Hi Werner
I'm not really sure about that. I've always used ALE_IDOCS_CREATE because it supposedly is the replacement - see link below from the FM documentation.
If not hard-coding is a must, then I guess you can try to use back MASTER_IDOC_DISTRIBUTE and follow the same subsequent steps. You can see it's also mentioned in the SAP online library below.
Call of MASTER_IDOC_DISTRIBUTE - IDoc Interface/ALE - SAP Library
Rgds
Eng Swee