Which is the best: IDoc or XML?

[Former Member]

Guys, how are you doing?

I'm developing a generic connector which will read and parse HRMD_A07 messages from SAP. The goal is to create employees inside an Identity Management system. I used to use IDoc EDI messages, like "idoc.txt" attached file. But I read some interesting articles about using XML messages instead of flat files IDocs. I also read that generate XML files could have lower performance than generate IDoc.

My problem is that parse a XML file inside Java (my development language) is easier than parse EDI messages such as IDoc flat files. I must have something which can easy to be configured by SAP customers in order to send personal data of employees to my connector.

I also heard about RFC but in my opinion is not so easy to configure a new RFC port and some customers may no allow this kind of integration. I think to create partners and XML or IDoc ports are the best choices.

Does anybody here could help me to understand which type of messages are the easiest way to get person data from SAP HR system?

Thank you!

[madhu_vadlamani]

Hi Alan,

I feel it is better to go with Idoc process.

Regards,

Madhu.

[Former Member]

Madhu, many thanks.

Another quick question. Assuming I'm going to use IDocs, instead of XML. Would be possible to use the Java IDoc Class Library to parse a received IDoc file? I don't want to use RFC where SAP uses a TRFC port to post an IDoc outside. This option requires more efforts to be configured by a SAP customer.  The problem is that I didn't find any documentation on how to parse a received IDoc file. Everything I found was about parse an IDoc online, while receiving it by RFC...

Thank you again!!