--- author_name: Archana Shukla author_profile: https://github.com/ArchanaShukla keywords: tutorial auto_validation: true time: 20 tags: [ tutorial>beginner, software-product>sap-business-technology-platform] primary_tag: software-product>sap-build-process-automation parser: v2 slug: spa-process-action-create canonical_url: https://developers.sap.com/tutorials/spa-process-action-create --- # Create Sales Order Action Project in SAP Build Actions Create an action project from Open API specification ## Prerequisites - Access to a [SAP BTP tenant with SAP Build Process Automation](spa-subscribe-booster) - S/4HANA Cloud system where Sales Order business module is available - A communication user to access S/4HANA Sales Order inbound services based on `SAP_COM_0109` communication scenario ID ## You will learn - to discover APIs in SAP Business Accelerator Hub - to download Open API specification - to create action project based on the API specification - to configure API methods to update title, input and output fields and their description to improve readability for business users - to test API using destination option - to release and publish action project to be consumed in the business process modelling ## Intro Action is a feature in **SAP Build Process Automation** to connect processes with external systems, be it SAP or non-SAP systems. This is an important piece of the puzzle especially if you want to automate or extend your business processes for any available LoB processes like S/4HANA, `Ariba`, SuccessFactors etc. These extensions can be easily build using SAP Build Process Automation, and using actions you can connect to your given S/4HANA, `Ariba` or other SAP LoB systems for any kind of GET, POST, PATCH and other calls. In this tutorial, you will create an action project based on Sales Order API. The [Sales Order (A2X)](https://api.sap.com/api/API_SALES_ORDER_SRV/resource) API is already available in Business Accelerator Hub. For this workshop you will leverage **Sales Order Header - POST API** which will be used to create a sales order in S/4HANA Cloud system after the approval is done. The same scenario can be used for posting an invoice to the S/4HANA system after approval from business process or getting the employee details from SuccessFactors system for off-boarding process or updating purchase requisition details for the changes in the order in `Ariba` system or getting asset details from Asset Management system before sending it for approval for asset depreciation. There are many such real-world examples where you can use action concept to create, fetch or update the data in the backend system based on the process outcomes (approval, validation etc.) ### Download open API specification 1. [Download and extract](https://www.sap.com/registration/trial.f47300f6-63b8-4f22-b189-dbadd3c903d6.html?id=0055000000004722023) **Open API Specification** zip file for **Sales Order (A2X)** API in your local file system. > Open API specification of 2.x or 3.x or higher is needed for creating action project. For APIs that are available in [SAP Business Accelerator Hub](https://api.sap.com), you can directly download the specification from the API overview section. For example: The API specification that will be used for sales order creation in this exercise is downloaded from [here](https://api.sap.com/api/API_SALES_ORDER_SRV/overview). ### Create action project 1. Open **SAP Build Lobby** with your username and password, then do the following: - Under **Connectors**, select **Actions**. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_02.png) 2. Choose **Create**. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_02a.png) 3. In the **Choose an API Source** popup, under **API Specification**, select **Upload API Specification**. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_02b.png) 4. Drag and drop or click **Browse Files** to upload open specification file downloaded in step above. 5. Choose **Next**. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_03.png) 6. In the **Create an Action project** popup, do the following: - Enter the **Project Name** as **Sales Order**. - Enter the **Description** as **API to create sales order in S/4HANA cloud system**. - Click **Create**. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_03a.png) 7. Wait until the action project gets created. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_03b.png) As soon as the **Sales Order** Action gets created, SAP Build Actions will automatically open and the **Add Actions From Sales Order** pop up will appear. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_03c.png) ### Configure action project 1. In the popup, you have to select *POST* method of `/A_SalesOrder` API. You can either directly search from the given list of APIs or follow the steps below: - Select **filter** option. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_05.png) - Select **POST**. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_06.png) - From the filtered list of APIs, choose **Sales Order Header** and select **POST** option for `/A_SalesOrder` API. - Click **Add**. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_07.png) 2. SAP Build Actions will open with the selected APIs which can be further configured based on the requirements: - To update the project name, click on the **pencil icon** next to the project name. > This action project name will help you search your action project from your API list, once published in action repository. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_08.png) - Change the name to **Creates a sales order in S/4HANA cloud system**. - Once done, select **Update** to submit the changes. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_09.png) 3. Now, you will update the input/output fields of the action project to keep only the mandatory fields that are needed to create the sales order. To select the **Input** fields, do the following: - Under **Body**, sort **Key** in ascending order by clicking on the key column and select the **Sort Ascending** option. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_10.png) - Select all the fields by clicking on the checkbox of **Key** column. - Uncheck the following fields so that they are added as *Input*. | Keys selected as Input | :--------------- | `DistributionChannel` | `OrganizationDivision` | `PurchaseOrderByCustomer` | `SalesOrderType` | `SalesOrganization` | `SoldToParty` - Click on **Remove** to delete rest of the unwanted fields. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_12.png) - In the confirmation popup, click **Remove**. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_13.png) > If you get message like *The following parameter(s) can't be added because they have unsupported definition* in the pop up then scroll down to add the individual attributes. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_24a.png) - Enter the default value for each of the input fields. | Keys selected as Input| Value | :--------| :---------- | `DistributionChannel`| 10 | `OrganizationDivision` | 00 | `PurchaseOrderByCustomer` | any name of your choice | `SalesOrderType` | OR | `SalesOrganization` | 1710 | `SoldToParty` | 17100006 > You can also change the Labels of the fields. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_24.png) - **Save** the changes. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_24b.png) > If you get Gateway Timeout issue while saving, then close the error dialog and refresh the browser. > If you see that changes are not saved, then try saving again and refreshing the browser. - Close the side panel. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_24c.png) 4. As S/4HANA APIs need CSRF token, you need to enable it. Select **Settings** icon. 5. In the **Project Settings** window, select **CSRF** and do the following: - Enable CSRF by selecting **YES** - Under the **Token Fetch End Point**, enter: **/** - Choose **Save** > Action project uses Destination service to execute the API. In the destination you have already created the URL Path as `https://my-api.s4hana.cloud.sap/sap/opu/odata/sap/API_SALES_ORDER_SRV` to call the API. So, while configuring CSRF token path you do not have to enter any explicit path rather use standard URL configured in the destination. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_15.png) 6. With this you have configured the action project name, CSRF token and API input fields. **Save** the work. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_16.png) 7. Similarly, configure the **output** fields. Do the following: - Click **Output** tab. - Sort the keys in **Ascending Order**. - Select all the keys. - Uncheck the following keys that are needed as *Output*: | Keys selected as Output | :--------- | `CreatedByUser` | `CreationDate` | `DistributionChannel` | `OrganizationDivision` | `PurchaseOrderByCustomer` | `RequestedDeliveryDate` | `SalesOrder` | `SalesOrderDate` | `SalesOrderType` | `SalesOrganization` | `SoldToParty` | `TotalNetAmount` - Click on **Remove** to delete rest of the unwanted output fields. - In the confirmation popup, click **Remove**. - **Save** the changes. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_17.png) > If you get Gateway Timeout issue while saving, then close the error dialog and refresh the browser. > If you see that changes are not saved, then try saving again and refreshing the browser. ### Test action project 1. Once the action project is configured and saved, it is time to test the changes and output. To test the API, do the following: - Click **Test** tab. - Select **Destination** option under **Connectivity**. - Select **S4HANACloud** from the dropdown options. > The destinations are fetched from the SAP Business Technology Platform. The selected destination is already created in the account configured for this workshop. > Notice that the input value is already picked from the default value entered while configuring the action project. - Click **Test**. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_18.png) - Once the execution is successful, you see **201 Created** response with the details of the new sales order being created in the backend S/4HANA Cloud system. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_19.png) ### Release action project You will now release the action project to create version(s) and then publish a selected version in the action repository. It is then these published actions that can be used in different processes and applications to connect to external systems. - To release a version of the action project, click **Release** from top-right corner. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_20.png) - In the release popup, enter the **Release Notes** of your choice and click **Release**. > Notice the version of the project. It is in `majorVersionNumber.minorVersionNumber.patchNumber` format. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_21.png) ### Publish action project Once the action project is released, you can then publish any release version of the action by clicking **Publish to Library** from top-right corner. ![Action Project](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sap-tutorials/sap-build-process-automation/main/tutorials/spa-process-action-create/ActionProject_22.png) With this you have successfully completed creating, configuring, releasing and publishing of action project. Now you will use these published actions to connect process to external systems via APIs.