A search connector establishes the connection between the data provision technology and the Business Context Viewer (BCV) by providing search access to a specific data provider at a specific destination (logical system) or list of destinations.
The definition of the search connector includes the description of the selection attributes and the structure of the result data. The search connector delivers result data in a predefined form for the specified selection attributes.
The following types of search connectors are available depending on the type of data provision technology:
Search Connector |
Data Provision Technology |
Data Provider |
Generic |
Implementing Interface |
---|---|---|---|---|
BI search connector |
SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence |
BI query |
Yes |
|
ES search connector |
Embedded search |
Search template, search connector, search query |
Yes |
|
SES search connector |
SAP NetWeaver search engine service |
Business object |
Yes |
|
IS search connector |
InfoSet search |
InfoSet Yes |
Yes |
|
WF search connector |
Workflow |
Workflow object type |
Yes |
|
BAPI search connector |
Business Application Programming Interface (BAPI) |
Local ABAP OO class (uses BAPI, RFC, or local calls) |
No |
/BCV/IF_SIN_SEARCH_BAPI |
WS search connector |
Web service |
Local ABAP OO class (which uses the WS consumer proxy) |
No |
/BCV/IF_SIN_WS |
How up-to-date your data is depends on the search connector you are using. Data from the BAPI and WS search connectors is always up-to-date but you have to update data from ES, SES, and BI search connectors at regular intervals. Tools for this are available in the corresponding applications.
The cache also has an impact on how up-to-date your data is. If the data is already cached, the system takes the query view result from the cache if the cache is active and not yet expired.
The system documentation (messages, field helps, Customizing documentation, and so on) uses the term SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Search or Enterprise Search to mean Embedded Search.
A search connector consists of input and output fields. BI, BAPI, and SES search connectors can also include a list of additional systems where the queries are executed.
For more information, see Working with Search Connectors.
BCV integrates search connectors with the following business objects:
Query
Queries collect and analyze data provided by search connectors. For more information, see Definition of Queries.
Query view
Query views show the result of query processing on the Web user interface. For more information, see Definition of Query Views.
BCV comes delivered with predefined search connectors to collect and deliver data about different objects that is to be analyzed. For more information, see: