Hi,
in my last blog post, I wrote that I work with Postman in my next blog post. However, today I got a partner preview of Dynamics 365 Business Central API and Power BI. Because of that, today, my blog post is about connecting Power BI and Business Central through the API. would
Microsoft announced in 2021 Wave 1 that Dynamics 365 Business Central and Power BI would communicate through the API -> https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365-release-plan/2021wave1/smb/dynamics365-business-central/enable-power-bi-connector-work-business-central-apis-instead-web-services-only
Now in my previous blog post, I already created a custom API used in Power Apps, and now the idea is to use the same API in Power BI.
As this feature will become available with June 2021 Power BI update, it is perfect timing to get a sneak peek of what’s new 🙂
To start I downloaded Power BI and start to Get Data and click More …
After that, a new window Get Data will open, and in the search bar look for Business Central. Select Dynamics 365 Business Central connector.
In few seconds, Power BI will load all Dynamics 365 Business Central environments for your account.
The name of my current environment is Wave1Final so I will expand that environment.
After I expand the environment name (1), I will get a list of the companies (2) in the environment. With new feature that will be available from the June 2021 I will have possibility to choose between:
- Web Services (legacy)
- Standard APIs v2.0
- Advanced APIs
If I expand the Web Services (legacy) I will get the list of old web services that are available in Dynamics 365 Business Central as web service.
If I expand the Standard APIs v2.0, I will get the list of standard APIs published by Microsoft.
The last and most important for my case is the Advances APIs, I will get all advanced and custom APIs developed by developers.
If I take a look at the last Advances APIs I will see my custom API. After I expand it, I will see the custom API that I used for previous demos.
When I select dvVehicles, on the right side I will get all my data from the Dynamics 365 Business Central.
When I click Load on the bottom, Power BI will load the data and when I click Data View I will see data from Dynamics 365 Business Central loaded to Power BI. Here I can do standard modification and calculation if necessary.
The last step will be to build the simple chart in Report view.
Now next steps will be to consume this Power BI report or share it with my colleagues.
I hope that I helped you understand what will soon come to Power BI and Dynamics 365 Business Central and how to use it with your Custom APIs.
On the first touch, I saw a significant improvement in loading performance than with Web Services.
Best regards,
Renato
Tags: Dynamics 365 Business Central Power BI Power Platform
Hi!
I have a Business Central On Premises 2020 Wave 2 (v.17.3) and I have activated API Services.
But when I Get Data in Power BI and I select “Dynamics 365 Business Central (OnPremises) and I write the URL
https://bc.mycompany.com:7068/BC173NUP/api/v2.0
Late I write my user credentials
And when I confirm it only shows a tree with URL, companies and web services from Odaata, not show entities for API Standard like you,,
I don’t understand because if I write that url in a browser and I enter with user credentials it shows :
“@odata.context”:”https://bc.mycompany.com:7068/BC173NUP/api/v2.0/$metadata”,”value”:[{“name”:”entityDefinitions”,”kind”:”EntitySet”,”url”:”entityDefinitions”},{“name”:”companies”,”kind”:”EntitySet”,”url”:”companies”},{“name”:”subscriptions”,”kind”:”EntitySet”,”url”:”subscriptions”},{“name”:”items”,”kind”:”EntitySet”,”url”:”items”},{“name”:”unitsOfMeasure”,”kind”:”EntitySet”,”url”:”unitsOfMeasure”},{“name”:”pictures”,”kind”:”EntitySet”,”url”:”pictures”},{“name”:”defaultDimensions”,”kind”:”EntitySet”,”url”:”defaultDimensions”},
….
….
Thanks!