Build a Java Web application for SAP right now

So you can't wait for SAP to officially release a Java application server and need to start building Web applications for SAP now. A great place to start your development is with Apache's open source Java server, Tomcat. By starting your Java development now you not only hone your skills but are also building code that can easily be ported to SAP's Web Application Server when it supports Java.

First things first. You need to get the application server. Point your browser at: http://jakarta.apache.org/tomcat/index.html and download the latest release of Tomcat (4.0). Next you need to download SAP's Java connector JCo from http://service.sap.com/connectors (you will need your OSS ID and password to get in).

Now that we have the goods, we need to install them into the right locations. Run the Tomcat install script and install it into the location of your choice (e.g. c:tomcat). Drill into the Tomcat directory to find the 'commonlib' directory (c:tomcatcommonlib). Open the JCo zip and extract the file jco.jar to the tomcatcommonlib directory. Don't forget to extract the three dlls that come with JCo into <Windows root directory>system32 (e.g. c:winntsystem32). That's all there is to it. If you are running a flavor of UNIX as your desktop, please refer...

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to the documentation included with JCo for installation instructions. We can now access SAP through JCo with any application running in the Tomcat server.

The next step is to create a basic JSP (Java Server Page) that allows us to access SAP. I used the example code that comes with JCo. The original can be found under: <JCo install dir>:demoexample1.java

First create a directory called 'testapp' under the tomcatwebapps directory (e.g. c:tomcatwebappstestapp). Then create a text file called 'sysinfo.jsp' (don't forget the .jsp file extension). Cut and paste the source code from the demo into 'sysinfo.jsp', change the system information in the code to reflect your specific SAP configuration, and save it. Run the 'startup.bat' script in the tomcat root directory. Finally point your browser at http://localhost/testapp/sysinfo.jsp. If all goes well, you should see some rather exciting SAP system information displayed in your Web browser. This may not seem like much, but we have laid the groundwork for quickly developing Web applications for SAP. Enjoy!

Author Austin Sincock is product manager for ROBUSTA(tm), Gamma Enterprise Technologies Web sales solution for SAP.