Java & BAPI Technology for SAP

The BAPI ActiveX control can be used by external applications to access business functions in the R/3 system by calling BAPIs through OLE Automation. Client programs access proxy objects, which are local instances of SAP business objects managed by the BAPI ActiveX control. These proxy objects correspond to the real SAP business objects stored in R/3's BOR.

The core of the BOR run-time system is the BOB (Business Object Broker), which executes on the client system. Client programs send requests to the BOB, which takes the following actions:

• Creates the addressed run-time object

• Chooses the correct method implementation

• Calls the method found

• Transports the results back to the caller

• Destroys the runtime objects

If the client calls a BAPI directly, then the BOB calls the BAPI through an RFC. If the BAPI is not defined, the BOB goes through the BOR, finds the corresponding object, and then finds the correct BAPI (for example, GetList()). The BAPI ActiveX control is currently implemented to run under Windows 95 and Windows NT.