The Office 365 ADO.NET Data Provider enables user to easily connect to Office 365 data from .NET applications. The Office 365 Data Provider gives developers the power to easily connect .NET applications to Microsoft Office 365 data including Outlook Mail, Contact, Calendar, Files, and more!
NOTE: Please see SharePoint, MS Project, Excel Online, Excel Desktop, or SharePoint Excel Services if you are interested in those Office 365 services.
Office 365 .NET Connectivity Features
- Powerful metadata querying enables SQL-like access to non-database sources
- Push down query optimization pushes SQL operations down to the server whenever possible, increasing performance
- Client-side query execution engine, supports SQL-92 operations that are not available server-side
- Connect to live Microsoft Office 365 data, for real-time data access with the Microsoft Office 365 ODBC Driver
- Full support for data aggregation and complex JOINs in SQL queries
- Secure connectivity through modern cryptography, including TLS 1.2, SHA-256, ECC, etc.
- Seamless integration with leading BI, reporting, and ETL tools and with custom applications via the Office 365 Connector.
Target Service, API
The driver provides unified access to Office 365 services including Exchange, SharePoint, and OneDrive through Microsoft Graph API.
Schema, Data Model
Models Office 365 entities as tables across different services. Dynamic schema based on available permissions.
Key Objects
Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Files, Sites, Teams, Users, Groups, and more. Comprehensive access to Office 365 data.
Operations
Full CRUD operations where supported. Complex queries across Office 365 services. Supports Microsoft Graph query capabilities.
Authentication
OAuth 2.0 with Azure AD. Supports delegated and application permissions. Multi-tenant and single-tenant applications.
See what you can do with Office 365 ADO.NET provider
Use Office 365 from SQL Server Analysis Service (SSAS) multi-dimensional cubes. Keep your analytical data modeling and access to any source including cloud and on-premises.
The Office 365 ADO.NET Provider allows developers to build applications that connect to Office 365 using familiar SQL and Entity Framework. Integrate Office 365 to your mission -critical applications or create easy side-by-side applications.
You can connect from ADO.NET compliant low-code development tools:
You can connect Office 365 from .NET-based reporting and analytics tools:
Standard ADO.NET Access to Office365
The Office 365 ADO.NET Provider offers the most natural way to access Office 365 data from any .NET application. Simply use Office 365 Data Provider objects to connect and access data just as you would access any traditional database. You will be able to use the Office 365 Data Provider through Visual Studio Server Explorer, in code through familiar classes, and in data controls like DataGridView, GridView, DataSet, etc.
The CData ADO.NET Provider for Office 365 hides the complexity of accessing data and provides additional powerful security features, smart caching, batching, socket management, and more.
Working with DataAdapters, DataSets, DataTables, etc.
The Office 365 Data Provider has the same ADO.NET architecture as the native .NET data providers for SQL Server and OLEDB, including: Office365Connection, Office365Command, Office365DataAdapter, Office365DataReader, Office365DataSource, Office365Parameter, etc. Because of this you can now access Office 365 data in an easy, familiar way.
For example:
using (Office365Connection conn = new Office365Connection("...")) {
string select = "SELECT * FROM Mail";
Office365Command cmd = new Office365Command(select, conn);
Office365DataAdapter adapter = new Office365DataAdapter(cmd);
using (adapter) {
DataTable table = new DataTable();
adapter.Fill(table);
...
}
}
More Than Read-Only: Full Update/CRUD Support
Office 365 Data Provider goes beyond read-only functionality to deliver full support for Create, Read, Update, and Delete operations (CRUD). Your end-users can interact with the data presented by the Office 365 Data Provider as easily as interacting with a database table.
using (Office365Connection connection = new Office365Connection(connectionString)) {
Office365DataAdapter dataAdapter = new Office365DataAdapter(
"SELECT Id, Where FROM Mail", connection);
dataAdapter.UpdateCommand = new Office365Command(
"UPDATE Mail SET Where = @Where " +
"WHERE Id = @ID", connection);
dataAdapter.UpdateCommand.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Where", "Where");
dataAdapter.UpdateCommand.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Id", "80000173-1387137645");
DataTable MailTable = new DataTable();
dataAdapter.Fill(MailTable);
DataRow firstrow = MailTable.Rows[0];
firstrow["Where"] = "New Location";
dataAdapter.Update(MailTable);
}
ADO.NET Provider Performance
With traditional approaches to remote access, performance bottlenecks can spell disaster for applications. Regardless if an application is created for internal use, a commercial project, web, or mobile application, slow performance can rapidly lead to project failure. Accessing data from any remote source has the potential to create these problems. Common issues include:
- Network Connections - Slow network connections and latency issues are common in mobile applications.
- Service Delays - Delays due to service interruptions, resulting in server hardware or software updates.
- Large Data - Intentional or unintentional requests for large amounts of data.
- Disconnects - Complete loss of network connectivity.
The CData ADO.NET Provider for Office 365 solves these issues by supporting powerful smart caching technology that can greatly improve the performance and dramatically reduce application bottlenecks.
Smart Caching
Smart caching is a configurable option that works by storing queried data into a local database. Enabling smart caching creates a persistent local cache database that contains a replica of data retrieved from the remote source. The cache database is small, lightweight, blazing-fast, and it can be shared by multiple connections as persistent storage.
Caching with our ADO.NET Providers is highly configurable, including options for:
- Auto Cache - Maintain an automatic local cache of data on all requests. The provider will automatically load data into the cache database each time you execute a SELECT query. Each row returned by the query will be inserted or updated as necessary into the corresponding table in the cache database.
- Explicit Cache - Cache only on demand. Developers decide exactly what data gets stored in the cache and when it is updated. Explicit caching provides full control over the cache contents by using explicit execution of CACHE statements.
- No Cache - All requests access only live data and no local cache file is created.
This powerful caching functionality increases application performance and allows applications to disconnect and continue limited functioning without writing code for additional local storage and/or data serialization/deserialization.
More information about ADO.NET Provider caching and best caching practices is available in the included help files.
Visual Studio Integration & Server Explorer
Working with the new Office 365 ADO.NET Provider is easy. As a fully-managed .NET Data Provider, the Office 365 Data Provider integrates seamlessly with the Visual Studio development environment as well as any .NET application.
As an ADO.NET Data Provider, Office 365 ADO.NET Provider can be used to access and explore Microsoft Office 365 data directly from the Visual Studio Server Explorer.
It's easy. As a standard ADO.NET adapter, developers can connect the Server Explorer to Office 365 ADO.NET Provider just like connecting to any standard database.
- Add a new Data Connection from the Server Explorer and select the Microsoft Office 365 Data Source
- Configure the basic connection properties to access your Microsoft Office 365 account data.
Explore all of the data available! Office 365 ADO.NET Provider makes it easy to access live Microsoft Office 365 data from Visual Studio.
Developer Integration: Databind to Office 365
Connecting Web, Desktop, and Mobile .NET applications with Microsoft Office 365 is just like working with SQL Server. It is even possible to integrate Office 365 ADO.NET Provider into applications without writing code.
Developers are free to access the Office 365 ADO.NET Provider in whatever way they like best. Either visually through the Visual Studio Winforms or Webforms designers, or directly through code.
- Developers can connect the Microsoft Office 365 Data Source directly to form components by configuring the object's smart
tags.
- Add a new Data Connection from the Server Explorer and select the Microsoft Office 365 Data Source. Then, select the
feed, view, or services you would like to connect the object to.
Done! It's just like connecting to SQL Server.
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