Implementing Loose Coupling via BAPIs

When a BAPI is used to exchange data asynchronously within the context of ALE, the following processes are involved:

• When the asynchronous BAPI function module interface is called in the sending system, it fills the corresponding IDoc with data from the BAPI call ( outbound processing ).

• This IDoc is dispatched to the target system.

• In the target system, a BAPI call is created from the IDoc by filling the BAPI import parameters with the IDoc data and passing them on to the corresponding BAPI function module ( inbound processing ).

To use BAPIs as asynchronous interfaces, a BAPI-ALE interface that can be used in the distributed business process must be generated for an existing BAPI. This BAPI-ALE interface involves the following components:

• A message type,

• An IDoc type,

• An ALE inbound function module that reads the segments of an inbound IDoc, fills the parameters of the corresponding BAPI, and calls the BAPI, and

• An ALE outbound function module that generates an IDoc from the parameters of the BAPI and places it in ALE outbound.

For a detailed description of the process flow during the generation of the BAPI-ALE interface, see Maintaining the BAPI-ALE Interface .