Using the

SBO_SP_TransactionNotification
Stored Procedure

Applies to:
SAP Business One, SDK, SBO_SP_TransactionNotification stored procedure

Summary
This article explains how to use the SBO_SP_TransactionNotification stored procedure to receive notification
of a data-driven event in SAP® Business One. You can also download the code samples.

Author: James Kofalt

Company: SAP
Created on: March 2004
Last update: May 2009 by SAP B1 Solution Architects

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 Using the SBO_SP_TransactionNotification Stored Procedure

Table of Contents
Motivation............................................................................................................................................................3
The SBO_SP_TransactionNotification in detail ..................................................................................................3
Important Note for 2007 version .....................................................................................................................5
Adding Code to the Stored Procedure................................................................................................................5
Related Contents ................................................................................................................................................6
Copyright.............................................................................................................................................................7

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 Using the SBO_SP_TransactionNotification Stored Procedure

Motivation
Partners frequently ask me whether there is a way to receive notification of a data-driven event in SAP
Business One. In other words, developers need a way to trigger events in their application based on
something that happens in SAP Business One. For events that occur within the SAP Business One client
application, it is as simple as using the User Interface API (UI-API) to trap events and respond to them.
However, for events where the client application is not involved, for example when someone inserts a
document through the Data Interface API (DI-API), another mechanism is required.
The mechanism for receiving notification of data-driven events is then to locate some code inside the existing
B1 stored procedure called SBO_SP_TransactionNotification.
Please note that adding SQL triggers or Stored Procedures at the database level is not permitted (cf. SAP
Business One Add-On Solution Certification document) – in addition triggers will be automatically removed
during the SAP Business One upgrade process when the corresponding table is modified.

The SBO_SP_TransactionNotification in detail

SAP Business One provides the SBO_SP_TransactionNotification stored procedure mechanism for receiving
notification of data-driven events. This stored procedure is fired whenever operations are performed on
business objects like document or master records in SAP Business One. This applies not only to objects
already exposed through DI API, but to any business object in the application – including User-Defined
Objects (UDO). By adding your own Transact-SQL code, you can pass parameters to your application and
retrieve the corresponding objects from SAP Business One.
The SBO_SP_TransactionNotification stored procedure is created automatically when you create a new
company in SAP Business One. It is missing from some of the SAP Business One demo databases (for
example the US demo database), but you can easily add it manually using SQL Enterprise Manager or SQL
Query Analyzer. When it is initially created, it looks like this:
CREATE proc SBO_SP_TransactionNotification

@object_type nvarchar(20), -- SBO Object Type

@transaction_type nchar(1), -- [A]dd, [U]pdate, [D]elete, [C]ancel, C[L]ose
@num_of_cols_in_key int,
@list_of_key_cols_tab_del nvarchar(255),
@list_of_cols_val_tab_del nvarchar(255)

AS
begin
-- Return values
declare @error int -- Result (0 for no error)
declare @error_message nvarchar (200) -- Error string to be displayed
select @error = 0
select @error_message = N'Ok'

------------------------------------------------------------
-- ADD YOUR CODE HERE
-------------------------------------------------------------

-- Select the return values

select @error, @error_message

end
GO

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 Using the SBO_SP_TransactionNotification Stored Procedure

There are five out parameters:

Parameter Example

@objecttype 2 (Business Partner) Since version 2005 it returns a string

representing the type of object – used to be a
numerical value in previous versions.

A full list of object types exposed through DI

API can be found in the DI API documentation
under the section Enumerations. The
enumeration is called BoObjectTypes.

@transaction_type U (update) It may have values of:

ƒ A (where a record was added)
ƒ U (where a record was updated)
ƒ D (where a record was deleted),
ƒ C (where a document was canceled)
ƒ L (where a document was closed)

@num_of_cols_in_key 1 Returns the number of columns or fields in the

key to the record.
A Business Partner, for example, has a key
consisting of a single field (CardCode), so this
variable would have a value of "1". A Special
Prices object, however, has a key consisting
of the CardCode and ItemCode, so for a
Special Prices object this variable would have
a value of "2".

@list_of_key_cols_tab_del CardCode It returns a tab-delimited list of column names

(field names) that represent the object key.

For a Business Partner, this would be

"CardCode". For a Special Prices object, it
would be "CardCode ItemCode".

@list_of_cols_val_tab_del C40001 This returns a tab-delimited list of values

required to retrieve the object from Business
One.

For example, a Business Partner record might

have a value of "C40001". A Special Prices
object would contain 2 fields separated by a
tab character. For example: "V10005 ...
A00001"

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 Using the SBO_SP_TransactionNotification Stored Procedure

Important Note for 2007 version

With the release of SAP Business One 2007, Business One will wait for the
SBO_SP_TransactionNotification stored procedure to return both parameters @error and
@error_message as return values. Without the return of these values, SAP Business One will consider the
transaction as failed.
If you are placing code in the SBO_SP_TransactionNotification, please make sure you always go through the
“select @error, @error_message” line at the end, especially in the case where you want the
transaction to be considered as successful.

Adding Code to the Stored Procedure

Now that you are familiar with the values returned by the SBO_SP_TransactionNotification stored
procedure, let's take a look at a sample code that uses it.
The sample that accompanies this article includes a simple Visual Basic 6 project called "DisplaySBOInfo".
You should use REGSVR32.EXE to register the compiled dll that is included. DisplaySBOInfo exposes a
single method called DisplaySBOInfo. This method takes the information provided by
SBO_SP_TransactionNotification as parameters and writes them to a tab-delimited text file called
Log.txt. The SBO_SP_TransactionNotification stored procedure should be modified to include the
following Transact-SQL code. Add the following text to the section of the stored procedure that says "Add
Your Code Here":
DECLARE @object int --declare the object variable
DECLARE @hresult int --declare the hresult variable
DECLARE @retval float --declare the return variable

EXEC @hresult = sp_OACreate 'DisplaySBOInfo.Class1', @object OUT

EXEC @hresult = sp_OAMethod @object, DisplaySBOInfo, @retval OUT, @object_type,
@transaction_type, @num_of_cols_in_key, @list_of_key_cols_tab_del,
@list_of_cols_val_tab_del

IF @hresult <> 0
BEGIN
EXEC sp_OAGetErrorInfo @object
RETURN
END

This creates an instance of DisplaySBOInfo.Class1 and calls the DisplaySBOInfo method, passing
parameters to it that will be written to the text log.
After you have added your code to the stored procedure, open up SAP Business One and make a few
changes. For example, add a Business Partner, edit a Quotation, and then delete the Business Partner.
When you're done, open Log.txt and take a look at the data. In a real-life scenario, you would use the
information provided by SBO_SP_TransactionNotification with the DI-API to retrieve more information
about the record that was inserted, deleted, or changed.
When you are done with this sample exercise, go back to the stored procedure and delete or comment out
the code that was added. This will insure that the sample does not continue to run.
If you would like, you can download the sample code that was described in this article.
You can also download SAP Business One DI Event Service sample implementing a DI Event Service that
runs on top of the existing SAP Business One SDK interfaces. This service provides notifications on events
related to SAP Business One DI API objects through a listener-based interface.

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 Using the SBO_SP_TransactionNotification Stored Procedure

Related Contents
For more information, visit the Business One homepage.

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 Using the SBO_SP_TransactionNotification Stored Procedure

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