanks again for your help.

Best Regards,

Steve.

[Former Member]

Hi Steve

There's no direct link to the download package.

The connector is Download section >> Browse download catalog >> SAP Connectors section