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IDoc's & Bdoc's

Former Member
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hi all,

what are Idoc's & Bdoc's where do we use them???

thanks in advance,

kumar raja

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Answers (3)

Answers (3)

Former Member
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HI

IDocs:

IDocs (Intermediate Documents) are the crux of ALE. These are the documents with the help of which data is exchanged between SAP R/3 and non-R/3 systems. As the name suggests, these documents act as intermediate storage of information, which can be sent bi-directionally. Message types are responsible for creation of Idocs.

- IDoc (for intermediate document) is a standard data structure for electronic data interchange (EDI) between application programs written for the popular SAP business system or between an SAP application and an external program. IDocs serve as the vehicle for data transfer in SAP's Application Link Enabling (ALE) system. IDocs are used for asynchronous transactions: each IDoc generated exists as a self-contained text file that can then be transmitted to the requesting workstation without connecting to the central database. Another SAP mechanism, the Business Application Programming Interface (BAPI) is used for synchronous transactions.

A large enterprise's networked computing environment is likely to connect many geographically distributed computers to the main database. These computers are likely to use different hardware and/or operating system platforms. An IDoc encapsulates data so that it can be exchanged between different systems without conversion from one format to another.

IDoc types define different categories of data, such as purchase orders or invoices, which may then be broken down into more specific categories called message types. Greater specificity means that an IDoc type is capable of storing only the data required for a particular transaction, which increases efficiency and decreases resource demands.

An IDoc can be generated at any point in a transaction process. For example, during a shipping transaction process, an IDoc may be generated that includes the data fields required to print a shipping manifest. After a user performs an SAP transaction, one or more IDocs are generated in the sending database and passed to the ALE communication layer. The communication layer performs a Remote Function Call (RFC), using the port definition and RFC destination specified by the customer model. The IDoc is transmitted to the receiver, which may be an R/3, R/2, or some external system.

BDocs are a data exchange format created by the SAP CRM application. The philosophy is the same as IDocs, but the structure used is somehow different and hence in contention with IDocs. Actually, BDocs are an unlucky parallel development that should not have happened, as IDocs are the common ALE data format. Unfortunately, we have to live with it and use an expensive converter to transfer between BDocs and non-BDoc-compatible systems.

BDoc Explorer Locate the document in its SAP Library structure

Purpose

You use this component to view and access business documents (BDocs) and their elements (details) such as segments and segment fields while modeling business logic objects.

Features

Hierarchical view

A navigation tree in the explorer displays:

· BDocs that are modeled in the BDoc Repository and synchronized on the Mobile Development Workstation (MDW).

· Details of each BDoc such as segments, segment fields, where clauses, joins, mapped tables and parameters.

· Attributes of each element; for example; description, data type and operator of a where clause.

· BDocs and their details in a hierarchy.

This feature helps you locate the necessary BDoc element easily. In addition, it helps you check the hierarchy of elements. For example, you can check the following for a BDoc:

· Segments

· Fields of a specific segment

Drag and Drop

You can drag a BDoc, segment or a segment field from the navigation tree and drop it onto the Designer window of a business logic object such as business object, business query or a combo engine. You can use this feature to associate a BDoc or its element with a business logic object. When you use this feature, the system validates the BDoc, segment, or segment field based on the BDoc validation option specified in the MAS Optionswindow.

Synchronization

The BDoc metadata of the BDoc Repository is available on your MDW as part of the Mobile Application Studioinstallation. The navigation tree in the explorer displays the BDocs based on this BDoc metadata. This feature eliminates the need for connecting to the BDoc Repository for using BDocs. However, the BDoc metadata is not updated automatically when changes are made to the BDocs in the BDoc Repository. You must synchronize the BDocs on your MDW to obtain the latest changes.

Constraints

You cannot create, modify, or delete a BDoc or any of its elements in the explorer. If you want to perform this type of operation, you must use BDoc Modeler.

Former Member
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Kumar,

Idocs are intermediate documents which are used for EDI / ALE communication.

BDocs and business documents which are used in data exchange typically used in middleware ( eg., CRM Middleware ). These docs are used typically in SAP Netweaver.

Hope this clarifies.

Rgds

Former Member
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IDOC's are used in SAP R/3 system & BDOCs are used in Advance Modules of SAP like CRM.

Regards,

Rajesh Banka

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