Open Catalog Interface: Outbound Section (SAP Library

Open Catalog Interface: Outbound Section

The following graphic shows how the purchasing application redirects the browser from Enterprise Buyer to the catalog using the parameters of the outbound section:

The outbound section consists of information that is sent to the catalog application by the Enterprise Buyer application. This information originates in the SAP system, where it is created and maintained using SAP transaction SM34, view cluster VC_CATALOG. You also have to define user attribute CAT to make the catalog visible for the user in the Enterprise Buyer application.

Previously catalogs were accessed using HTTP method HTTP GET. Now the standard catalog call method is HTTP POST. However, you can switch to HTTP method HTTP GET by selecting the flag Call catalog using GET in Customizing activity Define catalogs.

Using this information, the Enterprise Buyer application constructs a URL call to the catalog application and redirects the browser to this URL. The CGI script of the catalog application then has to parse and decode this information.

In the Enterprise Buyer system, you can set up this information in Customizing.

Path in the SAP Implementation Guide (IMG):

Enterprise Buyer professional edition ® Master Data ® Define Catalogs.

Note the following when setting up this information:

Many of the field names and values are dependent on the particular catalog application.

Every field contains a name and a value (Contents column) and has a type. Possible types are:

URL
SAP field
Fixed value
Field from service
Return URL

You must structure the fields in the order shown in the table below. In particular, define the catalog-specific information directly after the catalog URL and the ~OkCode and ~Target, and ~Caller fields directly after the Return URL field.

Typically, field values are entered as literals. For example, the LOGIN field can have a literal value of GUEST. However, system variables such as SY-UNAME can also be used as values for a field, allowing the actual value to be determined at runtime. In this case, you should assign the type SAP field to the relevant field.

As of Release 2.0, the name/value pair OCI_VERSION="2.0" is passed to the catalog. This indicates that the Enterprise Buyer system involved is a Release 2.0 system.

The outbound data you maintain is structured as described in the table below. In this table, Fixed indicates that the field name must be exactly as specified, whereas Variable indicates that the field name is catalog-specific.

Description	Mandatory	Catalog-specific	Field Name	Field Name is Fixed/Variable	Meaning
Catalog URL	Yes	Yes	<blank>	Fixed	The URL of the catalog. This should refer to the location of the catalog CGI script file.
All catalog-specific fields	As relevant	Yes		Variable	The set of catalog-specific fields. An example of catalog-specific fields is provided in the table below.
Return URL	Yes	No	HOOK_URL	Variable	The URL used to return to the Enterprise Buyer application from the catalog application. Set the value of this field to blank. It is automatically filled at runtime by the procurement application. (See also Note below.)
OK Code	Yes	No	~OkCode	Fixed	Contains the transaction code indicating that the function Add Items to SAP shopping basket is to be performed. Must be set to ADDI for Enterprise Buyer.
Target	Yes	No	~TARGET	Fixed	Specifies the frame to which a catalog is to return in a frame-based environment. If this field is not set, the catalog application must provide a default target of _top.
Caller	Yes	No	~CALLER	Fixed	Indicates that the data was sent by an external catalog. Content must be set to CTLG .

The HOOK_URL can have a different name, but the type of this field must be set to Return URL. The HOOK_URL is encoded so that special characters such as ':' and '/' are represented by '%' and the hex digits for the ASCII code for the characters. The catalog application is responsible for decoding this string into a valid URL. Note that the catalog application must not make any assumptions about the HOOK_URL, for example, it cannot assume that a question mark is present to delineate the URL variables.

Example of catalog-specific parameters:

Description	Field Name	Field Name is Fixed/Variable	Meaning
Request type	REQTYPE	Variable	Requests a login when the catalog is first accessed.
Login	USERNAME	Variable	The user ID for logging in to the catalog.
Password	PASSWORD	Variable	The login password.
Database identifier	SERVICE	Variable	The database identifier. This may be required for some catalogs.

Additional Catalog Functions

An external catalog may support additional functionality. This additional functionality can be triggered by several name/value pairs which are passed over to the catalog within the query string of the catalog URL when the functionality is needed. The following functions are possible:

Detail of a product

The following name/value pairs are additionally transferred to the catalog:

FUNCTION="DETAIL" and

PRODUCTID="database key of product in the catalog"

Validation of a product

The following name/value pairs are additionally transferred to the catalog:

FUNCTION="VALIDATE" and

PRODUCTID="database key of product in the catalog"

Sourcing of a product

The following name/value pairs are additionally transferred to the catalog:

FUNCTION="VALIDATE" and

SEARCHSTRING="string to directly start the catalog search" and

VENDOR="vendornumber in the buyer's system"

The functions "DETAIL" and "VALIDATE" will only work if the parameter NEW_ITEM-EXT_PRODID[n] was filled from the catalog in a previous call.

If a catalog supports one or more of these three additional functions, the corresponding flag has to be set in the SAP transaction SM34, view cluster VC_CATALOG. Path in the SAP Implementation Guide (IMG): Enterprise Buyer professional edition ® Master Data ® Define Catalogs.

The expected data to be returned from the catalog is described in this document under Inbound Section