Query Dynamics 365 Business Central Data as a SQL Server Database in Node.js

You can use CData Connect Cloud to query Dynamics 365 Business Central data through a SQL Server interface. Follow the procedure below to create a virtual database for Dynamics 365 Business Central in Connect Cloud and start querying using Node.js.

CData Connect Cloud provides a pure MySQL, cloud-to-cloud interface for Dynamics 365 Business Central, allowing you to easily query live Dynamics 365 Business Central data in Node.js — without replicating the data to a natively supported database. As you query data in Node.js, CData Connect Cloud pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Dynamics 365 Business Central, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Dynamics 365 Business Central data.

Configure Dynamics 365 Business Central Connectivity for NodeJS

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

1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
2. Select "Dynamics 365 Business Central" from the Add Connection panel
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Dynamics 365 Business Central.

   To authenticate to Dynamics 365 Business Central, you must provide the User and AccessKey properties.

   To obtain the User and AccessKey values, navigate to the Users page in Dynamics 365 Business Central and then click on Edit. The User Name and Web Service Access Key values are what you will enter as the User and AccessKey connection string properties. Note that the User Name is not your email address. It is a shortened user name.

   To connect to data, specify OrganizationUrl. If you have multiple companies in your organization, you must also specify the Company to indicate which company you would like to connect to. Company does not need to be specified if you have only one company.

4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Dynamics 365 Business Central Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

If you are connecting from a service, application, platform, or framework that does not support OAuth authentication, you can create a Personal Access Token (PAT) to use for authentication. Best practices would dictate that you create a separate PAT for each service, to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
2. On the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give your PAT a name and click Create.
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, you are ready to connect to Dynamics 365 Business Central data from Node.js.

Query Dynamics 365 Business Central from Node.js

The following example shows how to define a connection and execute queries to Dynamics 365 Business Central with the SQL Server module. You will need the following information:

• server: tds.cdata.com
• port: 14333
• user: a Connect Cloud user (e.g. user@mydomain.com)
• password: the PAT for the above user
• database: The connection you configured for Dynamics 365 Business Central (D365BusinessCentral1)

Connect to Dynamics 365 Business Central data and start executing queries with the code below:

var sql = require('mssql')
var config = {
	server: 'tds.cdata.com',
	port: 14333, 
	user: 'user@mydomain.com', //update me
	password: 'CONNECT_USER_PAT', //update me	
	options: {
		encrypt: true,
		database: 'D365BusinessCentral1'
	}
}

sql.connect(config, err => { 
    if(err){
        throw err ;
    }
    new sql.Request().query('SELECT * FROM Accounts', (err, result) => {
        console.dir(result)
    })
        
});

sql.on('error', err => {
    console.log("SQL Error: " ,err);
})