Import Real-Time Dynamics 365 Business Central Data via ODBC in ColdFusion to Build Applications

Dibyendu Datta
Lead Technology Evangelist

Use CData ODBC drivers to import and use Dynamics 365 Business Central data in ColdFusion.

Adobe ColdFusion is a web and mobile application development platform. It uses its own scripting language, ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML), to create data-driven websites as well as generate remote services, such as REST. When ColdFusion is paired with the CData ODBC Driver for Dynamics 365 Business Central, you can link your ColdFusion web and mobile applications to operational Dynamics 365 Business Central data. This allows for your applications to be more robust and complete. This article details how to use the ODBC driver to create a table populated with Dynamics 365 Business Central data from within a ColdFusion markup file.

To follow along with this tutorial, you need to install the CData ODBC Driver for Dynamics 365 Business Central and Adobe ColdFusion.

Configuring the Connection

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (Data Source Name). This is the last step of the driver installation process. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

To authenticate to Dynamics 365 Business Central, you must select an AuthScheme and provide the required properties (OAuth by default).

All Methods

Specify the . If you have multiple companies in your organization, you must also specify the to indicate which company you would like to connect to. does not need to be specified if you have only one company.

Access Key

To authenticate with an Access Key, set AuthScheme to "AccessKey" and provide the and properties.

To obtain the and values, navigate to the Users page in Dynamics 365 Business Central and then click on Edit. The User Name and Web Service Access Key values are what you will enter as the and connection string properties. Note that the User Name is not your email address. It is a shortened user name.

If you wish to authenticate through other methods, refer to the Help documentation.

Adding a Data Source and Creating a Table

After creating a DSN, follow the steps below to add a new data source, test our connection to it, create a ColdFusion markup file, and, finally, import Dynamics 365 Business Central Data and display it in a table in ColdFusion:

From the ColdFusion administrator interface, choose Data & Services. 👁 Selecting Data & Services
Here, click "Add New Data Source". The data source name can be any name, provided it conforms to the ColdFusion variable naming conventions. For our ODBC driver, choose "ODBC Socket", then click the "Add" button. 👁 Adding Data Source Name
From the ODBC DSN Dropdown menu select CData Dynamics 365 Business Central Sys. Under the Advanced Settings section, leave the Connection String blank. Note that any properties specified in this input field will override the ones specified in the DSN Configuration. 👁 Populating driver properties
Now, test the connection by pressing the check mark to the left of the CDataDynamics 365 Business CentralODBC data source you just created. When the data source reports an "OK" status, it is ready for use. 👁 Testing the connection

Next, create a new ColdFusion Markup file (.cfm) and place it in the wwwroot directory ("C:\ColdFusion2021\cfusion\wwwroot") for ColdFusion.

The following code queries the data source:

 
 <cfquery name="Dynamics 365 Business CentralQuery" dataSource="CDataDynamics 365 Business CentralODBC"> 
 SELECT * FROM Accounts 
 </cfquery>

And a CFTable can be used to quickly output the table in HTML:

 
 <cftable 
 query = "Dynamics 365 Business CentralQuery" 
 border = "1" 
 colHeaders 
 colSpacing = "2" 
 headerLines = "2" 
 HTMLTable 
 maxRows = "500" 
 startRow = "1"> 

 <cfcol header="<b>accountid</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="accountid"/> 

 <cfcol header="<b>Name</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="Name"/> 

 ...

 </cftable>

Full code, including the HTML portion is available below:

 
 <html> 
 <head><title>CData Software | Dynamics 365 Business Central Accounts Table Demo </title></head> 
 <body> 
 <cfoutput>#ucase("Dynamics 365 Business Central Accounts Table Demo")#</cfoutput> 
 <cfquery name="Dynamics 365 Business CentralQuery" dataSource="CDataDynamics 365 Business CentralODBC"> 

 SELECT * FROM Accounts 

 </cfquery> 
 <cftable 
 query = "Dynamics 365 Business CentralQuery" 
 border = "1" 
 colHeaders 
 colSpacing = "2" 
 headerLines = "2" 
 HTMLTable 
 maxRows = "500" 
 startRow = "1"> 
 <cfcol header="<b>accountid</b>" align="Left" width=2 text="accountid"/> 

 <cfcol header="<b>Name</b>" align="Left" width=15 text="Name"/> 

 ...

 </cftable> 
 </body> 

 </html>

Finally, run the code in a browser. It produces a table populated with Dynamics 365 Business Central data! 👁 Running the code

As a note, the CData ODBC Drivers also support parameterized queries using the cfqueryparam element. For example:

SELECT * FROM Account WHERE name =

Get Started Today

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData ODBC Driver for Dynamics 365 Business Central and start building Dynamics 365 Business Central-connected applications with Adobe ColdFusion. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

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Download a free trial of the Dynamics 365 Business Central ODBC Driver to get started:

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Learn more:

👁 Dynamics 365 Business Central (NAV) Icon
Dynamics 365 Business Central ODBC Driver

The Dynamics 365 Business Central ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live Dynamics 365 Business Central data, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Dynamics 365 Business Central like you would a database - read, write, and update Items, Sales Orders, Purchase Orders, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.

URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/d365businesscentral-odbc-coldfusion.rst