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URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/dynamics365-cloud-appsheet.rst

⇱ Create Dynamics 365-Connected Business Apps in AppSheet

Create Dynamics 365-Connected Business Apps in AppSheet

👁 Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Connect to Dynamics 365 Data via CData Connect AI in Google AppSheet and create custom business applications with real-time access to Dynamics 365 data.

Google AppSheet is a no-code development platform for application software, enabling users to design mobile, tablet, and web applications. When combined with CData Connect AI, you gain immediate cloud-to-cloud access to Dynamics 365 data for business applications. This article outlines the process of connecting to Dynamics 365 using Connect AI and constructing a basic app from Dynamics 365 data within AppSheet.

CData Connect AI offers a dedicated cloud-to-cloud interface for Dynamics 365, enabling the creation of reports directly from live Dynamics 365 data within AppSheet, all without the need for data replication to a native database. When you design applications that interact with data, AppSheet formulates SQL queries to retrieve the required information. With its inherent optimized data processing capabilities, CData Connect AI efficiently channels all supported SQL operations, including filters and JOINs, directly to Dynamics 365. This leverages server-side processing to swiftly deliver the requested Dynamics 365 data.

About Dynamics 365 Data Integration

CData simplifies access and integration of live Microsoft Dynamics 365 data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:

  • Read and write data in the full Dynamics 365 ecosystem: Sales, Customer Service, Finance & Operations, Marketing, and more.
  • Extend the native features of Dynamics CRM with customizable caching and intelligent query aggregation and separation.
  • Authenticate securely with Dynamics 365 in a variety of ways, including Azure Active Directory, Azure Managed Service Identity credentials, and Azure Service Principal using either a client secret or a certificate.
  • Use SQL stored procedures to manage their Dynamics 365 entities - listing, creating, and removing associations between entities.

CData customers use our Dynamics 365 connectivity solutions for a variety of reasons, whether they're looking to replicate their data into a data warehouse (alongside other data sources) or analyze live Dynamics 365 data from their preferred data tools inside the Microsoft ecosystem (Power BI, Excel, etc.) or with external tools (Tableau, Looker, etc.).


Getting Started


Configure Dynamics 365 Connectivity for AppSheet

Connectivity to Dynamics 365 from AppSheet is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Dynamics 365 data from AppSheet, we start by creating and configuring a Dynamics 365 connection.

  1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
    2. 👁 Adding a Connection
  2. Select "Dynamics 365" from the Add Connection panel
    3. 👁 Selecting a data source
  3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Dynamics 365.

    Edition and OrganizationUrl are required connection properties. The Dynamics 365 connector supports connecting to the following editions: CustomerService, FieldService, FinOpsOnline, FinOpsOnPremise, HumanResources, Marketing, ProjectOperations and Sales.

    For Dynamics 365 Business Central, use the separate Dynamics 365 Business Central driver.

    OrganizationUrl is the URL to your Dynamics 365 organization. For instance, https://orgcb42e1d0.crm.dynamics.com

    👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
  4. Click Save & Test
  5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Dynamics 365 Connection page and update the User-based permissions. 👁 Updating permissions

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

  1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
  2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
  3. Give the PAT a name and click Create. 👁 Creating a new PAT
  4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to Dynamics 365 data from AppSheet.

Connect to Dynamics 365 from AppSheet

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect AI from AppSheet to create a new Dynamics 365 data source.

  1. Log into AppSheet
  2. Click "My account" in the menu
  3. Click the Sources tab and add a new data source 👁 Creating a new data source
  4. Select Cloud Database and set the connection information
    • Type: Sql Server
    • Server: tds.cdata.com,14333
    • Database: the Dynamics 365 connection, for example, Dynamics3651
    • Username: a Connect AI user, for example, [email protected]
    • Password: the PAT for the above Connect AI user
    • SSL: Require SSL
    👁 Connecting to Connect AI
  5. Click "Test Connection"
  6. Click "Authorize Access"

Create an App

Once you create the data source for Dynamics 365, you can start building apps on Dynamics 365 data. Start by clicking "My apps" in the menu.

  1. Click to create a new app and select "Start with your own data"
  2. Name the app and select an appropriate category, based on your data
  3. Select the newly created data source
  4. Select the table or view with the data you want 👁 Selecting a table

At this point, you can configure the design of your app, selecting which columns from the selected table to display, use as labels, and more. Preview the app in the preview panel and then publish or share it when ready.

👁 Configuring an app connected to Connect AI.

To get live data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications, try CData Connect AI today!