Description

This step calls functions on SAP systems and can load tables via the function RFC_READ_TABLE or customized functions.

Prerequisites

You need to get sapjco3.jar and sapjco3.dll from the SAP service marketplace http://service.sap.com/connectors/ (you need login credentials for the SAP service marketplace) and copy these files into the lib folder.

On some systems you need also the Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Service Pack 1 Redistributable Package ATL Security Update
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=766a6af7-ec73-40ff-b072-9112bab119c2

SAP on OS X: When you get an UnsatisfiedLinkError: no sapjco3 in java.library.path
Set the DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH enviroment variable following the install instructions from the SAP JCo.
Modify the spoon.sh adding the following lines at the end of the "Darwin" case "LIBPATH=$LIBPATH:$DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH"
More details about this can be found in a forum entry.

Options

Option	Definition
Step name	The name of this step as it appears in the transformation workspace.
Connection	The SAP system properties need to be defined in a connection with the SAP Database Option, "SAP ERP System".
Function	Define the function name to call on the SAP system.
Input	Define the Input parameters of the SAP function.
Output	Define the Output parameters of the SAP function.

Notes

RFC_READ_TABLE will only extract data up to 512 chars per row. If you load more data, you will get an DATA_BUFFER_EXCEEDED exception. You can use a customized ZRFC_READ_TABLE RFC, just changing DATA import parameter for a manually created YTAB4000 structure with a component CHAR4000 type.

A comparison with other steps can be found over here: Connecting with SAP Systems