Connect to Dynamics 365 Data from PowerBuilder



This article demonstrates how to access Dynamics 365 data from Appeon PowerBuilder using the CData ADO.NET Provider for Dynamics 365.

This article demonstrates using the CData ADO.NET Provider for Dynamics 365 in PowerBuilder, showcasing the ease of use and compatibility of these standards-based controls across various platforms and development technologies that support Microsoft .NET, including Appeon PowerBuilder.

This article shows how to create a basic PowerBuilder application that uses the CData ADO.NET Provider for Dynamics 365 to perform reads and writes.

About Dynamics 365 Data Integration

CData simplifies access and integration of live Microsoft Dynamics 365 data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:

  • Read and write data in the full Dynamics 365 ecosystem: Sales, Customer Service, Finance & Operations, Marketing, and more.
  • Extend the native features of Dynamics CRM with customizable caching and intelligent query aggregation and separation.
  • Authenticate securely with Dynamics 365 in a variety of ways, including Azure Active Directory, Azure Managed Service Identity credentials, and Azure Service Principal using either a client secret or a certificate.
  • Use SQL stored procedures to manage their Dynamics 365 entities - listing, creating, and removing associations between entities.

CData customers use our Dynamics 365 connectivity solutions for a variety of reasons, whether they're looking to replicate their data into a data warehouse (alongside other data sources) or analyze live Dynamics 365 data from their preferred data tools inside the Microsoft ecosystem (Power BI, Excel, etc.) or with external tools (Tableau, Looker, etc.).


Getting Started


  1. In a new WPF Window Application solution, add all the Visual Controls needed for the connection properties. Below is a typical connection string:

    OrganizationUrl=https://myaccount.operations.dynamics.com/;Edition=Sales;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH

    Edition and OrganizationUrl are required connection properties. The Dynamics 365 connector supports connecting to the following editions: CustomerService, FieldService, FinOpsOnline, FinOpsOnPremise, HumanResources, Marketing, ProjectOperations and Sales.

    For Dynamics 365 Business Central, use the separate Dynamics 365 Business Central driver.

    OrganizationUrl is the URL to your Dynamics 365 organization. For instance, https://orgcb42e1d0.crm.dynamics.com

  2. Add the DataGrid control from the .NET controls.
  3. Configure the columns of the DataGrid control. Below are several columns from the Account table: <DataGrid AutoGenerateColumns="False" Margin="13,249,12,14" Name="datagrid1" TabIndex="70" ItemsSource="{Binding}"> <DataGrid.Columns> <DataGridTextColumn x:Name="idColumn" Binding="{Binding Path=Id}" Header="Id" Width="SizeToHeader" /> <DataGridTextColumn x:Name="nameColumn" Binding="{Binding Path=GoalHeadingId}" Header="GoalHeadingId" Width="SizeToHeader" /> ... </DataGrid.Columns> </DataGrid>
  4. Add a reference to the CData ADO.NET Provider for Dynamics 365 assembly.

Connect the DataGrid

Once the visual elements have been configured, you can use standard ADO.NET objects like Connection, Command, and DataAdapter to populate a DataTable with the results of an SQL query:

System.Data.CData.Dynamics365.Dynamics365Connection conn conn = create System.Data.CData.Dynamics365.Dynamics365Connection(connectionString) System.Data.CData.Dynamics365.Dynamics365Command comm comm = create System.Data.CData.Dynamics365.Dynamics365Command(command, conn) System.Data.DataTable table table = create System.Data.DataTable System.Data.CData.Dynamics365.Dynamics365DataAdapter dataAdapter dataAdapter = create System.Data.CData.Dynamics365.Dynamics365DataAdapter(comm) dataAdapter.Fill(table) datagrid1.ItemsSource=table.DefaultView

The code above can be used to bind data from the specified query to the DataGrid.

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the Dynamics 365 Data Provider to get started:

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Rapidly create and deploy powerful .NET applications that integrate with Dynamics 365.