Call url from ABAP program

Question

Hi friends,
Can we call a web URL from a ABAP program?
Is there anyway its possible ? if yes how?
Please provide the solution.
Thanks & Regards
kapil

Answer 1

Hi Kapil,
<b>Look at the below example program:-</b>
REPORT  zget_mayors_for_cities.
DATA: it_citymayors TYPE TABLE OF zcitymayors,
      wa_citymayors LIKE LINE OF it_citymayors,
      mayor TYPE full_name,
      trash TYPE string.
PARAMETERS: s_city TYPE s_city LOWER CASE.
SELECT * FROM zcitymayors INTO TABLE it_citymayors
  WHERE city LIKE s_city.
* HTTP Client according to
* /people/thomas.jung3/blog/2005/07/01/bsp-create-a-weather-magnet-using-xml-feed-from-weathercom
DATA: client TYPE REF TO if_http_client,
      <b>url TYPE string,</b>
      xml TYPE xstring,
      c_xml TYPE string,
      city TYPE string.
* Converter
DATA: l_convin   TYPE REF TO cl_abap_conv_in_ce.
LOOP AT it_citymayors INTO wa_citymayors.
* Use the Progress Indicator to show the user which City is processed
  CALL FUNCTION 'SAPGUI_PROGRESS_INDICATOR'
    EXPORTING
      percentage = sy-index
      text       = wa_citymayors-city.
  city = wa_citymayors-city.
* Spaces have to be replaced by _ in the URL
  REPLACE FIRST OCCURRENCE OF space IN city WITH '_'.
<b>  CONCATENATE
    'http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spezial:Export/' city
       INTO url.</b>
****Create the HTTP client
  TRY.
<b>      CALL METHOD cl_http_client=>create_by_url
        EXPORTING
          url    = url
        IMPORTING
          client = client
        EXCEPTIONS
          OTHERS = 1.</b>
      client->send( ).
      client->receive( ).
      xml = client->response->get_data( ).
      client->close( ).
    CATCH cx_root.
      WRITE: / 'HTTP Connection error: ', city.
  ENDTRY.
* Wikipedia does not provide a encoding with the returned XML
* so we have to do the conversion manually
  TRY.
      CALL METHOD cl_abap_conv_in_ce=>create
        EXPORTING
          encoding = 'UTF-8'
          input    = xml
          endian   = 'L'
        RECEIVING
          conv     = l_convin.
      CALL METHOD l_convin->read
        IMPORTING
          data = c_xml.
    CATCH cx_root.
      WRITE: / 'Problem during Character conversion: ', city.
  ENDTRY.
****Transform XML to ABAP Values
  TRY.
      CALL TRANSFORMATION zwikipedia_mayor_to_abap
      SOURCE XML c_xml
      RESULT mayor = mayor.
    CATCH cx_root.
      WRITE: / 'Data loss during transformation: ', city.
  ENDTRY.
* Some Mayors already have pecial Pages
  REPLACE FIRST OCCURRENCE OF '[[' IN mayor WITH ''.
  REPLACE FIRST OCCURRENCE OF ']]' IN mayor WITH ''.
* Some Mayors are members of a Party
  SPLIT mayor AT '(' INTO mayor trash.
  wa_citymayors-mayor = mayor.
  WRITE: / wa_citymayors-city.
* Update Database
  IF NOT wa_citymayors-mayor IS INITIAL.
    UPDATE zcitymayors FROM wa_citymayors.
    WRITE: wa_citymayors-mayor.
  ENDIF.
ENDLOOP.
Look at the below thread for more info:-
/people/gregor.wolf3/blog/2006/06/29/use-data-from-wikipedia
Regards
Sudheer