The SAP Assistant is a stand-alone executable program providing an online tool for users wishing to access R/3 business objects and Remote Function Calls (RFC) metadata information from outside of R/3.

Using the SAP Assistant you can perform a number of tasks related to SAP business objects and RFCs:

• Browse (view and search) metadata information of SAP RFC function modules and of business object and their BAPIs (Business APIs, which are the methods of the business objects)
• Call RFCs and use their functionality directly online
• Use a BAPI Wizard for generating either Java or C++ classes, which you can then use for creating and manipulating SAP business objects using their BAPIs.

Note that the browsing functionality of the SAP assistant shows RFC and BAPI metadata only, meaning that it give information about the various parameters of an RFC or a BAPI, but it does not show table data from R/3. For example, browsing allows you to view the GeneralLedgerAccount business object, its fields and methods. It does not show actual General Ledger Account record information.

Only by calling RFC function modules or BAPIs can you access R/3 table and field data.