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Develop SAP applications using the WCF Channel Model

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You can use the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) channel model to consume the Microsoft BizTalk Adapter for mySAP Business Suite by sending XML messages directly over a channel instance created with the SAP Binding.

One advantage of using the WCF channel model over using the strongly-typed classes and methods that the WCF service model exposes is that the channel model provides more fine-grained control over the operations that you perform on the SAP system. Why? In the WCF channel model you directly control the contents of the messages that you send over the channel.

Another key advantage that the WCF channel model provides over the WCF service model is more comprehensive support for data streaming. By using the WCF channel model you can perform:

  • Message node streaming on all messages exchanged between your code and the adapter.

  • Message node-value streaming on the SendIdoc and ReceiveIdoc operations.

    This is because in the WCF channel model you directly control how you provide the message body on messages that you send to the adapter and how you consume the message body on messages that you receive from the adapter.

    In contrast, the adapter provides no support for streaming in the WCF service model. Because, in the WCF service model, the WCF runtime serializes and deserializes messages between their XML and managed code object representations, a complete in-memory copy of each message that you exchange with the adapter is made.

    The sections in this topic explain how to perform operations on the SAP adapter by using the WCF channel model.

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