BAPIs vs IDOCs -- What's the difference?

BAPIs vs IDOCs -- What's the difference?

What are the main advantages/disadvantages of using BAPIs vs using IDOCs? What is the main difference between the two?


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BAPIs are called synchronously and (usually) return information. IDocs are processed asynchronously and no information whatsoever is returned to the client, but IDocs - by using tRFC - support guaranteed delivery, whereas for BAPIs the client code needs to do the appropriate error handling.


This was first published in March 2002