How to install node-rfc in CAP project

[ruchin-kumar]

I am trying to use node-rfc in the cap project and when running npm install node-rfc getting below error

npm ERR! code 1
npm ERR! path /home/user/projects/btp_sap/node_modules/node-rfc
npm ERR! command failed
npm ERR! command sh -c node-gyp-build
npm ERR! make: Entering directory '/home/user/projects/btp_sap/node_modules/node-rfc/build'
npm ERR!   CXX(target) Release/obj.target/sapnwrfc/src/cpp/addon.o
npm ERR! make: Leaving directory '/home/user/projects/btp_sap/node_modules/node-rfc/build'
npm ERR! gyp info it worked if it ends with ok
npm ERR! gyp info using [email protected]
npm ERR! gyp info using [email protected] | linux | x64
npm ERR! gyp info find Python using Python version 3.11.2 found at "/usr/bin/python3"
npm ERR! gyp info spawn /usr/bin/python3
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args [
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '/home/user/projects/btp_sap/node_modules/node-gyp/gyp/gyp_main.py',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   'binding.gyp',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '-f',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   'make',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '-I',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '/home/user/projects/btp_sap/node_modules/node-rfc/build/config.gypi',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '-I',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '/home/user/projects/btp_sap/node_modules/node-gyp/addon.gypi',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '-I',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '/home/user/.cache/node-gyp/18.14.2/include/node/common.gypi',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '-Dlibrary=shared_library',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '-Dvisibility=default',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '-Dnode_root_dir=/home/user/.cache/node-gyp/18.14.2',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '-Dnode_gyp_dir=/home/user/projects/btp_sap/node_modules/node-gyp',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '-Dnode_lib_file=/home/user/.cache/node-gyp/18.14.2/<(target_arch)/node.lib',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '-Dmodule_root_dir=/home/user/projects/btp_sap/node_modules/node-rfc',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '-Dnode_engine=v8',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '--depth=.',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '--no-parallel',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '--generator-output',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   'build',
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args   '-Goutput_dir=.'
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args ]
npm ERR! gyp info spawn make
npm ERR! gyp info spawn args [ 'BUILDTYPE=Release', '-C', 'build' ]
npm ERR! In file included from ../src/cpp/Log.h:12,
npm ERR!                  from ../src/cpp/Client.h:8,
npm ERR!                  from ../src/cpp/addon.cc:5:
npm ERR! ../src/cpp/noderfc.h:9:10: fatal error: sapnwrfc.h: No such file or directory
npm ERR!     9 | #include <sapnwrfc.h>
npm ERR!       |          ^~~~~~~~~~~~
npm ERR! compilation terminated.
npm ERR! make: *** [sapnwrfc.target.mk:161: Release/obj.target/sapnwrfc/src/cpp/addon.o] Error 1
npm ERR! gyp ERR! build error 
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack Error: `make` failed with exit code: 2
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at ChildProcess.onExit (/home/user/projects/btp_sap/node_modules/node-gyp/lib/build.js:194:23)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at ChildProcess.emit (node:events:513:28)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! stack     at ChildProcess._handle.onexit (node:internal/child_process:291:12)
npm ERR! gyp ERR! System Linux 5.15.114-gardenlinux-cloud-amd64
npm ERR! gyp ERR! command "/local/asdf-inst-inbox-runtime/installs/nodejs/18.14.2/bin/node" "/home/user/projects/btp_sap/node_modules/node-gyp/bin/node-gyp.js" "rebuild"
npm ERR! gyp ERR! cwd /home/user/projects/btp_sap/node_modules/node-rfc
npm ERR! gyp ERR! node -v v18.14.2
npm ERR! gyp ERR! node-gyp -v v8.4.1
npm ERR! gyp ERR! not ok

following this https://github.com/SAP/node-rfc/blob/main/doc/installation.md#sap-nwrfc-sdk-installation and not able to figure out how it will work with the MTA project. below is my package.json

{
  "name": "cds",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "A simple CAP project.",
  "repository": "<Add your repository here>",
  "license": "UNLICENSED",
  "private": true,
  "dependencies": {
    "@sap-cloud-sdk/http-client": "^3.9.0",
    "@sap-cloud-sdk/resilience": "^3.9.0",
    "@sap/cds": "^7",
    "@sap/xssec": "^3",
    "express": "^4",
    "passport": "^0.7.0",
    "sqlite3": "^5.1.6"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@cap-js/sqlite": "^1",
    "@sap/cds-dk": "^7"
  },
  "scripts": {
    "start": "NODE_ENV=production cds-serve"
  },
  "cds": {
    "requires": {
      "auth": "xsuaa",
      "db": {
        "kind": "sqlite",
        "credentials": {
          "database": ":memory:"
        }
      }
    "features": {
      "in_memory_db": true
    }
  }
}

[bsrdjan]

The error sapnwrfc.h: No such file or directory indicates that SAPNWRFC_HOME env variable does not point to folder where SAP NW RFC SDK is installed. Please verify SAP NW RFC SDK installation.

[ruchin-kumar]

I am using applicationstudio.cloud.sap for my project and I have SAP NW RFC SDK in my project root folder. I was able to install node-rfc with SAPNWRFC_HOME=/home/user/projects/btp_sap/nwrfcsdk npm install node-rfc.

I am wondering how it will be deployed on the Cloud Foundry Environment using MTA.

[bsrdjan]

Hello Ruchin,

SAP NW RFC SDK deployment on Cloud Foundry, with Cloud Connector support, is not Globally Available yet. The feature request is acknowledged and the status can be tracked on SAP Customer Influence https://influence.sap.com/sap/ino/#idea/262169

You can vote for feature request or, if interested in prototyping/evaluation in the meantime, create customer message for BC-MID-RFC-SDK component and share some info on business case. If you create the message, please add here the reference to message and also add the reference to this thread, in customer message.

The SAP NW RFC SDK deployment on Cloud Foundry, without using Cloud Connectivity service, is described here: https://blogs.sap.com/2023/10/26/abap-rfc-connectivity-from-btp-node.js-buildpack.

Sorry that no other options for the time being

Regards,
Srdjan

[ruchin-kumar]

I voted for this feature. 👍
I tried to use this prototype and it didn't solve my use case. When I deployed it on Cloud Foundry, it couldn't connect to my on-premises SAP instance because that isn't publicly available. looking for other solution meanwhile(may be java based).

[bsrdjan]

Usage is not supported in CAP