what is the difference between rfc and idoc

[Former Member]

hi,

My name is rambabu.can anyone of u please tell me the main differences between idoc and rfc??

Thanks in Advance

[Former Member]

Hello Mr.Rambabu..

IDoc mean it is Intermediate document used to hold n carry data from on system to other in the processes of ALE or EDI.

RFC stands for Remote Function Call, i e call to a function which is running other than the calling system which depends on rfc destnation created at SM59

[Former Member]

Hi Naveen,

The quesiton is very good....Let me explain you the difference.

IDoc: IDoc is the Intermediate document where SAP can send data from beween the system.

SAP will uses this standard message structure to send the data.

RFC:RFC is nothing but Remore Funciton call..I can say it is nothing but a a method in normal java.A RFC it can accept the Input paramets and process the logic and also return the values.

In XI...IDoc is Asynchoronous call.

RFC is Synchoronous call.

Hope I am clear...

Thanks and Regards,

Chandu.....

[Former Member]

Hi Naveen,

IDOC is intermediate document format in which SAP transfers data between two different SAP systems.

RFC means remote function call...so RFC is a protocol to communicate between SAP systems.....by making a RFC connection you can connect XI to SAP R/3 system and then by IDOC, you can get the SAP data from SAP into XI over this RFC connection.

Thanks,

Rajeev Gupta

Message was edited by:

RAJEEV GUPTA

[Former Member]

hi Ramesh,

Remote Function Calls (RFC) and data exchange through IDoc

message documents. RFC makes direct and synchronous calls of a program in

the remote system. If the caller is an external program it will call an

RFC-enabled function in R/3 and if the calling program is the R/3 system

it will call an RFC-function in another R/3-system or it will call a

non-R/3 program through a gateway-proxy (usually rfcexec.exe). BAPIs are

a subset of the RFC-enabled function modules, especially designed as

Application Programming Interface (API) to the SAP business object, or in

other words: are function modules officially released by SAP to be called

from external programs.

IDocs are text encoded documents with a rigid structure that are used to

exchange data between R/3 and a foreign system. Instead of calling a

program in the destination system directly, the data is first packed into

an IDoc and then sent to the receiving system, where it is analyzed and

properly processed. Therefore an IDoc data exchange is always an

asynchronous process. The significant difference between simple RFC-calls

and IDoc data exchange is the fact, that every action performed on IDocs

are protocolled by R/3 and IDocs can be reprocessed if an error occurred

in one of the message steps.

While IDocs have to be understood as a data exchange protocol, EDI and ALE

are typical use cases for IDocs. R/3 uses IDocs for both EDI and ALE to

deliver data to the receiving system. ALE is basically the scheduling

mechanism that defines when and between which partners and what kind of

data will be exchanged on a regular or event triggered basis. Such a

set-up is called an ALE-scenario.

Regards

Sreeram.G.Reddy

[Former Member]

Hi,

Use help.sap.com

Just search for these words.

Regards,

Jai Shankar