File Adapter Architecture
The file/FTP adapter is part of the AAE. The receiver adapter receives messages from SAP Process Integration (PI) message processing and saves them as a file in a directory or sends them to a server using FTP. The sender adapter reads messages from the file system (or from an FTP server), converting them to the SAP PI XML format and transferring them to SAP PI message processing. The file can be in text format or in XML format.
To enable message exchange with the business system, the file adapter and the business system must be able to access the same directory (in the case of the file system transport protocol).
File Structure in ESR
You define the data structure of the inbound interface using data types in the Enterprise Services Repository (ESR).
The exact structure of the objects in the ESR depends on the interface. In the case of XML files, the inbound interface determines not only the message structure, but also the field names (by using XML tags).
Hint
The name of the data type does not appear in the target file. The message type determines the name of the root element and all other names are assigned using the names in the data type definition.
Receiver File / FTP Adapter Configuration
The receiver File / FTP adapter is part of an AAE and you configure it using a communication channel in the ID.
When you create a communication channel for the receiver system (business system or component), choose File from the input help as the adapter type and specify Receiver as the type.
Parameters Tab Page
Values for the Parameters Tab Page
| Field Name | Value |
|---|---|
| Transport Protocol | NFS or FTP |
| Message Protocol | FTP or File Content Conversion |
| Adapter Engine | Central or Non-Central |
After choosing the values on the Parameters tab page, you then specify the following parameters for the transfer file.
Parameters to be specified for the File Transfer:
- File name schema
- Name of the file (for additional parameters).
- File construction mode
Create file, append to existing file or specify additional parameters for the file.
- File type
Binary or text file (in the case of a text file, also specify the file encoding as a code page).
If you are creating a new file, specify whether any existing file is to be overwritten. Alternatively, you can add a parameter, such as the message ID, a time stamp, or a consecutive counter to the file name (there are additional parameters for the counter).
These specifications are independent of whether you have selected FTP or the Network File System (NFS).
If you specify NFS as the transport protocol, the only other specification you need to make is the target directory in which the file is to be generated.
The file/FTP adapter expects directories in the configuration parameters to be in a format usual in Java programs. Therefore, you need to enter paths in the form D:/path, even if you are using the Microsoft Windows operating system.