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Document Number: PD501-01-6_0-WP Orbis Software Limited © 2009 TaskCentre® v4.5 Tools for SAP Business One White Paper
Document Number: PD501-01-6_0-WP Orbis Software Limited © 2009
TaskCentre® v4.5 Tools for SAP Business One
White Paper
Table of Contents
i
ABOUT TASKCENTRE TOOLS FOR SAP BUSINESS ONE ......................... 1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................... 2
INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 3
Software Requirements ..................................................................... 4
ARCHITECTURE ................................................................................... 6
COMPONENTS ..................................................................................... 7
SAP Business One Connector Tool ....................................................... 7 Introduction ................................................................................. 7 Global Configuration ...................................................................... 7 Configuration ............................................................................... 9 Runtime .................................................................................... 12
SAP Business One Connector Web Service .......................................... 14 Introduction ............................................................................... 14 SAP Business One Object Schemas ................................................ 14 Data processing .......................................................................... 15 Data Security ............................................................................. 15
SAP Business One Event Tool ........................................................... 15 Introduction ............................................................................... 15 Global Configuration .................................................................... 15 Configuration ............................................................................. 18 Runtime .................................................................................... 19
SAP Business One Event Agent ......................................................... 19 SAP Business One XML to Recordset Mapper ....................................... 19
Introduction ............................................................................... 19 Global Configuration .................................................................... 19 Configuration ............................................................................. 19 Runtime .................................................................................... 21
APPENDIX A – SUPPORTED BUSINESS ONE OBJECTS ....................... 23
About TaskCentre Tools for SAP Business One
1
About TaskCentre Tools for SAP Business One For further information, please contact your TaskCentre distributor.
This White Paper is for informational purposes only. NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR
STATUTORY, ARE MADE AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT.
Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Without limiting
the rights under copyright, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored in or introduced
into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or for any purpose, without the express written
permission of Orbis Software.
Orbis Software may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other
intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document. Except where expressly
provided in any written license agreement from Orbis Software, the furnishing of this document
does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual
property.
Unless otherwise noted, the example companies, organizations, products, domain names, e-
mail addresses, logos, people, places, and events depicted herein are fictitious, and no
association with any real company, organization, product, domain name, e-mail address, logo,
person, place, or event is intended or should be inferred.
©2009 Orbis Software. All rights reserved.
TaskCentre is a trademark of Orbis Software Ltd.
SAP Business One is a trademark of SAP AG.
All other trademarks are acknowledged as the property of their respective owners.
Executive Summary
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Executive Summary Orbis TaskCentre has historically been used at sites to connect with SAP Business One in order
to perform tasks such as the import of data from other systems (for example , the
creation/updating of invoices, sales orders etc) and to query data in SAP Business One for use
in reporting and exporting to other systems. There were, however, no dedicated TaskCentre
tools for doing this, and so VB Script actions have had to be written that get data in and out via
task and global variables. This results in tasks that are complex, and are hard to maintain by
customers because an intimate knowledge is required both of VB Script and of the SAP Business
One DI API, which is not easy to use for a non-programmer. The tasks are also hard to maintain
because there is a lot of similar repetitive VB Script code in use which can’t be shared between
tasks. Any changes needed have to be replicated across all of the tasks and this introduces the
possibility of error.
A set of specialised TaskCentre tools have been created that allow the end-user to automate
performing operations with one or more SAP Business One installations. These tools have been
designed to be easy to use and to integrate with the TaskCentre environment, which means that
all of the power of the standard TaskCentre tools can be used with SAP Business One. The need
for complex and hard to maintain script has been eliminated, along with specialist knowledge of
the Business One DI API.
Introduction
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Introduction TaskCentre Tools for SAP Business One consists of the following components:
• SAP Business One Connector Tool
• SAP Business One Event Tool
• SAP Business One XML to Recordset Tool
• SAP Business One Event Agent
• SAP Business One Connector Web Service
These components form a bridge between TaskCentre and SAP Business One, allowing the full
power of TaskCentre to be utilised for SAP Business One.
When connecting to a SAP Business One company database from an application outside of the
SAP Business One Client itself, there are rules imposed by SAP which dictate how data may be
read and written from/to SAP Business One.
When writing data to SAP Business One, the Tools always go through the DI Server or DI API,
which are the two available mechanisms approved by SAP for connecting and writing data to a
SAP Business One company database. When reacting to events within SAP Business One, the
Event Tool hooks into the notification procedure exposed by SAP from a SAP Business One
database. This is the only SAP approved mechanism for handling events generated from SAP
Business One. The use of database triggers on the SAP Business One tables themselves is
forbidden by SAP.
Most of the reading/writing of data from/to SAP Business One is done through the DI Server.
The DI API is used only when writing data to a user defined table as this functionality is not
available in the DI Server. The DI Server is SAP’s preferred method of performing high volume,
batched transactions. The DI Server uses XML for its communication of data both into and out
of SAP Business One. The Tools enable the user to manipulate data coming into a Task from a
standard TaskCentre Tool into the XML format required by the DI Server, and also allows the
XML returned to be passed back into a format that the standard TaskCentre Tools can use.
Introduction
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Software Requirements
TaskCentre Tools for SAP Business One requires TaskCentre 4.5 Service Release 2 Hotfix B or
greater. The SAP Business One Connector Tool must be installed on the TaskCentre Server and
any TaskCentre client machines that need to interact with tasks using the Tool.
A DI Server license is required to be installed and configured for the SAP Business One server
that is to be connected to.
SAP Business One Connector Tool - supported operating systems
As per TaskCentre V4.5 support
SAP Business One Connector Web Service (see note A) - supported operating systems
Windows 2000 Server
Windows 2003 Server (32-bit and x64) (see note C for x64 installation details)
Windows 2008 Server (32-bit and x64) (see note C for x64 installation details)
Windows XP Professional (32-bit and x64) (see note C for x64 installation details)
Windows Vista (32-bit and x64) (see note C for x64 installation details)
SAP Business One Event Agent (see note D) - supported operating systems
Windows 2000 Server
Windows 2003 Server (32-bit only)
Windows 2008 Server (32-bit only)
Windows XP Professional (32-bit only)
Windows Vista (32-bit only)
SAP Business One Server version and RDBMS support (see note B)
SAP Business One 2005 A SP01 PL36 and higher and SAP Business One 2005 B supported on:
• SQL 2000 family (SP4)
• SQL 2005 family (32 bit and x64)
SAP Business One 2007 A PL30 and higher and SAP Business One 2007 B supported on:
• SQL 2005 family (32 bit and x64)
• SQL 2008 family (32 bit and x64)
Notes
(A) Includes installation and running of SAP Business One Connector Web Service on the OS
listed. SAP Business One Connector Web Service can be installed separately to TaskCentre
Server and Client. SAP Business One DI Server must also be installed on the machine running
SAP Business One Web Service. Not all versions of the SAP Business One DI Server may be
compatible with all listed OS - please see SAP Business One documentation for details.
Introduction
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(B) Support for the SAP Business One Connector Web Service connecting to the SAP Business
One version and RDBMS listed. SAP Business One Connector Web Service does not need to be
installed on the same machine as the SAP Business One Server, nor the TaskCentre Server. For
details of RDBMS support for TaskCentre Trigger Tools, see main TaskCentre documentation.
Trigger Tools may not support the same RDBMS combinations as the SAP Business One
Connector Web Service. Note that SAP Business One itself only supports SQL 2008 as of PL47
for the A stream, and from PL10 for the B stream.
(C) IIS must be set in 32-bit mode. See Microsoft Knowledge Base article 894435 for more
details.
(D) SAP Business One Event Agent does not need to be installed on the same machine as the
SAP Business One Server.
Architecture
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Architecture Figure 1 below provides a high-level system architecture diagram of the SAP Business One Tools
and their connections to TaskCentre and SAP Business One.
SAP Business One
SAP Business One Server
SAP Business One DI Server or DI API
TaskCentre
SAP Business One Event
SAP Business One Connector
TaskCentre Services
SAP Business One XML to Recordset
Mapper
Physical computer boundary
SAP Business One Event Agent
SAP Business One Connector Web
Service
Items in blue denote components belonging to TaskCentre Tools for SAP Business One.
COM communication
HTTP or HTTPS communication
TaskCentre communication
(internal protocol)
Database polling
SAP Tables
Event Agent Tables
SAP Business One Notify Stored
Procedure
Figure 1 – System Architecture Diagram
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Components SAP Business One Connector Tool
Introduction The SAP Business One Connector Tool performs the communication with a SAP Business One
Server to get, add, update, delete and in some circumstances, cancel or close SAP Business One
data objects such as invoices, sales orders, business partners, etc.
Most of the objects supported by the SAP Business One DI Server are available for use. A full
list of the objects is available in Appendix A of this document.
The Connector Tool accepts as an input a normal TaskCentre Recordset, which means that the
input to it is possible from a number of existing TaskCentre Tools; including the ODBC or OLEDB
Database Query Tools. As part of the Connector Tool, there is a mechanism to map the input
Recordset fields to the fields for the selected SAP Business One data object. At runtime, the
data is translated from the input Recordset to the XML needed to pass to SAP Business One via
the DI Server. The mapping mechanism also allows TaskCentre Variables and Formulas to be
created and mapped to the SAP Business One object data.
The input Recordset may contain data from multiple objects, e.g. it could contain 1000 invoice
records that are to be imported. The configuration of the Connector Tool allows the user to
indicate which field in the input Recordset denotes that there should be a new object created
when the contents of that field change at runtime. The input Recordset is a “flat” Recordset and
this mechanism allows child object data, such as invoice line data for instance, can be mapped
to the child data of the SAP Business One object XML.
The Connector Tool also allows the input of an XML document, via a Task Variable, instead of a
Recordset. This XML document will have usually come from another instance of the Connector
Tool, one that has retrieved an object from SAP Business One. Mapping can then be done from
the source XML data to the object SAP Business One data for the required operation. This is
useful in circumstances such as the creation of an invoice from a sales order. The sales order
can be retrieved from SAP Business One via the Connector Tool and the Invoice then created via
another Connector Tool, using the XML output from the first Tool as the input to the second
Tool.
Global Configuration The global configuration dialog for the Tool shown in Figure 2 below is where connections are
defined for each SAP Business One company database that is to be used in TaskCentre. When
the connection is set up, the available objects and fields for the selected SAP Business One
database are retrieved and a schema for each object is created (see also “SAP Business One
Connector Web Service”). This information is used in the Step configuration. If there is a change
to the SAP Business One company where there is an alteration to the user defined fields or
tables, then the object schemas can be refreshed, thereby bringing the new information into
TaskCentre for use.
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Figure 2 – SAP Business One Tools Configuration dialog
Figure 3 – Connection Configuration dialog
Each connection is configured and has its own data defined through the dialog shown in Figure 3
above.
The information for each connection includes Server, database, username, password, license
server, and SQL login information. All of this information is needed by the DI Server to connect
to a SAP Business One database. The version of SAP Business One to be connected to must also
be set.
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Configuration At configuration time, when the Tool is used to create and add a Step to a Task, the user selects
the data that is to be passed to it at runtime through the General tab of the SAP Business One
Connector dialog. See Figure 4 below. This data comes from a previous Step in the Task.
Figure 4 – SAP Business One Connector dialog – General tab
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Through the Connection tab of the SAP Business One Connector dialog, see Figure 5 below, a
connection is also required for the Step. This is selected from the list of connections previously
created and set up in the Global Configuration for the Tool through the Connection Configuration
dialog shown in Figure 3.
Figure 5 – SAP Business One Connector dialog - Connection tab
As an alternative to selecting a connection that has been previously created, a TaskCentre
variable may be utilised by dragging and dropping it from the Task Browser dialog into the
Connection field to create a dynamic connection. If the dynamic option is used, then at runtime
the text in the variable should match the name of one of the connections set up in the Global
Configuration and this connection is then used.
The TaskCentre variable where the XML output from the DI Server is to be placed at runtime is
also setup.
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Once the input data and the connection have been defined, the mapping of data from the
source to a SAP Business One object, along with the operation required, is performed through
the Mapping tab of the SAP Business One Connector dialog, see Figure 6 below.
The aim of this tab is to define the links between the incoming data and the outgoing data that
is to be sent to the Connector Web Service and then into SAP Business One via the DI Server.
These links are created by dragging and dropping fields from the left hand box into the right
hand box to connect the fields on each tab.
Figure 6 – SAP Business One Connector dialog - Mapping tab
The SAP Business One Object dropdown holds a list of objects available for the selected SAP
Business One connection. These are obtained from SAP Business One when the connection is
created. Selecting an object changes the tabs shown in the dialog and the fields shown in the
right hand box in each tab. The first tab represents the main object and each subsequent tab
represents a child object within that main object. For example when “Business Partner” is
selected as the main object, the tabs shown are “Business Partners” for the fields in the main
Business Partner object, “BPAddresses” for the fields in the associated address child object, etc.
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The Operation dropdown displays the operations that the selected object supports. The available
operations depend on what object has been selected.
TaskCentre variables and formulas can be included in the source data by simply dragging from
the TaskCentre browser to the left hand box in any of the tabs. Once in place, these can then be
linked to the output fields in the same way as normal fields.
Transactions
The SAP Business One Connector Tool supports transactions, giving consistency when
processing data. The Tool provides a choice of using multiple transactions. If multiple
transactions is selected then each object instance that is brought into the Tool from another
data source is processed in a separate transaction. This means that each record in the dataset is
processed individually, so that any error or failure for one of them does not affect the others. If
multiple transactions are not used, then any error or failure encountered when performing the
operation with SAP Business One for any individual record results in the entire operation being
failed, so that none of the records are processed.
Tool Output
The Tool always exposes a recordset in a static format which has one record per top level object
instance that is in the data sent to SAP Business One. The record contains information on the
key field values for the SAP Business One object, along with error messages and codes from the
DI Server if the operation for that object instance failed. Each row contains the key field(s)
value(s) of the SAP Business One object being operated on any DI Server error code and
message returned and also the key field value of the data source. In the case of an add
operation this is usually the new key field value generated by SAP Business One. Putting out the
data source key field value enables the user to “tie together” the source data key and the newly
generated SAP Business One object data key when an add operation is performed.
The Tool can also output XML and places this XML at runtime into a TaskCentre variable. This
XML could contain a dataset returned from SAP Business One, as in the case of a Get operation,
or the same information presented in the output recordset, exposed as XML (i.e. a dataset
containing the key fields for the object instances affected by the operation. For example, in the
case of an update, the key fields for the top level object instances updated would be returned -
and any error messages if applicable. This output XML can be used as is in other TaskCentre
Tools, or turned into a TaskCentre recordset if needed by using the SAP Business One XML to
Recordset Mapper Tool described later in this document.
Runtime At Task runtime an XML document is created in the format required for the DI Server. The data
for the linked fields is brought across into the XML – only those fields that were linked are
brought into the request XML for the web service. This XML is passed to the Connector Web
Service which then processes the data, performs the operation requested, and sends back an
XML dataset containing the response. This is then assigned to the output variable defined in the
Step configuration if one was defined. The output Recordset is created from the XML.
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Errors and failures
There are two types of errors that can happen at runtime.
Errors that happen outside of the DI Server
These types of errors could include:
• Internal Tool errors
• Web Service connection errors
• Login to DI Server errors
These types of errors result in the Step failing. Whether or not the Task fails depends on the
standard Step error configuration options set in the Options tab. The error is shown in the
TaskCentre log for the Task, and is reported in the message shown in the TaskCentre client.
Errors/warnings/messages that are returned from the DI Server
These types of errors could include:
• Invalid data (according to SAP Business One) passed into the Tool for the given fields
• SAP Business One business logic errors
These types of errors will not result in the Step failing. The message from the DI Server is
returned in the result XML, which can be written to the TaskCentre event log for the Task. The
message shown in the TaskCentre client will reflect that some of the records failed; the result
Recordset will give the detail of this.
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SAP Business One Connector Web Service
Introduction The SAP Business One Connector Web Service is the communication layer which enables the
SAP Business One Connector tool to perform operations on data held in SAP Business One
company databases. It is the only component that directly connects to SAP Business One and
always connects using the SAP Business One DI Server or DI API, never by any other method.
This ensures that business rules for the company database are adhered to as the DI Server and
DI API applies those rules. The DI Server itself operates via COM, so having a web service
eliminates the need for DCOM communication from the TaskCentre machine to the DI Server,
which is usually tricky to set up. It is usually installed on the SAP Business One Server machine.
Connection information (SAP Business One Server, company database, login details etc) is
passed to the web service from the Connector Tool.
The web service performs two vital roles. It is used by the Connector Tool at Step configuration
time to create and retrieve the SAP Business One object schemas, and is also used by the
Connector Tool at Task run time, to pass data to and retrieve data from a SAP Business One
company database.
SAP Business One Object Schemas An object schema is an XML document that describes the fields and child objects available in a
SAP Business One object. Object schema files that describe all the objects available through the
DI Server are supplied with the TaskCentre SAP Business One Tools. Within these schemas,
information on the field names, child objects and their relationships, key fields, mandatory fields
and history tables (where available) are stored. These “standard” schemas are used as the basis
for the custom schemas that are created for each SAP Business One company that is configured
for use with the Tools. When the schemas for a specific company are created, any user defined
fields that have been set are merged with the standard schemas to produce a set of unique
schemas for that company. User defined tables are also treated in a similar manner – a schema
describing that UDT is created automatically and added to the list of schemas created.
In the event that UDF/UDT information in a configured SAP Business One Company database is
changed within SAP Business One, the schemas that the Tools use can be refreshed to take into
account the new information. If new fields or objects are made available through the DI Server
in future patches of SAP Business One, then these can usually be added easily to the standard
schemas shipped with the Tools.
The schemas also contain information about what operations are supported for each object. For
instance, an invoice only supports the Get, Add, and Update operations – deletion of an invoice
is prohibited by Business One – and so these operations are the only ones available in the
schema for an invoice. A Business Partner, on the other hand, supports Get, Add, Update and
Delete and so all of these are available in its schema.
The SAP Business One Connector Tool uses these schemas at configuration time in order to
create its user interface.
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Data processing When a Task containing a Step created with the SAP Business One Connector Tool runs, the
Connector Tool processes data from other Steps in the Task and based on the choices made
assembles an XML document containing all the information that the Connector Web Service
needs to perform the operation on the object that the Step is configured for. This information
includes the data itself to be passed from other Steps and connection details for the SAP
Business One database to be used. The XML is then transmitted to the Web Service via an HTTP
connection. The web service then parses the XML, and performs the required operation via the
DI Server or the DI API if a user defined table is chosen. An XML document is then created
which contains the response from SAP Business One. This may be an XML dataset if the
operation was a Get operation, for instance or could be an error if, for instance, a Delete
operation was attempted on an object that could not be deleted due to data constraints. This
XML is then returned to the Connector Tool.
Data Security All data passed from TaskCentre to SAP Business One is sent via the Connector Web Service,
over HTTP, as XML data. This includes login details for the SAP Business One company to be
used. To secure this, those connection details are always encrypted before transmission from
TaskCentre to the web service, then unencrypted in the web service before passing them to SAP
Business One. If data security for the rest of the data being passed is a concern, all traffic going
through the Web Service can be encrypted by purchasing a SSL certificate and enabling HTTPS
for the Web Service.
All SAP Business One connection details entered as part of the Connector Tool configuration are
stored encrypted in the TaskCentre store.
SAP Business One Event Tool
Introduction The SAP Business One Event Tool enables TaskCentre to react to events that happen within SAP
Business One and then automatically launch Tasks. There are two parts to the Tool which are a
Windows service, the SAP Business One Event Agent that usually runs on the SAP Business One
server and the TaskCentre Tool installed with TaskCentre. The Tool hooks into the SAP Business
One event notification mechanism in order to be alerted when something happens inside SAP
Business One.
Global Configuration Before the SAP Business One Event Tool can be used, it must be configured so that the
connection to the SAP Business One Server and the databases contained within it are set up.
This enables the SAP Business One Event Agents that are registered with TaskCentre to hook
into the SAP Business One notification system for the configured company databases.
Each Agent that is registered with TaskCentre is shown in the list in the SAP Business One Event
Configuration dialog as shown in Figure 7 below. For an installation where there are multiple
SAP Business One servers that require TaskCentre integration, there will be one Agent per SAP
Business One installation shown.
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Figure 7 – SAP Business One Event Configuration dialog
For each Agent, the SAP Business One company databases that are to be hooked into for event
notification have to be set up.
In the Agent Connection Configuration dialog as shown in Figure 8 below, the connection
information for the SAP Business One Server is entered, along with the time period to be used
when polling the databases for event information. The SAP Business One company databases
that are currently registered are shown in the lower part of the screen.
Figure 8 – Agent Connection Configuration dialog
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To register a database with the Event Agent, the Agent table needs to be created in it, and the
special code to hook into the SAP Business One stored procedure needs to be inserted. This is
done via the Register SAP Business One Database dialog shown in Figure 9 below, which is
displayed when the “Add” button is selected in the Agent Connection Configuration dialog.
The SQL Server connection information from the Agent Connection Configuration Dialog is used
to connect and retrieve a list of the SAP Business One databases present that have not already
been configured. Selecting a database from the drop down list will show the SQL Stored
Procedure that is used by SAP Business One to notify third-party systems, such as the Agent, of
events in SAP Business One. Ticking a box on the left hand side and selecting "OK" will result in
the code being inserted into the Stored Procedure at the selected point to capture the events for
the Agent's use.
Usually the Stored Procedure shown will look something like the dialog shown in Figure 9 below.
It is recommended to insert the Agent code just after the "Add your code here" comment, and
just before the "Select the return values" comment. It is possible that other systems may have
already inserted code into the Stored Procedure, in which case care must be taken not to insert
the Agent code anywhere that may interfere with the operation of the other system. In this
scenario, advice should be sought from your TaskCentre distributor.
Figure 9 – Register SAP Business One Database dialog
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Configuration An Event Step can be configured so that the Task it is in will only be run if there is a match with
both the type of operation and type of object to be captured. The type of operation available will
be limited depending on the object selected. For instance, invoices cannot be deleted, so the
option to listen for a delete operation will not be available. It will also allow for certain specific
objects that support the storing of history within SAP Business One only for filtering by field on
an update event, so that the Task will only be run if specific fields have been changed.
The Event Tool has two modes of operation. It can operate in “Single Event”, see Figure 10
below, or “Batched Events” mode. In either mode, the agent looks at the events within SAP
Business One that have happened within the last configured time period and then matches
these events to the configuration for all of the Event Tool instances within the TaskCentre store.
In “Single Event” mode, each event that is found launches the appropriate Task(s) passing just
the information for a single event. In Batched Events mode, all events found that match the
configuration for a Step are passed to the containing Task(s). This means that the user will be
able to be sure, if the Single Event mode is used, that only one event is being handled when the
Tasks runs. This may be important, depending on what the Task is set up to do.
Figure 10 – SAP Business One Event Tool dialog – Main tab
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Runtime See details for the SAP Business One Event Agent below for information on how the Tool works
at runtime of a Task.
SAP Business One Event Agent
The SAP Business One Event Agent works by regularly polling a special table that is created in
the SAP Business One database for each Event Step created. This table contains information on
all of the events that have been broadcast for that SAP Business One company. The event
information is placed in here by means of the standard Business One stored procedure called
“SBO_SP_TransactionNotification”. Special code is inserted in here to process the events and
copy information about them into the Agent table.
The Agent itself polls the table at a user-defined interval and reads the event data. The Agent
then determines if the objects notified on need to trigger a Task by examining the configuration
for the Event Step in the Tasks that contain it. If a Task is found that needs to be triggered, the
data for the objects found that match is passed to the Task via Task variables, as configured in
the Event tool. This data usually consists of the key field(s) for the object, and in the case of an
update notification, the values of the trigger fields before and after the update. Note that this is
only available for certain objects. Please see Appendix A for details.
SAP Business One XML to Recordset Mapper
Introduction The SAP Business One XML to Recordset Mapper Tool allows the conversion of XML data,
exposed by the Connector and Event Tools, into a standard TaskCentre Recordset. This is
necessary so that the XML data outputs of both the Event and Connector Tools are available for
use by other TaskCentre Tools.
Global Configuration The Global Configuration for the XML to Recordset Mapper Tool is the same as that used for the
Connector Tool, as described earlier in the document.
Configuration
Configuring for use with an Event Tool
The SAP Business One Event Tool can pass the information about the event that triggered the
running of the Task in a Task Variable as an XML document. The XML to Recordset Mapper Tool
can be set up to accept this Event Tool data as an input. The output Recordset from the XML to
Recordset Mapper Tool contains columns corresponding to the elements in the XML fragment.
The output Recordset can then be used in other TaskCentre Tools and will be displayed in the
normal manner in the configuration for those tools.
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Figure 11 – SAP Business One XML to Recordset Mapper dialog – Main tab – Event Tool
Configuring for use with a Connector Tool
The SAP Business One Connector Tool is able to expose the data returned from SAP Business
One during a Get operation as an XML document, contained within a Task variable. This variable
can be set up in the XML to Recordset Mapper tool configuration, along with a selection
indicating what type of SAP Business One object will be contained within the XML data at
runtime (Invoice, Business Partner etc).
The XML to Recordset Mapper Tool allows the user to select which parts of the XML data are to
be exposed as a TaskCentre Recordset. For instance, in a Business Partner, the user could
choose to expose the header information and the Address information (as addresses are child
objects of the main object), or the header and the contact info, or even the header, address and
contact information. The output Recordset of the Tool is constructed to contain the fields from
the selected sub objects, using the name of the field in the XML prefixed by the name of the
object, to ensure that the Recordset contains fields with unique names (as it is possible that the
same field name could be used in two or more child objects).
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Figure 11 – SAP Business One XML to Recordset Mapper dialog – Main tab – Connector Tool
Runtime At Task runtime, the data is exposed in the output Recordset of the Step as a union of all the
child objects selected in the configuration, thereby converting the hierarchical data contained
within the XML into a flat recordset as used by TaskCentre.
The following example shows what happens at runtime when XML data returned from a
Connector Tool as a result of a Get operation on a Business Partner is transformed into a
TaskCentre recordset through the XML to Recordset Mapper tool. Not all of the fields in the XML
are shown here for sake of brevity.
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XML from Connector Tool for a Get Business Partner request
<BO>
<BusinessPartner>
<row>
<CardCode>C1000</CardCode>
<CardName>Funsports UK</CardName>
</row>
</BusinessPartner>
<BPAddresses>
<row>
<AddressName>Bill to</AddressName>
<Street>2 George Street</Street>
</row>
<row>
<AddressName>Address 2</AddressName>
<Street>Somewhere Street</Street>
</row>
</BPAddresses>
<ContactEmployees>
<row>
<Name>David Moore</Name>
<Position>Manager</Position>
</row>
<row>
<Name>AN Other</Name>
<Position>Worker</Position>
</row>
</ContactEmployees>
</BO>
If the XML to Recordset Mapper Tool is configured to output all of these objects (the main
Business Partner info, the addresses and the contacts) then the output Recordset at runtime
would look like this:
CardCode CardName BPAddresses_AddressName BPAddresses_Street ContactEmployees_Name ContactEmployees_Position
C1000 Funsports UK Bill to 2 George Street NULL NULL
C1000 Funsports UK Address 2 Somewhere Street NULL NULL
C1000 Funsports UK NULL NULL David Moore Manager
C1000 Funsports UK NULL NULL AN Other Worker
Supported SAP Business One Objects
23
Appendix A – Supported Business One objects Objects supported in the Connector Tool:
• Account Segmentation
• Account Segmentation Category
• Activity
• Activity Location
• Activity Status
• Activity Type
• Additional Expenses
• Alternate Catalogue Number
• Alternative Items
• Bank Code
• Bank Pages
• Bill of Exchange Transaction
• Bill of Materials
• BP Priority
• Budget
• Budget Distribution
• Budget Scenario
• Business Partner
• Business Partner Group
• Chart of Account
• Checks for Payment
• Choose From List
• Closing Date Procedure
• Commission Group
• Contract Template
• Credit Card
• Credit Card Payment
• Credit Note
• Credit Payment Method
Supported Business One Objects
24
• Currencies
• Customer Equipment Card
• Customs Group
• Deduction Tax Group
• Deduction Tax Hierarchy
• Delivery Note
• Draft Document
• Dunning Letter
• Employee Info
• Factoring Indicator
• Fiscal Registry ID
• Form 1099
• Goods Issue
• Goods Receipt
• House Bank Account
• Incoming Payment
• Industry
• Inventory Cycle
• Invoice
• Item
• Item Group
• Journal Entry
• Knowledge Base Solution
• Length Unit
• Loading Expenses
• Manufacturer
• Multi-Language Translation
• Outgoing Payments
• Packages Type
• Payment Draft
• Payment Methods for Payment Wizard
• Payment Results
Supported Business One Objects
25
• Payment Term
• Pick List
• Price List
• Production Order
• Purchase Credit Notes
• Purchase Delivery Note
• Purchase Invoice
• Purchase Order
• Purchase Return
• Purchase Tax Invoice
• Query Category
• Queue
• Relationship
• Return
• Sales Forecast
• Sales Opportunity
• Sales Order
• Sales Person
• Sales Stage
• Sales Tax Authorities Type
• Sales Tax Authority
• Sales Tax Code
• Sales Tax Invoice
• Service Call
• Service Contract
• Shipping Type
• Special Price
• Stock Taking
• Stock Transfer
• Team
• Territory
• User
Supported Business One Objects
26
• User Default
• User Query
• VAT Groups
• Warehouse
• Warehouse Location
• Weight Measure
• Withholding Tax Codes
Available in Business One 2007 only:
• Admin Info (Company Admin)
• Correction Invoice (Polish Business One Localisation only)
• Correction Invoice Reversal (Polish Business One Localisation only)
• Projects
• Purchase Correction Invoice (Polish Business One Localisation only)
• Purchase Correction Invoice Reversal (Polish Business One Localisation only)
• Sales Quotations
• Messages
Notes:
• Not all standard fields within a given SAP Business One object are available as field
availability depends on the DI Server. Please check with your TaskCentre distributor if in
any doubt about a particular field.
• User defined fields within the objects shown above are supported.
• User defined tables are also supported.
• SAP will probably expand the functionality available within the DI Server in future releases.
This may mean that SAP Business One objects other than those shown here are available
for use with the TaskCentre Tools in the future, possibly simply with a change to the object
schemas installed with the Tools, requiring no update to the Tools themselves (although this
cannot be guaranteed). Please contact your TaskCentre distributor if you require use of an
object not shown here.
Objects supported in the Event Tool:
• Activity
• Activity Type
• Activity Status
• Account Segmentation
• Account Segmentation Category
Supported Business One Objects
27
• Admin Info (Company Admin)
• Alternative Items
• Banks
• Bill of Materials
• Business Partner *
• Business Partner Groups
• Chart of accounts
• Correction Invoice (Polish Business One Localisation only)
• Correction Invoice Reversal (Polish Business One Localisation only)
• Currencies
• Credit Note *
• Credit Cards
• Delivery Note *
• Draft Document
• Employees
• Goods Issue *
• Goods Receipt *
• House Bank Accounts
• Incoming payments
• Invoice *
• Item *
• Item Groups
• Journal Entries
• Knowledge Base Solution *
• Length Unit
• Manufacturers
• Messages
• Outgoing payments
• Payment Draft
• Payment Term
• Pick List *
• Price List
Supported Business One Objects
28
• Production Order
• Projects
• Purchase Correction Invoice (Polish Business One Localisation only)
• Purchase Correction Invoice Reversal (Polish Business One Localisation only)
• Purchase Credit Note *
• Purchase Delivery Note *
• Purchase Invoice *
• Purchase Order *
• Purchase Return *
• Return *
• Sales Opportunity
• Sales Order *
• Sales Persons
• Sales Quotations
• Service Contract
• Service Call
• Shipping Types
• Special Prices
• Stock Taking
• Stock Transfer
• Teams
• Territories
• Users
• User Defaults
• VAT Groups
• Warehouse Locations
• Warehouses
• Weights and Measures
Notes:
• Objects marked with an * support the extended update mechanism, whereby changes in
specific fields can be monitored.
Supported Business One Objects
29
• Other objects can be made available with a change to the schemas installed with the tools.
Please contact your TaskCentre distributor if you require use of an object not shown here.
