node-rfc
Asynchronous, non-blocking SAP NetWeaver RFC SDK client and server bindings for Node.js. Providing straightforward consumption of ABAP business logic from Node.js and extending ABAP eco-system with Node.js capabilities.
Key features
- Based on N-API standard
- Stateless and stateful connections (multiple function calls in the same ABAP session (same context))
- Async and callback API
- ECMAScript, TypeScript
- Sequential and parallel calls, using one or more clients
- Automatic conversion between Node.js and ABAP datatypes
- Direct and managed connections (connection pool)
- Throughput monitoring: number of calls, bytes sent/received, application/total time; SAP NWRFC SDK >= 7.53 required
- Usage examples & code-snippets: SAP-samples/node-rfc-samples
Content
- Supported Platforms
- Requirements
- Download and installation
- Getting started
- Usage
- API
- Troubleshooting
- More resource and info about SAP Connectors and RFC communication
- Code of Conduct
- Contributing
- License
Supported platforms
-
Operating systems: the node-rfc connector can be built from source(build instructions) on all platforms supported by both SAP NW RFC SDK and by Node.js
-
Node.js: current and active LTS releases
-
Docker containers: SAP fundamental-tools/docker
-
Electron: current release, see SAP-samples/node-rfc-samples/frameworks/electron-quick-start and #144
-
Deno: latest release
Other platforms and frameworks:
-
SAP Cloud Platform, AWS Lambdas, heroku ...
- Create GitHub issue to get up-to-date information
- Create SAP feature request for
Security Servicescategory of the SAP Cloud Platform – Platform Foundation
-
NW.js
- Feature request: #144
- SAP-samples/node-rfc-samples/frameworks/nwjs-quick-start
-
Node-RED
- Feature requests: #161 and #148
- Experimental work: PaulWieland/node-red-contrib-saprfc
Requirements
node-gyp
Build toolchain is based on node-gyp and Python. For further details check: node-gyp#Installation
SAP NW RFC SDK 7.50 PL12
-
Release notes: SAP Note 3337381 - SAP NetWeaver RFC SDK 7.50 -- Patch Level 12
-
SAP NW RFC SDK C++ binaries must be downloaded from SAP Suport Portal and locally installed. Check installation instructions and SAP NW RFC SDK section on SAP Support Portal. Using the latest version is reccomended as SAP NW RFC SDK is fully backwards compatible, supporting all NetWeaver systems, from today S4, down to R/3 release 4.6C.
Docker
Docker container examples for Linux, Intel and ARM based Darwin: SAP/fundamental-tools/docker. SAP NWRFC SDK libraries are not included.
Linux
- Build toolchain is based on Ubuntu 20.04, for node-rfc binaries compatible with glibc >= 2.28 and libstdc++ >= 6.0.25 (GLIBCXX_3.4.25). The build toolchain follows is defined by standard Node.js build toolchain configuration
Windows
-
Visual C++ Redistributable is required for runtime. The version is given in SAP Note 2573790 - Installation, Support and Availability of the SAP NetWeaver RFC Library 7.50
-
Build toolchain requires Microsoft C++ Build Tools, the latest version reccomended
macOS
-
Remote paths must be set in SAP NWRFC SDK for macOS: documentation
-
When the node-rfc is started for the first time, the popups come-up for each NWRFC SDK library, to confirm it should be opened. If SDK is installed in admin folder, the node-rfc app shall be that first time started with admin privileges, eg.
sudo -E
Download and Installation
More info: Installation
❗ The build from source requires Node.js release with minimum N-API version given in package.json property "napi_versions": Node-API version matrix.
After the SAP NW RFC SDK is installed on your system, the node-rfc can be installed from npm:
npm install node-rfcAlternatively, when the node-rfc package is not provided for your platform for example, the package shall be built from source. This installation method is highly recommended on Linux platforms:
git clone --single-branch https://github.com/SAP/node-rfc.git
cd node-rfc
npm install
npm run addon # rebuild native addon
npm run ts # rebuild typescript wrapperGetting started
See Usage and API, also SAP NWRFC SDK 7.50 Programming Guide
In order to call remote enabled ABAP function module, we need to create a node-rfc client instance with valid logon credentials, connect to SAP ABAP NetWeaver system and then invoke a remote enabled ABAP function module from nodejs. Async example below shows basic principles and you can check the documentationand unit tests for more examles.
Add your ABAP system destintion to sapnwrfc.ini file in your working directory:
DEST=MME
USER=demo
PASSWD=welcome
ASHOST=myhost
SYSNR=00
CLIENT=620
LANG=ENConnection parameters are documented in sapnwrfc.ini file, located in the SAP NWRFC SDK demo folder. Check also section 4.1.2 Using sapnwrfc.ini of SAP NWRFC SDK 7.50 Programming Guide
Call the ABAP RFM. When in doubt about RFM parameters' structure try abap call CLI tool of SAP/fundamental-tools
Direct client
const noderfc = require("node-rfc");
const client = new noderfc.Client({ dest: "MME" });
(async () => {
try {
// unlike the connection acquired from pool,
// the direct client connection is initially closed
await client.open();
// invoke ABAP function module, passing structure and table parameters
// ABAP structure
const abap_structure = {
RFCINT4: 345,
RFCFLOAT: 1.23456789,
RFCCHAR4: "ABCD",
RFCDATE: "20180625", // ABAP date format
// or RFCDATE: new Date('2018-06-25'), // as JavaScript Date object, with clientOption "date"
};
// ABAP table
let abap_table = [abap_structure];
const result = await client.call("STFC_STRUCTURE", {
IMPORTSTRUCT: abap_structure,
RFCTABLE: abap_table,
});
// check the result
console.log(result);
} catch (err) {
// connection and invocation errors
console.error(err);
}
})();Managed client
const noderfc = require("node-rfc");
const pool = new noderfc.Pool({ connectionParameters: { dest: "MME" } });
(async () => {
try {
// get a client connection instance
const client = await pool.acquire();
// invoke ABAP function module, passing structure and table parameters
// ABAP structure
const abap_structure = {
RFCINT4: 345,
RFCFLOAT: 1.23456789,
RFCCHAR4: "ABCD",
RFCDATE: "20180625", // ABAP date format
// or RFCDATE: new Date('2018-06-25'), // as JavaScript Date object, with clientOption "date"
};
// ABAP table
let abap_table = [abap_structure];
const result = await client.call("STFC_STRUCTURE", {
IMPORTSTRUCT: abap_structure,
RFCTABLE: abap_table,
});
// check the result
console.log(result);
} catch (err) {
// connection and invocation errors
console.error(err);
}
})();Finally, the connection is closed automatically when the instance is deleted by the garbage collector or by explicitly calling the client.close() method of the direct client, or client.release() or pool.release() for the managed client.
More resource and info about ABAP Connectors and RFC Communication
Highly reccomended series of three insightful articles about RFC communication and SAP NW RFC Library, published in the SAP Professional Journal (SPJ):
and more:
How to obtain support
If you encounter an issue or have a feature request, you can create a ticket.
Check out the SCN Forum (search for "node-rfc") and stackoverflow (use the tag "node-rfc"), to discuss code-related problems and questions.
Contributing
We appreciate contributions from the community to node-rfc! See CONTRIBUTING.md for more details on our philosophy around extending this module.
License
Copyright (c) 2018 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. This file is licensed under the Apache Software License, v. 2 except as noted otherwise in the LICENSE file.