5.3 Adapter Types
SAP provides a set of standard connectivity or adapter features. We can classify them in four different categories, which will be explored in the subsequent sections.
5.3.1 Technical Adapters to Enable Communication with SAP or Third-Party Systems
Some of the adapters that make up this category are included in Table 5.2. A short explanation of what they are used for is also included.
| Adapter Name | Short Description and Use |
|---|---|
| File/FTP or FTPS | Enables the sending and receiving of file contents. For a sender communication channel, the file should not be read-only. |
| JDBC |
Enables you to connect to a database system. The adapter is also responsible for converting from the database-specific format to XML and vice versa. You’ll need to add the concerned database data drivers. |
| JMS | Enables the transfer of data to and from a JMS provider. You’ll also need to load and package the necessary vendor-specific JMS drivers. |
| SOAP | Makes it possible to consume and provide web services, based on SOAP. |
| HTTP_AAE | Transports a message payload in the HTTP body, and the SAP XI message header attributes are moved across as URL parameters. This is a specific HTTP adapter build for the Advanced Adapter Engine (AAE). |
| Enables the sending and reading of emails. It’s also possible to use the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) mail server capability to exchange SMS and faxes. | |
| Marketplace | Enables conversion between SAP XI and HTTP messages containing an MarketSet Markup Language (MML) message. |
| Representational State Transfer (REST) | Provides the ability to provision and to consume RESTful-based web services. The adapter was only added in 2015 but since then, it has gained significant popularity among the SAP PI developers due to its rich features and wide scope of application when integrating cloud and application programming interface (API)-based platforms. SAP wrote a helpful series of blogs in which this adapter and some common scenarios are explained step-by-step at https://blogs.sap.com/2014/12/18/pi-rest-adapter-blog-overview. |
Table 5.2 List of Technical Adapter Types Available in SAP PO 7.5
5.3.2 Application Adapters to Enable Communication with an SAP System
A couple of options are available to connect to and exchange messages with an SAP backend. Table 5.3 lists the adapters that enable you to achieve the goal of communicating with an SAP application.
Table 5.3 List of Adapter Types Available to Communicate with SAP Application Systems in SAP PO 7.5
5.3.3 SAP Industry Adapters
These are adapters responsible for supporting communication with some industry-specific standards. Table 5.4 lists the available adapters and explains the standards they cover.
Table 5.4 List of Adapter Types Available to Support Industry Standards in SAP PO 7.5
5.3.4 Third-Party-Developed Adapters
Some SAP partners have developed adapters to cover industry standards that are currently not supported by SAP’s set of adapters. Some of these third-party adapter suppliers include Seeburger AG (www.seeburger.com), Informatica (www.informatica.com), and iWay software (http://www.informationbuilders.com). To get more details about the list of adapters provided by each of these companies, check their websites.