How to Access Live Azure Data Catalog Data in Power Automate Desktop via ODBC

The CData ODBC Driver for Azure Data Catalog enables you to access live Azure Data Catalog data in workflow automation tools like Power Automate. This article shows how to integrate Azure Data Catalog data into a simple workflow, moving Azure Data Catalog data into a CSV file.

Through optimized data processing, CData ODBC Drivers offer unmatched performance for interacting with live Azure Data Catalog data in Microsoft Power Automate. When you issue complex SQL queries from Power Automate to Azure Data Catalog, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Azure Data Catalog and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (e.g. SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connect to Azure Data Catalog as an ODBC Data Source

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

You can optionally set the following to read the different catalog data returned from Azure Data Catalog.

CatalogName: Set this to the CatalogName associated with your Azure Data Catalog. To get your Catalog name, navigate to your Azure Portal home page > Data Catalog > Catalog Name

Connect Using OAuth Authentication

You must use OAuth to authenticate with Azure Data Catalog. OAuth requires the authenticating user to interact with Azure Data Catalog using the browser. For more information, refer to the OAuth section in the help documentation.

When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing workflows.

Integrate Azure Data Catalog Data into Power Automate Workflows

After configuring the DSN for Azure Data Catalog, you are ready to integrate Azure Data Catalog data into your Power Automate workflows. Open Microsoft Power Automate, add a new flow, and name the flow.

In the flow editor, you can add the actions to connect to Azure Data Catalog, query Azure Data Catalog using SQL, and write the query results to a CSV document.

Add an Open SQL Connection Action

Add an "Open SQL connection" action (Actions -> Database) and configure the properties.

• Connection string: DSN=CData Azure Data Catalog Source

After configuring the action, click Save.

Add an Execute SQL Statement Action

Add an "Execute SQL statement" action (Actions -> Database) and configure the properties.

• Get connection by: SQL connection variable
• SQL connection: %SQLConnection% (the variable from the "Open SQL connection" action above)
• SQL statement: SELECT * FROM Tables

After configuring the action, click Save.

Add a Write to CSV File Action

Add a "Write to CSV file" action (Actions -> File) and configure the properties.

• Variable to write to: %QueryResult% (the variable from the "Execute SQL statement" action above)
• File path: set to a file on disk
• Configure Advanced settings as needed.

After configuring the action, click Save.

Add a Close SQL Connection Action

Add a "Close SQL connection" action (Actions -> Database) and configure the properties.

• SQL Connection: %SQLConnection% (the variable from the "Open SQL connection" action above)

After configuring the action, click Save.

Save & Run the Flow

Once you have configured all the actions for the flow, click the disk icon to save the flow. Click the play icon to run the flow.

Now you have a workflow to move Azure Data Catalog data into a CSV file.

With the CData ODBC Driver for Azure Data Catalog, you get live connectivity to Azure Data Catalog data within your Microsoft Power Automate workflows.

Related Power Automate Articles

This article walks through using the CData ODBC Driver for Azure Data Catalog with Power Automate Desktop. Check out our other articles for more ways to work with Power Automate (Desktop & Online):

• Azure Data Catalog Data in Power Automate Desktop using CData Connect
• Azure Data Catalog Data in Power Automate (Online) using CData Connect