Packaging and re-creating IDocs

This section applies to IBM WebSphere SAP R/3 version 3.x objects only.

Because you cannot transport IDoc objects from SAP R/3 version 3.x, you must manually re-create them in the new SAP R/3 system. To do this, you need to:

Capture the IDoc structure and segment definitions

To capture the most useful representation of an IDoc, capture the overall structure that identifies all of the segments, and then capture business object definitions for each segment. Once you have a clear representation of the IDoc, you can us it to manually re-create it in the new system.

If you have access to the old and new systems, you can simply copy and paste the business objects between the systems. However, if both systems are not available, then you should record the IDoc and segment definitions outside of the SAP system for reference. Although this is optional, it is strongly recommended that you record the definitions.

To download the most useful representations of the IDocs and the segment definitions, first download the overall structure of the IDoc, and then download the IDoc segment definitions.

Downloading the overall IDoc structure

To download the overall IDoc structure:

  1. Go to the Develop IDocs Type screen (transaction WE30).
  2. Enter an IDoc object name, and then click Display (F7).
  3. Expand the IDoc structure so that all segments are visible.
    1. Download a text version of the structure.
    2. From the System menu, click List, click Save, and then click Local File.
    3. Accept the default option unconverted, and then click Enter.

      The file is downloaded as a text file and can be viewed in any text editor.

    4. Specify the location to download the file, and then click Transfer.
Downloading the segment definitions

You can download only one segment definition at a time. Repeat the following steps for each segment. To download a segment definition:

  1. Go to transaction SE11 and enter the segment name.
  2. From the Dictionary Object menu, click Print.

    Make sure the Table Structure box is checked.

  3. Deselect the Print immediately checkbox, check the new spool request check box, and then click Continue.
  4. Go to the Spool Request Selection screen (transaction SP01) to view the print request.
  5. Click Execute, select the checkbox next to the request, and then click Display comments.
  6. Convert the data to a downloadable format.
    1. From the Goto menu, click List Display.
    2. Download a text version of the segment. From the System menu, point to List, point to Save, and then click Local File.
    3. Accept the default option unconverted, and click Enter.

      The file is downloaded as a text file and can be viewed in any text editor.

    4. Specify the location to download the file, and then click Transfer.

Once you have represented the object using text files, you can import them into a spreadsheet application to set up the object hierarchy. This facilitates the creation of IDoc segments, because you can cut and paste the fields directly into the segment editor in the SAP application.

Manually re-create the IDocs

Once you have a representation of the IDoc, you must manually re-create it in the new system. The SAP R/3 version 3.x environment uses different tables to store IDoc type and segment definitions than does SAP R/3 version 3.x. As a result, you must use SAP's tools to redefine the IDoc definitions to update the proper tables. There are two steps to this process:

A common error message encountered when re-creating segments by assigning the SAP R/3 version 3.x data element to the new segment field is Invalid data element. SAP replaced many of the SAP R/3 version 3.x data elements with data elements that have an underscore followed by the letter D (_D) at the end of the SAP R/3 version 3.x name. For example, CHARG in SAP R/3 version 3.x is Batch Number for the data element and is replaced in SAP R/3 version 3.x with CHARG_D.

If a data element does not exist in the new form, find a new form in the SAP R/3 version 3.x system. The data element must have the same type and length as the original in SAP R/3 version 3.x system. The description does not affect processing and is visible only in the log.

Attention: Do not rename the IDoc, segments, or segment fields because there is a direct relationship between the IDoc definition and the IBM WebSphere business object repository. In addition, the ABAP functions used to process the IDoc also rely on these names.

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