Connect to Dynamics 365 Business Central Data from PowerBuilder via ODBC

The CData ODBC Driver for Dynamics 365 Business Central can be used from any platform or development technology that supports ODBC, including PowerBuilder. This article shows how to connect to Dynamics 365 Business Central data and execute queries from the Database Painter and controls such as the DataWindow.

Connect to Dynamics 365 Business Central as an ODBC Data Source

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. 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.

Create a Profile for the ODBC Driver for Dynamics 365 Business Central

Follow the steps below to use the Database Painter tool to create a database profile based on an ODBC DSN (data source name) for Dynamics 365 Business Central. In the Database Painter, you can use wizards and the UI to work with Dynamics 365 Business Central data.

1. In PowerBuilder, click Tools -> Database Painter.
2. In the Objects window in the Database Painter, right-click the ODBC node and click New Profile.
3. On the Connection tab, enter a name for the profile and select the Dynamics 365 Business Central DSN in the Data Source menu. 👁 The ODBC DSN, required to create the Database Profile. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
4. To view and modify a table, right-click a table and then click Edit Data -> Grid.

Using Dynamics 365 Business Central Data with PowerBuilder Controls

You can use standard PowerBuilder objects to connect to ODBC data sources and execute queries. The following example shows how to retrieve Dynamics 365 Business Central data into a DataWindow. You can add the following code to the open method:

SQLCA.DBMS = "ODBC"
SQLCA.DBParm = "ConnectString='DSN=CData D365BusinessCentral Source'"
CONNECT USING SQLCA;
dw_accounts.SetTransObject(SQLCA);
dw_accounts.Retrieve();