The metadata generated by enterprise metadata discovery provides the adapter with instructions on how to process ALE business objects. The type of metadata generated depends on whether the business object represents an individual IDoc or an IDoc packet.
Metadata is specified at the following levels:
Business object-level metadata for ALE business objects is metadata that defines the top-level wrapper of an IDoc. The following table describes the business-object metadata elements of an ALE business object.
Metadata element | Description |
---|---|
SplitIDocPacket | For inbound operations, an indication of whether the IDoc packet needs to be split into individual IDocs. The possible values are true or false. If you select the corresponding property (check box) in the Adapter Connection wizard, make sure you set this property to true. |
Type | The business object type. Possible values are IDOC or UNPARSEDIDOC. |
Operation | Each outbound operation contains the following
parameters:
Each inbound operation contains the following
parameters:
|
Property-level metadata is metadata that either represents child objects or an array of child objects. The following table describes the property-level metadata elements of an ALE business object.
Metadata element | Description |
---|---|
FieldName | The actual IDoc field name in SAP. |
SegmentHierarchy | The hierarchy of the segment in the IDoc. |
Offset | The offset value of the current property in the IDoc. |
PrimaryKey | An indication of whether this property is a primary key. |
ForeignBOKeyRef | The xpath to the primary key on the control or data record business object property, which you set using the Adapter Connection wizard. |
MaxLength | The length of the field. |
Operation-level metadata for an ALE business object is metadata that specifies the operation that posts the IDoc object to the SAP application. The following table describes the application-specific metadata elements of an ALE business object operation.
Metadata element | Description |
---|---|
Name | The name of the operation. |
MsgType | The message type configured for the IDoc (for inbound objects only). |
MsgCode | The message code configured for the IDoc (for inbound objects only). |
MsgFunction | The message function configured for the IDoc (for inbound objects only). |