Connect to Power BI XMLA Data from PowerBuilder via ADO.NET

This article demonstrates using the CData ADO.NET Provider for Power BI XMLA in PowerBuilder, showcasing the ease of use and compatibility of these standards-based controls across various platforms and development technologies that support Microsoft .NET, including Appeon PowerBuilder.

This article shows how to create a basic PowerBuilder application that uses the CData ADO.NET Provider for Power BI XMLA to retrieve data.

1. In a new WPF Window Application solution, add all the Visual Controls needed for the connection properties. Below is a typical connection string:

   AuthScheme=EntraID;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;

   By default, use Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) to connect to Microsoft Power BI XMLA. Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) is Microsoft's multi-tenant, cloud-based directory and identity management service. It is user-based authentication that requires that you set AuthScheme to EntraID (formerly AzureAD).

   For more information on other authentication schemes, refer to the Help documentation.

2. Add the DataGrid control from the .NET controls.
3. Configure the columns of the DataGrid control. Below are several columns from the Account table:

   <DataGrid AutoGenerateColumns="False" Margin="13,249,12,14" Name="datagrid1" TabIndex="70" ItemsSource="{Binding}">
   <DataGrid.Columns>
    <DataGridTextColumn x:Name="idColumn" Binding="{Binding Path=Id}" Header="Id" Width="SizeToHeader" />
    <DataGridTextColumn x:Name="nameColumn" Binding="{Binding Path=Country}" Header="Country" Width="SizeToHeader" />
   		...
   	</DataGrid.Columns>
   </DataGrid>
   

4. Add a reference to the CData ADO.NET Provider for Power BI XMLA assembly.

Connect the DataGrid

Once the visual elements have been configured, you can use standard ADO.NET objects like Connection, Command, and DataAdapter to populate a DataTable with the results of an SQL query:

System.Data.CData.PowerBIXMLA.PowerBIXMLAConnection conn 
conn = create System.Data.CData.PowerBIXMLA.PowerBIXMLAConnection(connectionString)

System.Data.CData.PowerBIXMLA.PowerBIXMLACommand comm 
comm = create System.Data.CData.PowerBIXMLA.PowerBIXMLACommand(command, conn)

System.Data.DataTable table
table = create System.Data.DataTable

System.Data.CData.PowerBIXMLA.PowerBIXMLADataAdapter dataAdapter
dataAdapter = create System.Data.CData.PowerBIXMLA.PowerBIXMLADataAdapter(comm)
dataAdapter.Fill(table)	
datagrid1.ItemsSource=table.DefaultView

The code above can be used to bind data from the specified query to the DataGrid.