Integrate Live Sage 300 Data into Custom Business Apps Built in Power Apps

Power Apps is a service for building and using custom business apps that connect to your data and work across the web and mobile — without the time and expense of custom software development. When paired with CData Connect Server, you get instant access to Sage 300 data from the apps you build using Power Apps. This article shows how to connect to Connect Server from Power Apps and build an app based on live Sage 300 data.

CData Connect Server provides a pure SQL interface for Sage 300, allowing you to easily integrate with live Sage 300 data in Power Apps — without replicating the data. CData Connect Server looks exactly like a SQL Server database to Power Apps and uses optimized data processing out of the box to push all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Sage 300, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Sage 300 data.

Create a Virtual SQL Database for Sage 300 Data

CData Connect Server uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources and generate APIs.

1. Login to Connect Server and click Connections.
2. Select "Sage 300" from Available Data Sources.
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Sage 300.

   Sage 300 requires some initial setup in order to communicate over the Sage 300 Web API.

   • Set up the security groups for the Sage 300 user. Give the Sage 300 user access to the option under Security Groups (per each module required).
   • Edit both web.config files in the /Online/Web and /Online/WebApi folders; change the key AllowWebApiAccessForAdmin to true. Restart the webAPI app-pool for the settings to take.
   • Once the user access is configured, click https://server/Sage300WebApi/ to ensure access to the web API.

   Authenticate to Sage 300 using Basic authentication.

   Connect Using Basic Authentication

   You must provide values for the following properties to successfully authenticate to Sage 300. Note that the provider reuses the session opened by Sage 300 using cookies. This means that your credentials are used only on the first request to open the session. After that, cookies returned from Sage 300 are used for authentication.

   • Url: Set this to the url of the server hosting Sage 300. Construct a URL for the Sage 300 Web API as follows: {protocol}://{host-application-path}/v{version}/{tenant}/ For example, http://localhost/Sage300WebApi/v1.0/-/.
   • User: Set this to the username of your account.
   • Password: Set this to the password of your account.
4. Click Save Changes
5. Click Privileges -> Add and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions.

Connecting to CData Connect Server

To use Connect Server to integrate Sage 300 data into your Power Apps, you need a new SQL Server connection:

1. Log in to Power Apps
2. Click Data -> Connections -> New connection
3. Select SQL Server
4. In the connection wizard:
   
   
   • Choose to connect directly
   • Set SQL server name to the address of your Connect Server instance (CONNECT_SERVER_URL)
   • Set SQL database name to the name of the virtual Sage 300 database you created earlier (like sage300db)
   • Set the Username and Password and click Create

Building a Data-Centric App for Sage 300 Data

With the connection to Connect Server configured, you are ready to integrate live Sage 300 data into the apps you build in Power Apps.

1. Log in to Power Apps
2. Click Create, hover over "Start from data" and click Make this app
3. Select the SQL Server connection you created
4. Search for or choose a table to work with
5. Click Connect
6. Customize the newly created app just like you would any other, including changing the layout and setting the fields exposed in BrowseScreen, DetailScreen, and EditScreen

At this point, you have an app with read access to live Sage 300 data that you can save and publish for use within your organization.

SQL Access to Sage 300 Data from Applications

Now you have a direct connection to live Sage 300 data from Microsoft Power Apps. You can create more connections and apps to drive business — all without replicating Sage 300 data.

To get SQL data access to 200+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your applications, see the CData Connect Server.