IDoc Adapter 

Purpose

The IDoc adapter enables you to process IDocs (Intermediate Documents) using the Integration Engine. IDocs from SAP systems Release 3.1x or higher are supported.

The IDoc adapter is used by SAP systems to connect to a centrally configured Integration Engine using IDocs. A system that has an Integration Engine of this type is referred to as the Integration Server. External systems can also use the IDoc adapter to connect to an Integration Server.

Implementation Considerations

Only use the IDoc adapter to integrate SAP systems with the Integration Server if a scenario of this kind suits your requirements. For example, if you want to make IDoc data in the form of XML messages available to additional receivers, or if you want to integrate different components or integration processes that were previously not integrated. Only stop using existing functioning IDoc scenarios after serious consideration.

Integration

The IDoc adapter is part of the Integration Server. Essentially, the IDoc adapter comprises two parts, namely an adapter at the Integration Server inbound channel, and an adapter at the Integration Server outbound channel. The metadata for the IDoc types involved is shared.

The adapter at the inbound channel is located before the Integration Server pipeline and calls this pipeline. The adapter at the outbound channel, however, is called by the pipeline, and can therefore be regarded as part of the pipeline. 

The connected systems transfer or receive IDocs through their IDoc RFC interface.

 

Features

You require the IDoc adapter to connect SAP systems (or external systems) to the Integration Server using IDoc communication.

You need the IDoc adapter if you want to use the Integration Server to process IDocs. The IDoc adapter converts the IDocs to IDoc XML format so that they can be processed by the Integration Server pipeline.

The IDoc adapter only evaluates the payload of a received XML message. Additional attachments are ignored and not forwarded.

It is also possible to transfer XML received by the Integration Server in IDoc format to connected systems. The Integration Server pipeline must convert the received XML to IDoc XML, and then transfer this IDoc XML to the IDoc adapter. The IDoc adapter converts the IDoc XML to native IDoc format and sends the IDoc to the identified receiver system using the standard IDoc interface. The IDoc adapter can also call external subsystems.

If none of the pipeline services require the IDoc XML, then you can set a corresponding configuration parameter so that IDocs are not converted to IDoc XML, but are transported as tables instead. This only makes sense if IDocs are to be received on the Integration Server and sent again as IDocs without changes to the data records. Avoiding unnecessary conversions from and to XML can lead to improvements in system performance.

You can improve performance further by processing IDoc XML messages to the same receiver in packages. To create these message packages, use event-driven message processing.

 

You can also use the following transactions:

·        Maintain ports in the IDoc adapter (IDX1)

·        Load, display, and delete metadata (IDX2)

·        Display IDoc XML messages (IDX5)

You cannot execute transactions that have the locked symbol (), because you do not have the required authorizations.

The authorizations for the individual transactions are tailored to requirements and are assigned as derivations of the following roles. They are all based on the authorization object S_XMB_AUTH or S_XMB_DSP.

Authorizations and Roles

Transaction	Authorization Object	Role
IDX1	S_IDOCMETA	SAP_XI_ADMINISTRATOR
IDX2	S_IDOCMETA	SAP_XI_CONFIGURATOR
IDX5	S_XMB_DSP	SAP_XI_MONITOR