Client scenario

In Client scenario, Python calls remote enabled ABAP function module (FM) [1] via SAP RFC protocol, as shown in Introduction. To introduce the functionality, we will start with an three examples, then show some details of the Connection, and finally cover some implementation details.

Examples

To create a connection, construct a Connection object and pass the credentials that should be used to open a connection to an SAP backend system.

>>> from pyrfc import Connection
>>> conn = Connection(user='me', passwd='secret', ashost='10.0.0.1', sysnr='00', client='100')

For the examples we usually store the logon information in a config document (sapnwrfc.cfg) that is read with ConfigParser. Thus, if the logon information is stored in a dictionary, we may construct a Connection instance by unpacking the dictionary, e.g.

>>> params = {'user': 'me', 'passwd': 'secret', 'ashost':'10.0.0.1', 'sysnr':'00', 'client':'100'}
>>> conn = Connection(**params)

Connection parameters are documented in sapnwrfc.ini file, located in the SAP NWRFC SDK demo folder. Check also section 4.1.2 Using sapnwrfc.ini of SAP NWRFC SDK 7.50 Programming Guide

Example clientStfcStructure.py

Lets do a remote function call with a more complex set of parameters.

A function module knows four types of parameters:

  1. IMPORT parameters, set by the client.

  2. EXPORT parameters, set by the server.

  3. CHANGING parameters, set by the client, can be modified by the server.

  4. TABLE parameters, set by the client, can be modified by the server.

A simple example of an RFC with different parameter types can be found in the file clientStfcStructure.py in the examples/ directory. The FM STFC_STRUCTURE uses the IMPORT parameter IMPORTSTRUCT, copies it to the EXPORT parameter ECHOSTRUCT, then modifies it and appends it to the TABLE parameter RFCTABLE. Furthermore, it fills the EXPORT parameter RESPTEXT with some system/call information.

The parameter IMPORTSTRUCT is of type RFCTEST, which contains 12 fields of different types. We fill these fields with example values (ll. 7-22). (Note: A comment after each fields tells something about the ABAP datatype.)

from os import path
from pprint import pprint

from pyrfc import Connection

imp = {
    "RFCINT1": 0x7F,  # INT1: Integer value (1 byte)
    "RFCINT2": 0x7FFE,  # INT2: Integer value (2 bytes)
    "RFCINT4": 0x7FFFFFFE,  # INT: integer value (4 bytes)
    "RFCFLOAT": 1.23456789,  # FLOAT
    "RFCCHAR1": "a",  # CHAR[1]
    "RFCCHAR2": "ij",  # CHAR[2]
    "RFCCHAR4": "bcde",  # CHAR[4]
    "RFCDATA1": "k" * 50,
    "RFCDATA2": "l" * 50,  # CHAR[50] each
    "RFCTIME": datetime.time(

Afterwards, the FM is invoked via the call(function_name, **kwargs) method. It takes the FM’s name as the first argument and then keyword arguments that describes the IMPORT, CHANGING, and TABLE parameters.

    ),  # DATE

The result contains all EXPORT, CHANGING, and TABLE parameters. It is printed out:

{u'ECHOSTRUCT': {u'RFCCHAR1': u'a',
                 u'RFCCHAR2': u'ij',
                 u'RFCCHAR4': u'bcde',
                 u'RFCDATA1': u'kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk',
                 u'RFCDATA2': u'llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll',
                 u'RFCDATE': datetime.date(2012, 10, 3),
                 u'RFCFLOAT': 1.23456789,
                 u'RFCHEX3': 'fgh',
                 u'RFCINT1': 127,
                 u'RFCINT2': 32766,
                 u'RFCINT4': 2147483646,
                 u'RFCTIME': datetime.time(12, 34, 56)},
 u'RESPTEXT': u'SAP R/3 Rel. 702   Sysid: E1Q      Date: 20121012   Time: 212344',
 u'RFCTABLE': [{u'RFCCHAR1': u'X',
                u'RFCCHAR2': u'YZ',
                u'RFCCHAR4': u'E1Q',
                u'RFCDATA1': u'kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk',
                u'RFCDATA2': u'llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll',
                u'RFCDATE': datetime.date(2012, 10, 12),
                u'RFCFLOAT': 2.23456789,
                u'RFCHEX3': '\xf1\xf2\xf3',
                u'RFCINT1': 128,
                u'RFCINT2': 32767,
                u'RFCINT4': 2147483647,
                u'RFCTIME': datetime.time(21, 23, 44)}]}

There are some points worth mentioning.

  1. The types of the variables are automatically converted from and to Python objects in an intuitive way.

  2. Parameters are represented as key-value pairs in a dictionary. For more complex types, the value is a dictionary (for structures) or a list of dictionaries (for tables).

  3. ABAP does not allow IMPORT and EXPORT parameters with the same name, preventing name clashes on Python side

Example clientPrintDescription.py

As you have seen in the previous example, all you need to know for calling a FM is the FM’s name and its parameters – the so called metadata description. However, maybe you don’t know this in advance, so what can you do?

A simple approach is to login to the SAP backend system and investigate the function module’s description in transaction SE37. Alternatively, the get_function_description() method could be used.

The example script clientPrintDescription.py retrieves and prints the metadata description for a given function module’s name [2]. The get_function_description() returns a FunctionDescription object that contains information about the parameters. A parameter may have a type description (a TypeDescription object), which contains information about the type’s fields. The scripts iterates over the parameters and fields and prints them out:

Parameters of function: STFC_STRUCTURE
NAME          PARAMETER_TYPE    DIRECTION   NUC_LENGTH UC_LENGTH DECIMALS  DEFAULT_VALUE   OPTIONAL   TYPE_DESCRIPTION PARAMETER_TEXT
IMPORTSTRUCT  RFCTYPE_STRUCTURE RFC_IMPORT  144        264       0                         False      RFCTEST          Importing structure
    -----------( Structure of RFCTEST (n/uc_length=144/264)--
NAME          FIELD_TYPE        NUC_LENGTH NUC_OFFSET UC_LENGTH UC_OFFSET DECIMALS   TYPE_DESCRIPTION
RFCFLOAT      RFCTYPE_FLOAT     8          0          8         0         16         None
RFCCHAR1      RFCTYPE_CHAR      1          8          2         8         0          None
RFCINT2       RFCTYPE_INT2      2          10         2         10        0          None
RFCINT1       RFCTYPE_INT1      1          12         1         12        0          None
RFCCHAR4      RFCTYPE_CHAR      4          13         8         14        0          None
RFCINT4       RFCTYPE_INT       4          20         4         24        0          None
RFCHEX3       RFCTYPE_BYTE      3          24         3         28        0          None
RFCCHAR2      RFCTYPE_CHAR      2          27         4         32        0          None
RFCTIME       RFCTYPE_TIME      6          29         12        36        0          None
RFCDATE       RFCTYPE_DATE      8          35         16        48        0          None
RFCDATA1      RFCTYPE_CHAR      50         43         100       64        0          None
RFCDATA2      RFCTYPE_CHAR      50         93         100       164       0          None
    -----------( Structure of RFCTEST )-----------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RFCTABLE      RFCTYPE_TABLE     RFC_TABLES  144        264       0                         False      RFCTEST          Importing/exporting table
    -----------( Structure of RFCTEST (n/uc_length=144/264)--
[...]
    -----------( Structure of RFCTEST )-----------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ECHOSTRUCT    RFCTYPE_STRUCTURE RFC_EXPORT  144        264       0                         False      RFCTEST          Exporting structure
    -----------( Structure of RFCTEST (n/uc_length=144/264)--
[...]
    -----------( Structure of RFCTEST )-----------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RESPTEXT      RFCTYPE_CHAR      RFC_EXPORT  255        510       0                         False      None             Exporting response message
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once again some remarks:

  1. The parameter_type and field_type are not the ABAP types (that were given as a comment in the first example), but the type names given by the C connector. For more details on the type conversion, see the technical details.

  2. Most of the information presented here is not relevant for client usage. The important values are:

    FunctionDescription.parameters

    name, parameter_type, direction, nuc_length (in case of fixed length strings or numeric strings), decimals (in case of decimal types – RFCTYPE_BCD), and optional.

    TypeDescription.fields

    name, field_type, nuc_length (in case of fixed length strings or numeric strings), and decimals (in case of decimal types – RFCTYPE_BCD).

Errors

If something goes wrong while working with the RFC functionality, e.g. invoking a function module that does not exist in the backend, an error is raised:

>>> python clientPrintDescription.py STFC_STRUCTURES
... An error occurred.
... [...]
... pyrfc._exception.ABAPApplicationError: Error 5: [FU_NOT_FOUND] ID:FL Type:E Number:046 STFC_STRUCTURES ABAP: FL E 046 STFC_STRUCTURES

For further description see Errors.

Example clientIDoc.py

Warning

The background protocol (bgRFC) is not working in the current version. Please use only tRFC/qRFC protocols.

Certain operations, e.g. sending IDocs, are not possible with the RFC protocol. Rather, a protocol with transactional guarantees has to be used. The first transactional protocols were tRFC (transactional RFC) and qRFC (queued RFC). Afterwards, bgRFC (background RFC) were introduced. All these protocols have in common that they group one or more FM invocations as one logical unit of work (LUW). Consequently, a Connection object offers various methods to work with such units.

Working with units is as follows:

  1. Initialize a unit by using initialize_unit(). The method returns a unit descriptor, which is used later on. When initializing the unit, decide whether to use the bgRFC protocol (default) or the tRFC or qRFC protocol by setting background=False.

  2. The next step is to create the unit in the backend system, prepare the invocation of one or more RFC in it and submit the unit to the backend. All this functionality is provided by fill_and_submit_unit(). The method takes two required parameters. The first one is a unit descriptor as returned by initialize_unit(). The second one is a list of RFC descriptions that should be executed in the unit. A RFC descriptions consists of a tuple with the name of the FM as the first element and a dictionary describing the function container as the second element.

  3. If fill_and_submit_unit() ended successfully, i.e. without raising an exception, the unit should be confirmed by confirm_unit(). In case there is a problem with the unit, it can be deleted in the backend system by calling destroy_unit().

The current state of a unit can be – in case of units using the bgRFC protocol – retrieved by get_unit_state().

The example script clientIDocUnit.py provides examples for sending iDocs. The script was inspired by iDocClient.c of Schmidt and Li (2009c, pp. 2ff), but omits the implementation of client side features that assure atomic execution (see also next section).

Note

Use transaction WE05 to see the IDocs recorded in the SAP backend.

Note

In case you are using queued units (qRFC), use transaction SMQR to register a new queue. In transaction SMQ2 (qRFC monitor) you see the incoming calls. Note that it is possible to send the unit to a non-registered queue name. It will be held with status ready in the monitor until it is deleted or the queue registered. For further information, see qRFC Administration.

Assuring atomic execution

In order to assure that the unit is executed exactly once, it is of great importance that the end system on the client side initiates the confirmation. Citing Schmidt and Le (sapnwrfc.h, l. 1361ff) with modifications:

After [fill_and_submit_unit()] returned successfully, you should use this function to cleanup
the status information for this unit on backend side. However, be careful: if you have
a three-tier architecture, don’t bundle Submit and Confirm into one single logical step.
Otherwise you run the risk, that the middle tier (the NW RFC lib) successfully executes
both, the Submit and the Confirm, but on the way back to the first tier an error occurs
and the first tier can not be sure that the unit was really executed in the backend and
therefore decides to re-execute it. This will now result in a duplicate execution in the
backend, because the Confirm step in the first try has already deleted the UID in the
backend, and consequently the backend is no longer protected against re-execution of this
UID. In a three-tier architecture, the first tier should trigger both steps separately:
first the Submit, and after it knows that the Submit was successful, the Confirm.
Also in case the Confirm runs into an error, […] try the Confirm again at a later point [.]

Further details to this issue can be found in Schmidt and Li (2009c, pp. 4-5).

Configuration of a connection

Upon construction, a Connection object may be configured in various ways by passing a config parameter. These configuration options are valid for all RFC function module calls:

>>> conn = Connection(config = {'keyword': value, ...}, **params)

The following keywords for the config dictionary are possible:

dtime

If set, ABAP DATE and TIME types are returned as Python datetime, otherwise as strings. From Python to ABAP, both strins and datetimes can be sent, regardless of this setting.

Default: False

rstrip

ABAP allows two different ways to store strings: A fixed length string type C and a dynamic length string type STRING. Strings of type C are padded with blanks, if the content is shorter than the predefined length. In order to unify the connector’s behavior regarding strings, the rstrip option was introduced. If set to True, all strings are right-stripped before being returned by an RFC call.

Default: True

return_import_params

Usually, you do not need the IMPORT parameters in the result of Connection.call(). If return_import_params is set to False, parameters of type IMPORT are filtered out.

Default: False

Note

All the parameters are public object attributes, i.e. they can be modified after the object’s construction.

Selected Connection methods

Besides the mentioned methods in the examples, the Connection offers some basic methods for working with a connection:

Connection.ping()

Send a RFC Ping through the current connection

Connection.reset_server_context()

Resets the SAP server context ("user context / ABAP session context") associated with the given client connection, but does not close the connection

Connection.get_connection_attributes()

Get connection details

Connection.close()

Close the connection

Technical details

This section describes the Data types and the Data transmission.

Data types

A remote function call executes ABAP code, which works with parameters that have an ABAP data type. Hence, when you look at the metadata description you will find ABAP data types for the parameters.

The Python connector does not provide ABAP data types to be instantiated and used within Python code, but rather converts between ABAP data types and Python built-in types.

Type Category

ABAP

Meaning

RFC

Python

Remark

numeric

I

Integer (whole number)

INT

int

Internal 1 and 2 byte integers (INT1, INT2) are also mapped to int

numeric

F

Floating point number

FLOAT

float

numeric

P

Packed number / BCD number

BCD

Decimal

character

C

Text field (alphanumeric characters)

CHAR

unicode

character

D

Date field (Format: YYYYMMDD)

DATE

datetime.date

or string -> config[‘dtime’]

character

T

Time field (Format: HHMMSS)

TIME

datetime.time

or string -> config[‘dtime’]

character

N

Numeric text field (numeric characters)

NUM

unicode

hexadecimal

X

Hexadecimal field

BYTE

str [bytes]

variable length

STRING

Dynamic length string

STRING

unicode

variable length

XSTRING

Dynamic length hexadecimal string

BYTE

str [bytes]

Further details on predefined ABAP types are available online.

The Python representation of a parameter is a simple key-value pair, where the key is the name of the parameter and the value is the value of the parameter in the corresponding Python type. Beside the mentioned types, there are tables and structures:

  • A structure is represented in Python by a dictionary, with the structure fields’ names as dictionary keys.

  • A table is represented in Python by a list of dictionaries.

For an example see Example clientStfcStructure.py.

Data transmission

The data transmission in the C connector takes place as follows: If you want to invoke an RFC, a function container is constructed from the metadata description of the RFC. The function container is a memory structure to which the parameters are written. Then the RFC is invoked and the function container is passed to the backend system. The backend system now executes the RFC on the given function container, i.e. it reads some values from the function container and writes other values to it. Finally, the function container is passed back to the C connector.

This has some important consequences:

  • There is no technical distinction between input and output values.

  • In the metadata description, each parameter is classified as IMPORT, EXPORT, CHANGING, and TABLES. Hence, there is a convention regarding which parameters are set when the RFC is invoked and which parameters are filled or changed after the RFC’s execution.

  • It is possible, though not good practice, to set the output values (i.e. parameter of type EXPORT) when invoking an RFC. Similarly, it is possible that an RFC will modify the input values (parameters of type IMPORT). However, a well written RFC will not manipulate the input values and initialize the output values to a default value.

Footnotes