Introduction
You can use APIs to connect business processes across your system landscape and integrate with external consumers of your services in Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).
OData and SOAP APIs are provided for Sourcing and Procurement.
OData (REST) APIs are designed for synchronous calls. They are used if the sender requires an immediate response to an HTTP request to the receiver. In this communication scenario, the receiver does not necessarily need to know the URL of the sender.
SOAP APIs are designed for message-based communication. Often this message semantically represents a command message (not a notification), and the sender expects that the receiving system executes on this command. The sender only receives an acknowledgment in the HTTP response and does not expect immediate processing. In Business-to-Business (B2B) communication in particular, it is common practice to model an explicit response message. This response message is sent from the receiver to the sender in a separate HTTP request, once the command message has been processed.
You can use the SAP API Business Hub to discover and consume digital content packages with APIs, pre-packaged integrations, and sample apps from SAP and selected partners.
It helps you to build apps, integrations, and extensions more easily.
You can navigate to SAP S/4HANA Cloud and browse the catalog for the available Service Interfaces (APIs) for Sourcing and Procurement.
By testing the APIs, you can understand how they are structured and whether they are suitable for your business needs.
Using the API Explorer, you can search and add APIs, and test the OData APIs with the available sandbox and standard data. You could also test them using your own SAP S/4HANA Cloud System.
The following video provides an overview of the SAP API Business Hub.
API Explorer
API Explorer is a personalized API space on the SAP API Business Hub where you can store frequently used APIs, test them, and view their responses. From the API Explorer, you can search for your favorite APIs, which are available on the SAP API Business Hub, and add them to your API Explorer.
Once you log on to the SAP Business API Hub, you can use the API Explorer.
You can trigger various types of HTTP requests and inspect their responses instantly. An API Key authorizes your API requests and all API responses are automatically saved in your API Explorer, for future use.
The API Explorer enables you to:
Select the API and the operation that you want to test.
Add the required parameters based on the operation.
Execute the request.
Inspect the response in the Response area.
To consume and test SAP S/4HANA Cloud OData APIs and integrate your solution with other systems, you must set up the communication management.
You must define the following settings in Communication Management apps:
Communication User
Communication System
Communication Arrangement
Display Communication Scenarios
As an administrator, using the Display Communication Scenarios app, you can display communication scenarios used for integrations, and the scenario status including:
- Display all available communication scenarios.
- Display scenario details and properties.
- Display supported inbound authentication methods and inbound services used in a communication scenario.
- Display supported outbound authentication methods, certificates, and outbound services used in a communication scenario.
- Download certificates for specific purposes.
- Display communication arrangements in which a communication scenario is used.
- Create a new communication arrangement based on a communication scenario.
Maintain Communication Users
As an administrator, using the Maintain Communication Users app you can manage communication users for different integration scenarios with other solutions. A communication user enables the integration with other solutions. To be able to post data, the solutions must authenticate themselves with the user and password you create here. The communication users are assigned to the communication system you want to use. You can:
- Create a user
- Edit a user
- Lock or unlock a user
- Delete a user
- Display communication systems that use the selected communication user
- Display communication arrangements for the systems that use the selected communication user
Communication Systems
As an administrator, using the Communication Systems app you can create new communication systems, that you can later use to establish communication arrangements. To enable communication between different systems, you must register the systems in the Communication Systems app. The communication system represents the communication partner within a communication. For inbound communication, this is the system that calls services provided by your system. For outbound communication, this is the system that provides services called by your system. You can:
- Create communication systems.
- Display detailed information about existing communication systems.
- Delete communication systems.
Communication Arrangements
As an administrator, using the Communication Arrangements app you can create and edit communication arrangements that your company has set up with a communication partner. The system provides communication scenarios for inbound and outbound communication that you can use to create communication arrangements. Inbound communication defines how business documents are received from a communication partner, whereas outbound communication defines how business documents are sent to a communication partner. The communication scenario determines the authorizations, inbound and outbound services, and the supported authentication methods, that are required for the communication. You can:
- Display all existing communication arrangements.
- Display detailed information for the selected communication arrangement.
- Create new communication arrangements.
- Maintain general information.
- Select the required communication system. The user information and authentication method are filled in automatically when you select a communication system.
- Delete communication arrangements that you created previously.
