SAP PI: ABAP Mapping Simplified

Many PI consultants consider ABAP mapping to be very complex and hence avoid using it. However in
reality it is pretty easy. With this easy to follow step-by-step guide, ABAP mapping will be a cakewalk.
Java and XSLT mapping is already made simple for you earlier. Now lets master some ABAP stuff.

In SAP PI, ABAP Mapping is not enabled by default. We need carry out some configuration to register
the ABAP Mapping in the Exchange Profile. The step by step procedure of doing this is explained in this
article: How to register ABAP Mapping in Exchange Profile. Make sure this is done before you proceed
any further.

Writing Your First ABAP Mapping Class

Logon to your the ABAP stack on your SAP PI system and create a new ABAP objects class using ABAP
Workbench (transaction SE80).
This class must implement interface IF_MAPPING of package SAI_MAPPING.
The EXECUTE method of this class will serve as the ABAP Mapping program for our interface. The
parameters SOURCE, PARAM, TRACE, DYNAMIC_CONFIGURATION, RESULT and exception
CX_MAPPING_FAULT are available for use within the method.
All you need to do now is to write your transformation logic in ABAP within the EXECUTE method and
use the class as mapping program in your Interface Mapping object.

Implementing ABAP mapping in SAP PI

Once your ABAP Class is ready and activated, define a new interface mapping. Specify source and target
message interfaces and click on Read Interfaces option. Under the Mapping Program section, select the
Type as Abap-class (if this mapping type is not visible, you need to register the ABAP mapping type in
Exchange profile). Under the name field, type the name of the ABAP class that we created previously.
Save and activate the changes. Carry out rest of the configuration as usual and test your interface.

In the previous post, we discussed how easy it is to implement ABAP Mapping in SAP PI. This post
aims to provide a complete code walkthrough using a small example.

We will use same example we used while doing XSLT mapping. This time we will use ABAP mapping.
Lets say we have following XML as source message –
Our aim is to transform the above message into another message shown below such that first name and
last name is concatenated into a single field.
ABAP Mapping Implementation
Create an ABAP objects class say ZCL_SIMPLE_ABAP_MAPPING as explained in the previous post.
The class must implement the interface IF_MAPPING. The method EXECUTE of this interface will
serve as our ABAP mapping logic. Implement the EXECUTE method in the class as described below.

We will use SAP’s iXML parser to parse the source XML. The code for the execute method is given
below. The code is well commented for easy understanding.

METHOD if_mapping~execute.
* initialize iXML
TYPE-POOLS: ixml.
CLASS cl_ixml DEFINITION LOAD.
* create iXML factory object
DATA: ixmlfactory TYPE REF TO if_ixml.
ixmlfactory = cl_ixml=>create( ).

* create streamfactory object

DATA: streamfactory TYPE REF TO
if_ixml_stream_factory.
streamfactory = ixmlfactory->create_stream_factory( ).

* create input stream object

DATA: istream TYPE REF TO if_ixml_istream.
istream = streamfactory->create_istream_xstring( source ).

* initialize the input xml document

DATA: idocument TYPE REF TO if_ixml_document.
idocument = ixmlfactory->create_document( ).

* parse the input xml document

DATA: iparser TYPE REF TO if_ixml_parser.
iparser = ixmlfactory->create_parser(
stream_factory = streamfactory
istream = istream
document = idocument ).
iparser->parse( ).

* Getting the Message ID

* Not necessary. Just demonstrating how to access mapping parameters
in ABAP mapping.
DATA: l_msgid_ref TYPE string.
DATA : oref TYPE REF TO cx_root.
TRY.
l_msgid_ref = param->get( if_mapping_param=>message_id ).
CATCH cx_sy_ref_is_initial INTO oref.
ENDTRY.

* Reading source XML data

DATA: odocument TYPE REF TO if_ixml_document.
DATA: root TYPE REF TO if_ixml_element.
DATA: msgid TYPE REF TO if_ixml_element.
DATA: person TYPE REF TO if_ixml_element.
DATA: name TYPE REF TO if_ixml_element.

DATA: fname TYPE REF TO if_ixml_node_collection.

DATA: lname TYPE REF TO if_ixml_node_collection.
DATA: bdate TYPE REF TO if_ixml_node_collection.
 DATA: firstname TYPE REF TO if_ixml_node.
DATA: lastname TYPE REF TO if_ixml_node.
DATA: birthdate TYPE REF TO if_ixml_node.

DATA: fullname TYPE string.

DATA: str_fname TYPE string.
DATA: str_lname TYPE string.

DATA: fname_iterator TYPE REF TO if_ixml_node_iterator.

DATA: lname_iterator TYPE REF TO if_ixml_node_iterator.
DATA: bdate_iterator TYPE REF TO if_ixml_node_iterator.

DATA: ostream TYPE REF TO if_ixml_ostream.

DATA: renderer TYPE REF TO if_ixml_renderer.

DATA: rc TYPE i.
DATA: len TYPE i.
DATA: idx TYPE i.

fname = idocument->get_elements_by_tag_name( 'Name' ).

lname = idocument->get_elements_by_tag_name( 'Surname' ).
bdate = idocument->get_elements_by_tag_name( 'Birthdate' ).

* create output document

odocument = ixmlfactory->create_document( ).

* create a root node Names

root = odocument->create_simple_element(
name = 'PersonsCompact'
parent = odocument ).

* create element 'MessageID' and add it to the output document

msgid = odocument->create_simple_element(
name = 'MessageID'
value = l_msgid_ref
parent = root ).

* create iterators to iterate over the data elements

fname_iterator = fname->create_iterator( ).
lname_iterator = lname->create_iterator( ).
bdate_iterator = bdate->create_iterator( ).
 len = fname->get_length( ).
idx = 0.
WHILE len GT idx.
idx = idx + 1.

* create element 'Person' and add it to the output document

person = odocument->create_simple_element(
name = 'Person'
parent = root ).

firstname = fname_iterator->get_next( ).
lastname = lname_iterator->get_next( ).
birthdate = bdate_iterator->get_next( ).

str_fname = firstname->get_value( ).
str_lname = lastname->get_value( ).

CONCATENATE str_fname str_lname INTO fullname SEPARATED BY space.

* create element 'Name' and add it to the output document

name = odocument->create_simple_element(
name = 'Name'
value = fullname
parent = person ).

* create element 'Birthdate' and add it to the output document

rc = person->append_child( birthdate ).
ENDWHILE.

* create output stream

ostream = streamfactory->create_ostream_xstring( result ).

* create renderer
renderer = ixmlfactory->create_renderer(
ostream = ostream
document = odocument ).
rc = renderer->render( ).
ENDMETHOD. "IF_MAPPING~EXECUTE

Implementing ABAP mapping in SAP PI

Once your ABAP Class is ready and activated, define a new interface mapping. Specify source and target
message interfaces and click on Read Interfaces option. Under the Mapping Program section, select the
Type as Abap-class (if this mapping type is not visible, you need to register the ABAP mapping type in
Exchange profile). Under the name field, type the name of the ABAP class.

Save and activate the changes. Carry out rest of the configuration as usual and test your interface.

Testing of ABAP Mapping Class

The above-created Mapping program could be tested by using the transaction SXI_MAPPING_TEST.

This transaction requires the Sender details i.e. Sender Service/Party Name, Sender Interface Namespace, Sender
Interface; the Receiver details i.e. Receiver Service/Party Name, Receiver Interface Namespace, Receiver Interface And
Input XML source file.