SOAP Framework

Purpose

The SOAP Framework enables you to create and use Web services based on the SOAP protocol.

The development of the Web Service Framework has resulted in significant changes and enhancements being made to Web Services for ABAP between SAP Web AS Release 620 and Release 640. Since these enhancements could not be realized with the existing SOAP architecture, SOAP Runtime 620 was replaced by the SOAP Framework from Release 640.

If you used SOAP Runtime for Web services in 620, we recommend that you use the Web Service Framework to create these services again. This will enable you to implement the enhanced and easier to use functions available in the Web Service Framework.

Features

The following Web service functions have been added in Release 640:

· You can create Web services that are based on function modules, function module groups, BAPIs, and XI messages.

· You can generate a proxy for each Web service.

· You can use new authorizations to activate and administer Web services:

¡ Role = SAP_BC_WEBSERVICE_ADMIN

· Each Web service is represented as a separate ICF service in the Internet Communication Framework, with the accompanying wide range of options (authorizations, logon checks, and so on).

· You can publish all Web services in a shared directory (UDDI).

· You can use transaction WSADMIN for the easy handling of all administration tasks for Web services.

Restrictions

The following constraints apply when you use SOAP Framework 640:

· The SOAP Actor concept is not supported. The receiver side always adopts the role of the ultimate receiver, This means that no intermediaries can be realized in the context of SOAP.

· The optional use of SOAP encoding (section 5.1 of the SOAP specification) is not available. Although the representation of data in the SOAP Runtime is very similar to SOAP encoding, some of the required points, such as support for array types, are missing.

· No attachments: The specification SOAP with Attachments for transporting SOAP calls that use MIME documents with attached binary elements (such as JPEG pictures) is not supported.

· Only HTTP transport: Only HTTP (and HTTPs) is available for SOAP transport binding. Other protocols, such as SMTP, are not supported.

Creating Web Services

In Release 620, the following steps were required to create a SOAP-based Web service and an accompanying Web Service Description (WSD):

1. Create a function module that can run remotely.
2. Start the Web service browser.
3. Find the function module and generate a WSDL, or
4. Put function modules into groups and generate a common WSDL.

In the Web Service Framework, you can create Web services manually or by using an assistant:

· Manual:

1. Create a virtual interface for RFCs, function groups, or BAPIs (transaction SE80).

You can set name handling to uppercase or mixed case. Check which applies to you.

2. Create a Web service definition (transaction SE80).

3. Activate and configure a Web service based on a WSD (transaction WSCONFIG).