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Dynamics 365 Business Central (NAV) Icon Dynamics 365 Business Central ODBC Driver

The Dynamics 365 Business Central ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live Dynamics 365 Business Central data, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Dynamics 365 Business Central like you would a database - read, write, and update Items, Sales Orders, Purchase Orders, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.

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How to create Visio diagrams from Dynamics 365 Business Central Data


Automatically update Dynamics 365 Business Central data with the changes you make to Visio master shapes.

Automate the process of entering data into Visio diagrams and keeping your diagrams up to date with the CData ODBC Driver for Dynamics 365 Business Central. The driver surfaces Dynamics 365 Business Central data as an ODBC data source that can be accessed by applications with built-in ODBC support like Microsoft Office. This article shows how to create a simple diagram to start brainstorming about Visio projects linked to Dynamics 365 Business Central data.

Connect to Dynamics 365 Business Central 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.

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.

Connect Dynamics 365 Business Central Data to Diagrams

Follow the steps below to use the Data Selector Wizard to import data into your diagram.

  1. Open Visio and click File -> New. Open the Brainstorming template.
  2. On the Data tab, click Link Data to Shapes.
  3. Select the ODBC option and select ODBC DSN.
  4. Select the DSN for Dynamics 365 Business Central, select the table you want to import, and finish the wizard. This article uses Accounts as an example.

Link Dynamics 365 Business Central Entities to Shapes

Follow the steps below to create a simple diagram that shows how to create shapes from your data, one of the ways to link Dynamics 365 Business Central entities to shapes:

  1. Click Brainstorming Shapes and drag a main topic onto the drawing page. Enter Accounts as the text of the main topic.
  2. Click Topic.
  3. Select a row in the External Data window and drag it onto the drawing page.
  4. Right-click the Topic shape and click Data -> Edit Data Graphic.
  5. Click New Item.
  6. In the Data Field menu, select a column. In the Displayed As menu, select how to display them.
  7. Drag a few other Dynamics 365 Business Central entities onto the drawing page and add association lines back to the main topic, Accounts. New topics have the same configuration: Numeric columns displayed in data bars stand out in contrast to other Accounts entities.

You can refresh your diagram from the Data tab, synchronizing your shapes with the external Dynamics 365 Business Central data.