SAP ECC 5.0 and Enterprise Services Explorer .NET

[Former Member]

Experts,

First time posting here so I apologize in advance if I make a noobie mistake. The place where I work want to connect SAP with .NET Microsoft technologies. Since we do not have Visual Studio 2003 we cannot use the SAP Connector, leaving us with the option, as recommended in the SAP GUIDELINES FOR BEST-BUILT APPLICATIONS THAT INTEGRATE WITH SAP BUSINESS SUITE to use Enterprise Services Explorer for .NET. From the SAP side there will be a BAPI and from Microsoft's they will be consuming that information. My questions are, then: Is it possible to use the Enterprise Services Explorer with the ECC 5.0? If so, could you please point me to a guideline or document that might detail that? If this is not possible, is there a way for the Microsoft team to consume the BAPIs?

Thank you for your help and guidance.

[Former Member]

Never couple .NET and SAP directly (i.e. via .NET Connector or any othe RFC invoking means). SAP created the .NET Co rather left handed and locked it into VS. Afterwards, SAP could never keep pace with VS releases. Even the newest .NET Connector is therefore outdated within 6 months from MS Dev perspective. Apart from that, .NET Co is technically far behind compared to JCo. You cannot retrieve RFC module meta data at runtimer (in a natural and easy manner).

While SAP fostered JCo like a first born son, .NET Co is treated like the ugly step daughter which has to do the housekeeping but is not alloed to the ball.

Always use web services. They may seem to cumbersome at first. But you will not experience the awful regret when a new VS is rolled out in your team , and .NET Co is no longer supported then.

Create a light weight service encapsulating you BAPI. It is worth the time.

Best regards

Ravesh (who lost 4 month in a project due to .NET Co)

[Former Member]

Hi,

Maybe just check that .NET Connector (or NCo) VS 2003 assumption at https://service.sap.com/connectors.

As far as I can remember, the last version of NCo (3.0) has some substantial differences to it's predecessor. One of the main benefits of version 3.0 is that it removes the dependancy on the Visual Studio version.

The Best-Built Applications Guideline is exactly that, a guideline, it says:

+SOA-NET-1. SAP recommends that .NET developers use the SAP

Enterprise Services Explorer tool for Microsoft .NET. SAP does not

recommend using .NET connector.+

You should probably ask yourself how you would want this communication (between SAP & MS) to happen. Web services VS RFC.

Enterprise Services are using Abap Proxy Communication and as far as remember, this functionality was availble since SAP WAS >= 640

Regards, Trevor

[Former Member]

Thank you for your help and guidance. Very informative answer. Just one final question I hope you can help me with, do I need the Java Web enabler component to use the Enterprise Services Explorer .NET (I have been told by someone here that I need this)? In other words, how do I know what the URL of my Enterprise Service Registry is or if I have it at all?

Thank you,

[Former Member]

Hi,

I haven't seen any Java* related requirements before & I personally don't see why you would need it.

Go through this short ES Explorer installation guide which also has post installation steps:

[http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/808760aa-1ba1-2b10-57a0-efaddce8ee64?quicklink=index&overridelayout=true]

You will notice that installation is very simple. It also has an installation verification checklist to ensure that it was installed correctly.

how do I know what the URL of my Enterprise Service Registry is or if I have it at all?

A person that is generally responsible for the SAP System Administration (SAp Basis type) should be able to provide you with this info or at least point you in the right direction.

As a start, you can also go through this Quick Start enterprise service devopment Guide (.NET --> SAP using the ES Explorer):

[http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/c0319dc4-d76d-2a10-d19f-e4f4ff315bde?quicklink=index&overridelayout=true]

Regards, Trevor

[Former Member]

Trevor,

Thank you so much for your information. Following your comments we were able to exposed the created BAPIs as Web services. However, we were able to do that in a sort of sandbox environment where the .NET client consuming the Web service had all the privileges. Now, when we want to move to our development environment, we are facing some issues with the permissions the Microsoft user should have. Can you point us to a document or can you provide the permissions/roles the Microsoft client should have to successfully consume the Web service? We are so close to achieving this and now it is a matter of permissions.

Thank you for your help and guidance.

[Former Member]

Hi,

Please refer to the following link:

[http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nwpi71/helpdata/en/2b/07074155bcf26fe10000000a1550b0/frameset.htm]

Try adding the role SAP_BC_WEBSERVICE_CONSUMER first and see if that works.

Regards, Trevor