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COMMUNICATION

Quick Reference

Other versions: 7.31 | 7.40 | 7.54

Obsolete Syntax

COMMUNICATION comstep ID id [ cpic_options].

Effect

This statement enables cross-system communication between two ABAP programs, or between an ABAP program and a program written in another programming language. The whole communication process takes place in individual communication steps, which involve repeated execution of the COMMUNICATION statement with the corresponding additions comstep. For both partner programs, communication is based on the CPI-C interface, which has been defined as a communication standard by IBM as a part of the SAA standard. This interface provides the following functions in the form of the CPI-C starter set:

  • Creating, accepting, and closing a connection
  • Sending and receiving data

Coordination of the individual communication steps, recording any errors that occur in the database table TCPIC and, if necessary, data conversion, take place in the individual programs themselves. The parameters that determined the physical partner system for a connection are administrated in the database table TXCOM.

Once the connection is initialized, the system writes an eight-digit connection number in the data object id. This number can be used to identify individual connections. As standard, 2**16 connections are possible for each calling program. id expects only flat character-like data types, with a minimum length of eight digits.

After initialization, the connection must be created. Then, in the first connection step, all the necessary administration data is sent to the partner system. The data sent in this connection step must have a specific structure and must be available in an EBCDIC format. The example below shows how a specifically formed structure can be converted into the EBCDIC format. The subsequent response also exists in EBCDIC format. After this initial connection has been established, data can be transferred without the need for further conversion.

In communications, the internal session in the called program must not be changed. Screen output is ignored or, in the case of list output to the SAP spool system, is diverted if the statement NEW-PAGE is entered beforehand. Messages of types I, S, and W are ignored, while types A and E cause the program to terminate.


Notes

  • The statement COMMUNICATION is not supported in classes and should not appear in programs anymore, since support for the direct programming of the CPI-C interface has largely been discontinued. Instead, only the RFC interface is to be used for communication between programs. However, the function of the statement is maintained for supporting existing programs and for internal purposes.
  • The EBCDIC format is used in the first connection step because the CPI-C interface was mainly used for connections to R/2 systems.

Example

In the simplest case, an ABAP program calls a subroutine in an ABAP program of another AS ABAP. To enable this, the calling program must register on the other system by specifying the type of CPI-C service, the logon data, the programs and subroutines, and the type of error handling. The registration is performed by sending a specific structure to the other system in EBCDIC format.

The following example shows a schematic representation of the communication between two ABAP programs P1 and P2 without querying return values. The calling program P1 first creates the connection and sends a field connect_xstr that contains the content of the connect structure converted into EBCDIC format, with the necessary data. After the connection is confirmed by P2, P1 sends the actual, unconverted application data in the buffer b. When this data has been received, P2 sends a confirmation to P1. The connection from P1 is then closed again and the content of the buffer ("Answer") is produced as output.

PROGRAM p1.
DATA: d    TYPE c LENGTH 8,
      id   TYPE c LENGTH 8,
      b TYPE c LENGTH 10,
      len  TYPE x LENGTH 4,
      dat  TYPE xstring,
      stat TYPE xstring,
      BEGIN OF connect,
        header   TYPE c LENGTH 12 VALUE 'CONNCPIC1',
        client   TYPE c LENGTH  3 VALUE '001',
        user     TYPE c LENGTH 12 VALUE 'BONDJ',
        password TYPE c LENGTH  8 VALUE '007',
        language TYPE c LENGTH  1 VALUE 'E',
        corr     TYPE c LENGTH  1 VALUE ' ',
        program  TYPE c LENGTH  8 VALUE 'P2',
        routine  TYPE c LENGTH 30 VALUE 'CPIC_START',
      END OF connect,
      connect_str  TYPE c LENGTH 75,
      connect_xstr TYPE x LENGTH 75,
      connect_ret  TYPE x LENGTH 75,
      converter TYPE REF TO cl_abap_conv_out_ce.

connect_str = connect.
converter = cl_abap_conv_out_ce=>create( encoding = '0101' ).
converter->write( data = connect_str ).
connect_xstr = converter->get_buffer( ).

d = ...

COMMUNICATION INIT
  DESTINATION d
  ID id.
COMMUNICATION ALLOCATE
  ID id.
COMMUNICATION SEND
  BUFFER connect_xstr
  ID id.

                        PROGRAM p2.
                        DATA:
                          id   TYPE c LENGTH 8,
                          b TYPE c LENGTH 10,
                          len  TYPE x LENGTH 4,
                          dat  TYPE xstring,
                          stat TYPE xstring.

                        FORM cpic_start.
                          COMMUNICATION ACCEPT
                            ID id.

COMMUNICATION RECEIVE
  BUFFER     connect_ret
  DATAINFO   dat
  STATUSINFO stat
  RECEIVED   len
  ID id.

b = 'Request'.
COMMUNICATION SEND
  BUFFER b
  ID id.

                          COMMUNICATION RECEIVE
                            BUFFER     b
                            RECEIVED   len
                            DATAINFO   dat
                            STATUSINFO stat
                            ID         id.
                          IF b = 'Request'.
                            b = 'Answer'.
                          ENDIF.
                          COMMUNICATION SEND
                            BUFFER     b
                            ID         id.
                        ENDFORM.

CLEAR b.
COMMUNICATION RECEIVE
  BUFFER     b
  DATAINFO   dat
  STATUSINFO stat
  RECEIVED   len
  ID         id.

WRITE / b.

COMMUNICATION DEALLOCATE ID id.

Exceptions

Non-Handleable Exceptions

  • Cause: No authorization to accept a CPIC connection.
    Runtime error: COMMUNICATION_ACCEPT_NO_AUTH
  • Cause: No authorization to open a CPIC connection.
    Runtime error: COMMUNICATION_INIT_NO_AUTH

Continue

COMMUNICATION - comstep

COMMUNICATION - cpic_options