Microsoft and SAP

Question

For many years I have used the old "SAP DCOM Connector" to communicate between Microsoft based applications and SAP. Unfortunately this old but good and performant technology is no longer supported by SAP since years. Therefore I want and must migrate to another newer technology.

First there is the "SAP Connector for .NET 2.0". At first glance it seems to be a good replacement. But this connector can only used with .NET 1.1 (with a workaround also with .NET 2.0) and there is no further development in the future. Shame on you SAP !! SAP says, in the future we should use the "Enterprise Services Explorer" for Visual Studio. But this technology is only available for ECC6.0 and not for 4.6C. And that's the point. I need a modern technology, which is available for 4.6C and ECC6.0 !!

So I did some investigations and discovered the product "ERPConnect" from "Theobald-Software". It looks really nice and they have a good and cheap license model. The first problem with this product is, that it is not allowed to give the source code of applications, which are based on ERPConnect, to the customer. That's strange, because often customers also buy the rights for the application sources. The second problem is, that this product is not from SAP and is also not certified from SAP . Many customers don't want a product from a third party.

So now my question is: are there further possibilities to connect the Microsoft World with the SAP World and does somebody know alternatives to the above mentioned methods ? Especially I need alternatives for using RFCs.

Answer 1

I have a prior experience to develop .NET 2.0 based applications with SAP .NET Connector. The thing is, I was calling a BAPI function in place of RFC, I'm not sure enough if that makes difference for you but SAP .NET connector worked like a charm for me. I was accessing some internal data from a production server and implemented role based security using ASP.NET to authorize the users.

In short, SAP .NET connector is not a too bad choice.

Answer 2

Hello,

I was working on a project couple of years ago that also used the SAP Connector. However, for system interoperability i would go for WCF these days.

I know this can be hard sometimes, but thats the best way tbh.

Answer 3

Connector goes through RFC which gives you tons of ready built-in BAPIs and function modules. That means you need little work on server side for your goals as long as you have a function suitable for your needs, also you can do of your own. Said this, more and more people are movig to web services, which requires more work on server side ( convert function modules to web services ) but are more reusable, HTTP friendly and so...

Pick your poison ;-)

Answer 4

Your single biggest problem is going to be connecting to SAP 4.6C. Extended maintenance for SAP 4.6C has expired at the end of 2009, which is why SAP is not continuing development of the SAP Connector for .NET 2.0

As of Basis Release 2004s you can expose any RFC-enabled Function Module as a webservice using transaction SOAMANAGER.

You could continue to use the SAP Connector for SAP 4.6C. Alternatively if you have a PI (XI) system you could build an interface via PI and expose that as a webservice to the .NET world.

Answer 5

I know about a product called Duet, this product seemed to originate the discontinuation of SAP .NET connector development. It is also possible to use excel 2007 with SAP ocx components that are available in the SAPGUI.

Answer 6

There is another product, which looks interesting: Sitrion Service Studio http://www.sitrion.com/products/ServiceStudio/fordevelopers.aspx Meybe this is a good alternative for ErpConnect. Sitrion is SAP certified. But I don't know the licence costs for there product.

Answer 7

Have any one considered Biztalk Adapter service pack , it supports 4.6c , there is a per processpor license , you can expose RFC's as Service (WCF) and use it in any application .

Answer 8

Great News: SAP has announced release 3.0 of the SAP .NET Connector. It will support current Windows releases (Windows XP 32 Bit, Windows 2003 32/64 Bit (x64), Windows Vista 32/64 Bit (x64), Windows 2008 64 Bit (x64) and later Windows 7) as well as up-to-date Microsoft .NET Runtime versions (2.0, 3.0 and 3.5). See http://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/ABAPConn/ABAP+Connectivity+Home and http://service.sap.com/connectors