Defining the Message (SAP Library - ALE Programming Guide)

Defining the Message

For general rules on defining a new message (message type, IDoc type), refer to the documentation "Guidelines for Designing IDoc Types and IDoc Segments". When you define your new message, note these specific points for master data distribution:

Define the segment contents and segment hierarchy in the IDoc type according to the logical hierarchy of the data in the master data object, which normally matches the database table hierarchy for the master data object in the SAP system.

Example

The material master consists of tables MARA, MAKT, MARC, MARD etc. The contents of IDoc segments E1MARAM, E1MAKTM, E1MARCM and E1MARDM in IDoc type MATMAS02 for the material master correspond to the most extent to the tables listed above. The hierarchy of these segments in IDoc type MATMAS02 corresponds to the database table hierarchy:

E1MARAM: Material master general data (MARA)

E1MAKTM: Material master short texts (MAKT)

E1MARCM: Material master C segment (MARC)

E1MARDM: Material master warehouse/batch segment (MARD)

In each IDoc segment, define field MSGFN as the first field with data element MSGFN. Information is transmitted to field MSGFN on whether segment data is to be created, changed, deleted or updated in the target system.

Example

As an example, refer to the definition of the segments E1MARAM, E1MAKTM, E1MARCM, and E1MARDM for the IDoc type MATMAS02 (material master).

We recommend that you name the IDoc segments as follows: E1XXXXX, where XXXXX is the name of the corresponding database table. If the name of the table has less than five places, fill the remaining places with the letter M (For example, E1MARAM for table MARA).