Logical Data Extract from SAP/Oracle

[Former Member]

Hi,

We have been asked by our client to develop a data extraction tool for SAP/Oracle. For example, we would need to extract user/employee information.

What is the best way to go about this? Ideally we would like to allow the user to connect to the DB and select the the data that we would like through a UI. The problem is that they will not know the schema and obviously too many tables to navigate through.

Are there any legal concerns here?

Regards,

Justin

[Former Member]

Justin,

Orkun's earlier answer is correct: rather than querying the database directly you should always work through a supported application interface, i.e. BAPI functions. These functions present a "logical" view of the data (e.g. "find employees") without exposure to the underlying data model (which may be complex and vary between releases). Another reason is that some business data is stored in "raw binary" structures (in pool and cluster tables) and as such inaccessible to direct SQL.

Use transaction BAPI to browse through the available functions, or simply call SE37 and search for functions whose name starts with "BAPI". All BAPI functions are externally callable (RFC), SAP guarantees the stability of their parameter interfaces between releases and you can find plenty of programming examples.

Regards,

Mark

[Former Member]

Great. Thanks for the info. Is there any documentation available that details what information the functions will return? And is it possible to call the functions from C#.Net?

[Former Member]

Hi Justin,

Check http://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/ABAPConn/ABAPConnectivityHome

Best regards,

Orkun Gedik

[Former Member]

Hi, 
> 
> We have been asked by our client to develop a data extraction tool for SAP/Oracle. For example, we would need to extract user/employee information. 
> 
> What is the best way to go about this? Ideally we would like to allow the user to connect to the DB and select the the data that we would like through a UI. The problem is that they will not know the schema and obviously too many tables to navigate through. 
> 
> Are there any legal concerns here? 
> 
> Regards, 
> Justin

Hi Justin,

Use BAPI functions, instead of directly accessing tables on the database.

Best regards,

Orkun Gedik