Upgrading SAP .NET Connector from .NET 2.0 to .NET 3.0

You are correct. SAP .NET Connector 2.0 uses proxy classes however .NET Connector 3.0 uses a generic API. You need to rewrite all code that includes NCo interaction when upgrading from version 2.0 to 3.0.

Benefits of .NET Connector 3.0

The upgrade from NCo 2.0 to NCo 3.0 brings significant improvements ?

• Enhanced Stability: NCo 3.0 is more stable, robust and supports heavy load scenarios
• Better Architecture: .NET 3.0 provides better application design by decoupling the connection handling
• Memory Optimization: It consumes less memory compared to the previous version
• Dynamic Programming: Allows dynamic programming without the need for proxy generation
• Dynamic Metadata Lookup: Can dynamically look up metadata, so if something changes in the related ABAP system (e.g., if parameters in function module signatures are added or the ABAP system is switched from Non-Unicode to Unicode), you no longer need to regenerate proxies and recompile your solution
• Version Independence: Is no longer bound to a special Visual Studio version

Key Architectural Differences

The main difference lies in the programming approach ?

NCo 2.0: Uses strongly-typed proxy classes generated from SAP function modules. Each function module requires a separate proxy class to be generated and compiled.

NCo 3.0: Uses a generic API approach where you can call SAP functions dynamically without pre-generated proxy classes. This provides more flexibility and eliminates the need for proxy regeneration when SAP systems change.

Example Migration Approach

When migrating your code, you'll need to replace proxy-based calls with generic API calls ?

// NCo 2.0 - Proxy-based approach
MyFunctionProxy proxy = new MyFunctionProxy();
proxy.Connection = myConnection;
proxy.IMPORT_PARAMETER = "value";
proxy.Execute();

// NCo 3.0 - Generic API approach
IRfcFunction function = destination.Repository.CreateFunction("MY_FUNCTION");
function.SetValue("IMPORT_PARAMETER", "value");
function.Invoke(destination);

Additional Resources

To learn more about SAP NCo 3.0 implementation details, you can refer to the official SAP documentation and community resources for comprehensive migration guides and best practices.

Conclusion

Upgrading from SAP .NET Connector 2.0 to 3.0 requires code refactoring due to the architectural shift from proxy classes to generic API, but provides significant benefits in terms of stability, memory usage, and dynamic programming capabilities.