SAPLIB

CPIC (Common Programming Interface Communications) is the interface deployed by the ABAP language for program-to-program communication. CPIC was defined and developed by IBM as a standardized communication interface and was later modified and enhanced by the X/Open organization. The CPIC communication interface is useful when setting up communications and data conversion and exchange between programs. Since CPIC is based on a common interface, an additional advantage is the portability of the programs across different hardware platforms.

SAP divides the possibilities and the scope of the CPIC interface into two function groups: the CPIC starter set and the advanced function calls. This division is simply meant to guide the user and not to restrict the available functions. For instance, the CPIC starter set would just be used for the basic and minimum set of functions shared by two partner programs, such as establishing the connection and exchanging data. The advance calls cover more communication functionality, such as converting data, checking the communication, and applying security functions. For more information on these CPIC function groups, refer to the SAP documentation BC SAP Communication: CPI-C Programmer’s Guide.

CPIC communication is always performed using the internal SAP gateway which takes care of converting the CPIC calls to external communication protocols such as TCP/IP
[SAP R/3 Handbook, Jose Hernandez, Mc Graw Hill]

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