How to connect and process Dynamics 365 Business Central Data from Azure Databricks

Databricks is a cloud-based service that provides data processing capabilities through Apache Spark. When paired with the CData JDBC Driver, customers can use Databricks to perform data engineering and data science on live Dynamics 365 Business Central data. This article walks through hosting the CData JDBC Driver in Azure, as well as connecting to and processing live Dynamics 365 Business Central data in Databricks.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData JDBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Dynamics 365 Business Central data. When you issue complex SQL queries to Dynamics 365 Business Central, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Dynamics 365 Business Central and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations). Its built-in dynamic metadata querying allows you to work with and analyze Dynamics 365 Business Central data using native data types.

Install the CData JDBC Driver in Azure

To work with live Dynamics 365 Business Central data in Databricks, install the driver on your Azure cluster.

1. Navigate to your Databricks administration screen and select the target cluster.
2. On the Libraries tab, click "Install New."
3. Select "Upload" as the Library Source and "Jar" as the Library Type.
4. Upload the JDBC JAR file (cdata.jdbc.d365businesscentral.jar) from the installation location (typically C:\Program Files\CData[product_name]\lib).

Connect to Dynamics 365 Business Central from Databricks

With the JAR file installed, we are ready to work with live Dynamics 365 Business Central data in Databricks. Start by creating a new notebook in your workspace. Name the notebook, select Python as the language (though Scala is available as well), and choose the cluster where you installed the JDBC driver. When the notebook launches, we can configure the connection, query Dynamics 365 Business Central, and create a basic report.

Configure the Connection to Dynamics 365 Business Central

Connect to Dynamics 365 Business Central by referencing the class for the JDBC Driver and constructing a connection string to use in the JDBC URL. Additionally, you will need to set the RTK property in the JDBC URL (unless you are using a Beta driver). You can view the licensing file included in the installation for information on how to set this property.

driver = "cdata.jdbc.d365businesscentral.D365BusinessCentralDriver"
url = "jdbc:d365businesscentral:RTK=5246...;OrganizationUrl=https://myaccount.financials.dynamics.com/;"

Built-in Connection String Designer

For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Dynamics 365 Business Central JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

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.

Load Dynamics 365 Business Central Data

Once the connection is configured, you can load Dynamics 365 Business Central data as a dataframe using the CData JDBC Driver and the connection information.

remote_table = spark.read.format ( "jdbc" ) \
	.option ( "driver" , driver) \
	.option ( "url" , url) \
	.option ( "dbtable" , "Accounts") \
	.load ()

Display Dynamics 365 Business Central Data

Check the loaded Dynamics 365 Business Central data by calling the display function.

display (remote_table.select ("accountid"))

Analyze Dynamics 365 Business Central Data in Azure Databricks

If you want to process data with Databricks SparkSQL, register the loaded data as a Temp View.

remote_table.createOrReplaceTempView ( "SAMPLE_VIEW" )

The SparkSQL below retrieves the Dynamics 365 Business Central data for analysis.

% sql

SELECT accountid, Name FROM Accounts

The data from Dynamics 365 Business Central is only available in the target notebook. If you want to use it with other users, save it as a table.

remote_table.write.format ( "parquet" ) .saveAsTable ( "SAMPLE_TABLE" )

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for Dynamics 365 Business Central and start working with your live Dynamics 365 Business Central data in Azure Databricks. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.