Recently I set up the services registry for PI 7.1 EHP1 for a client of ours. Although it seemed like it would be a simple process, I ran into a 401 authorization issue and another issue where web services were not publishing to the services registry. Looking online there are a lot of people who ran into the same issues as I did, so I am providing, here, the steps to perform if your services registry isn’t working.
Changed RFC Structure Not Propagating to XI/PI Runtime
November 12, 2009 By 1 Comment
In support of an synchronous XI interface (SOAP->XI->RFC), I changed the underlying structure of one of the RFC parameters. I appended some fields to the end of a return structure in ECC. I re-imported the RFC meta data to the Integration Repository as always and mapped the fields accordingly. When I executed the interface, the fields that I added did NOT appear in the XML. This is because the XI runtime cache did not have the updated metadata for the RFC.
To update the runtime cache (called CPA Cache), enter the following URL in your web browser http://<host>:5<sys#>00/CPACache/refresh?mode=full. XI will do the rest of the work for you. After the CPA cache is refreshed, the new RFC meta data reflects the newly added fields.
These other CPA Cache URLs may also be helpful:
CPA Cache Monitoring: http://<host>:5<sys#>00/CPACache
Delta CPA Cache Refresh: http://<host>:5<sys#>00/CPACache/refresh?mode=delta
Full CPA Cache Refresh: http://<host>:5<sys#>00/CPACache/refresh?mode=full
SAP Standard Sale Area Cross Reference For Inbound IDOC Processing
October 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Cross Reference To SAP Sales Area From External Customer Number – SAP EDSDC Table
If you have ever converted an external file into a SAP Sales Document IDOC (ex: ORDERS05) you may have hard coded the E1EDK14 segments of the IDOC which specify Sales Area and order type for the SAP Sales Document. However, these segments are not required if you populate the E1EDKA1-LIFNR segment of the IDOC with the External Customer Number and populate the EDSDC table with the Sales Area and Order Type for the customer. Your SAP system contains a standard utility that converts the External Customer Number to the Sales Area values and Order Type value contained in this table.
Sales Area Cross Reference From IDOCs ORDERS05 and DELFOR02
This utility is available in the standard SAP package to convert External Customer Number to SAP Sales Area when processing inbound IDOCs (ex: ORDERS05, DELFOR02) from non-SAP systems. It eliminates the need to add E1EDK14 segments to the IDOC as it populates the Sales Organization, Distribution Channel, Division, and Sales Document Type using the entries in the EDSDC table which is populated using transaction VOE2. In order for this process to work, you must have the Customers External number populated in the E1EDKA1-LIFNR field of the IDOC where E1EDKA1-PARVW is ‘AG’ and the EDPAR Customer Conversion table set up to convert the Customer External number to the SAP Customer number. See my blog ‘SAP EDPAR Table – External Customer Number cross reference to SAP Customer Number’ for instructions on the External Customer Conversion. By properly doing this, the standard SAP function module will use the EDSDC table to convert the External Customer Number to the SAP Sales Area and Document Type. The following instructions will explain how to populate the inbound IDOC and the EDSDC table.
SAP TechEd 09 Demo Jam Liveblog Recap
October 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment
This blog is a recap of the liveblog of the SAP TechEd 09 conference Demo Jam. To read in chronological order, start from the bottom and work your way up.
Liveblogging SAP TechEd 09
October 8, 2009 By 1 Comment
Are you stuck in your cube while Bob from BASIS is heading to SAP TechEd 09 in sunny Phoenix? Are you afraid that you’ll miss out on all the sun and fun? While we can’t send the sun, we’ll try to bring you the fun. DataXstream will be liveblogging at SAP TechEd 09.
Head over to live.dataxstream.com on Tuesday, October 13, 2009 to get up to second updates from the show. We will be getting our liveblog on starting at 8am PDT (that’s 11am for you right-coasters) for the general keynote session. We’ll also be liveblogging from SAP TechEd 09 Demo Jam at 8pm PDT on Tuesday. The Demo Jam promises to be a great time, so plan to join us online after you put the kiddies to bed!
This is our first foray into liveblogging. Hopefully it will go off without too many technical glitches. We hope you’ll enjoy following the events with us!
Turn any SAP remote-enabled function module into a Web Service – Part 1
September 29, 2009 By 5 Comments
It still amazes me that not a lot of developers know that you can turn any existing SAP remote enable function module into a Web Service. It may sound like a challenging task, but it is just one of those things that you either know how to do it or you don’t. And to know how to do it only takes 15min to understand.
I have broken this down into 2 blogs
Part 1 will show how to create the simple structured web service
Part 2 will show how to configure and test the web service using SOAMANAGER and WSNAV
Allow Additional Mapping Types in SAP XI/PI
September 14, 2009 By 1 Comment
SAP PI is a powerful integration engine that allows developers a variety of methods for implementing transformation logic. As a long-time ABAP developer, one of my favorite methods to implement transformation logic is using ABAP. This transformation option is not enabled in SAP XI/PI out of the box. While information regarding how to enable ABAP transformations can be found in SAP help, I have found it easier to have step-by-step instructions.
PI Message Mapping Editor “Hidden” Menu
June 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment
When I was young, one of my favorite Nintendo games was Contra by Konami Corporation (old-skool NES). Standard play with Contra afforded you with 3 lives. I was not particularly adept at Contra (I only excel at driving games) and 3 lives was not nearly enough for me. The only way the game was fun for me was to enter the Konami “cheat code”. This cheat code gave me 3o lives! I could get 10x the Contra playing excitement before I got obliterated by one of the many end-of-level “bosses”. It was with the help of that cheat code that my friend Jeff and I were able to beat the game during a marathon, overnight Contra session. It has been over 20 years since I played Contra, but I still remember the cheat code key sequence:
up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start
Now that I’m a little older, I’ve graduated from NES to SAP PI. It’s not nearly as fun, but every bit as challenging. And at least I get paid to do it. I looked, but could not find anybody to pay me to play Contra. Instead of the many end of level “bosses” the only boss I have to worry about is my project manager–I don’t know which one is more evil.
Similar to Contra, the message mapping editor in XI/PI has a menu with helpful items that is “hidden.” Unless, that is, you know the secret key combination to unlock it.
In PI, open any message mapping in edit mode. While holding the <Ctrl>+<Shift> keys, right click in the data flow editor window. You will be rewarded with this menu.
Here is a short rundown of some of the menu options:
- Last Used This menu keeps track of recently used mapping functions. It can be a real time saver if you are using mapping functions from multiple function groups.
- Tools\Export Tools\Import The import/export functionality of the message mapping editor is, single handedly, the best feature of the hidden menu. The import functionality allows you to transfer message mappings from disparate SAP PI systems. The import/export functions also can reduce work in other ways that I will discuss in detail in later blogs.
- Tools\Export Tools\Export The export function downloads the source of your message mapping to your local hard drive. The file includes the map’s header data, data flow logic, user-defined functions, test cases, and documentation.
- Tools\Color schema\Schema XI20 SP3 This option changes the data flow editor color scheme to look like it did in XI2.0 SP3. I never used XI 2.0, so I don’t know if this color scheme is accurate. I can tell you, however, that the brick colors are brighter in this color scheme
- Tools\Color schema\Schema XI30 “accessible” Personally, I really like this color scheme. The data flow editor’s ugly grey background is replaced with a more eye-pleasing white. I switch to this color scheme whenever I am capture screen grabs of the data flow editor for documentation purposes.
- Tools\Local Compilation While I’m not quite sure exactly what this option does, I would assume that it changes on which system the compilation of the map occurs. When checked I think the compilation of the map would occur on your workstation instead of the server, but I have not been able to confirm this thru testing, nor have I found any documentation to support this claim.
- Tools\JarClassTest This togges the JarClassTest option. I have yet to detect a difference in the behavior when compiling/testing, nor have I found any documentation on this item. If anybody out there has any information, please post a comment.
- Tools\Autosize Bricks This function is useful, especially if you have fields or user-defined functions (UDFs) that have long names. By selecting this menu, you no longer have to guess what field or function each brick is for.
vs. 
- Encoding This option allows you to change the encoding in the XML tag of the target message
