PowerShell Scripting to Replicate Microsoft Dataverse Data to MySQL

The CData Cmdlets for Microsoft Dataverse offer live access to Microsoft Dataverse data from within PowerShell. Using PowerShell scripts, you can easily automate regular tasks like data replication. This article will walk through using the CData Cmdlets for Microsoft Dataverse and the CData Cmdlets for MySQL in PowerShell to replicate Microsoft Dataverse data to a MySQL database.

Getting Started

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After obtaining the needed connection properties, accessing Microsoft Dataverse data in PowerShell and preparing for replication consists of four basic steps.

You can connect without setting any connection properties for your user credentials. Below are the minimum connection properties required to connect.

• InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken.
• OrganizationUrl: Set this to the organization URL you are connecting to, such as https://myorganization.crm.dynamics.com.
• Tenant (optional): Set this if you wish to authenticate to a different tenant than your default. This is required to work with an organization not on your default Tenant.

When you connect the Common Data Service OAuth endpoint opens in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions. The OAuth process completes automatically.

Collecting Microsoft Dataverse Data

1. Install the module:

   Install-Module CDSCmdlets

2. Connect to Microsoft Dataverse:

    $cds = Connect-CDS -OrganizationUrl $OrganizationUrl -InitiateOAuth $InitiateOAuth
    

3. Retrieve the data from a specific resource:

    $data = Select-CDS -Connection $cds -Table "Accounts"
    

   You can also use the Invoke-CDS cmdlet to execute pure SQL-92 statements:

    $data = Invoke-CDS -Connection $cds -Query 'SELECT * FROM Accounts WHERE Name = @Name' -Params @{'@Name'='MyAccount'}
    

4. Save a list of the column names from the returned data.

    $columns = ($data | Get-Member -MemberType NoteProperty | Select-Object -Property Name).Name
    

Inserting Microsoft Dataverse Data into the MySQL Database

With the data and column names collected, you are ready to replicate the data into a MySQL database.

1. Install the module:

   Install-Module MySQLCmdlets

2. Connect to MySQL, using the server address and port of the MySQL server, valid user credentials, and a specific database with the table in which the data will be replicated:

    $mysql = Connect-MySQL -User $User -Password $Password -Database $Database -Server $Server -Port $Port
    

3. Loop through the Microsoft Dataverse data, store the values, and use the Add-MySQL cmdlet to insert the data into the MySQL database, one row at a time. In this example, the table will need to have the same name as the Microsoft Dataverse resource (Accounts) and to exist in the database.

    $data | % {
    $row = $_
    $values = @()
    $columns | % {
    $col = $_
    $values += $row.$($col)
    }
    Add-MySQL -Connection $mysql -Table "Accounts" -Columns $columns -Values $values
    }
    

You have now replicated your Microsoft Dataverse data to a MySQL database. This gives you freedom to work with Microsoft Dataverse data in the same way that you work with other MySQL tables, whether that is performing analytics, building reports, or other business functions.

Notes

• Once you have connected to Microsoft Dataverse and MySQL in PowerShell, you can pipe command results to perform the replication in a single line:

   Select-CDS -Connection $cds -Table "Accounts" | % {
   $row = $_
   $values = @()
   $columns | % {
   $col = $_
   $values += $row.$($col)
   }
   Add-MySQL -Connection $mysql -Table "Accounts" -Columns $columns -Values $values
   }
   

• If you wish to replicate the Microsoft Dataverse data to another database using another PowerShell module, you will want to exclude the Columns, Connection, and Table columns from the data returned by the Select-CDS cmdlet since those columns are used to help pipe data from one CData cmdlet to another:

   $columns = ($data | Get-Member -MemberType NoteProperty | Select-Object -Property Name).Name | ? {$_ -NotIn @('Columns','Connection','Table')}