Tutorial 2: Migrating an SAP RFC BizTalk Project

The previous version of the SAP adapter that shipped with Microsoft BizTalk Server differs from the WCF-based SAP adapter in many aspects, including:

  • The design-time experience of creating a BizTalk project.

  • The metadata retrieval experience.

  • Schema file name and namespace.

  • Data type mappings.

  • The operations that can be performed using the adapter.

  • Physical port configuration in the BizTalk Server Administration console.

    However, you can make changes to the BizTalk project created using the previous version of the adapter and make it work with the WCF-based SAP adapter.

    This tutorial provides instructions on the changes you should make to the existing BizTalk project created using the previous version of the adapter.

Note

In this tutorial, for the sake of brevity, the previous version of the SAP adapter will be referred to as vPrev SAP adapter. Similarly, a BizTalk project that uses the vPrev SAP adapter will be referred to as vPrev BizTalk project.

Sample Used for the Tutorial

This tutorial is based upon a sample (SAP_RFC_Migration) that demonstrates how to migrate a vPrev BizTalk project that invokes an RFC in an SAP system. The sample is provided with the BizTalk Adapter Pack. For more information, see Adapter Samples.

Prerequisites

  • You must have a vPrev BizTalk project. This tutorial involves a BizTalk project that invokes the SD_RFC_CUSTOMER_GET RFC.

  • You must have a request message to perform to invoke the SD_RFC_CUSTOMER_GET RFC using the vPrev SAP adapter. The request message must conform to the schema of the RFC generated using the vPrev SAP adapter. The sample provided for this tutorial contains this request message.

  • Create strong-name key file, and learn the tools

Understanding a BizTalk Project Created Using the Previous Version of the Adapter

The key constituents of a vPrev BizTalk project to invoke an RFC are:

  • BizTalk orchestration. This is a simple orchestration that picks request messages from a file location, sends the request message to the SAP system using an SAP send-receive port, receives the response, and saves it to another file location.

  • Schema for the RFC you want to invoke in the SAP system. This tutorial involves a BizTalk project that invokes the SD_RFC_CUSTOMER_GET RFC. The schema generated for the RFC is SD_RFC_CUSTOMER_GET__x32003.xsd. This schema is generated using the vPrev SAP adapter.

  • Request message. The request message to invoke the SD_RFC_CUSTOMER_GET RFC. The schema of the request message conforms to the schema of the SD_RFC_CUSTOMER_GET RFC as surfaced by the vPrev SAP adapter.

How to Migrate a BizTalk Project Created Using the Previous Version of the Adapter

The goal of this migration tutorial is to enable you to send a request message, which conforms to schema generated by the vPrev SAP adapter, using a WCF-Custom port that can only process messages conforming to the WCF-based SAP adapter. So, in short, the migration exercise involves configuring the WCF-Custom port to process messages that do not conform to the WCF-based SAP adapter's schema.

However, to be able to configure the WCF-Custom port appropriately, you must perform the following tasks:

  • Generate metadata for the SD_RFC_CUSTOMER_GET RFC using the WCF-based SAP adapter.

  • Map the request message for invoking the RFC using the vPrev SAP adapter to a request message for invoking the RFC using the WCF-based SAP adapter.

  • Map the response message received using the WCF-based SAP adapter to the response message for the vPrev SAP adapter.

  • Create a WCF-Custom SAP send-receive port in the BizTalk Server Administration console.

  • Configure the WCF-Custom port to use the request and response mappings.

In This Section

See Also

SAP Adapter Tutorials