Build Dynamics NAV-Connected Visualizations in datapine

datapine is a browser-based business intelligence platform. When paired with the CData Connect AI, you get access to your Dynamics NAV data directly from your datapine visualizations and dashboards. This article describes connecting to Dynamics NAV in CData Connect AI and building a simple Dynamics NAV-connected visualization in datapine.

CData Connect AI provides a pure SQL Server interface for Dynamics NAV, allowing you to query data from Dynamics NAV without replicating the data to a natively supported database. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc.) directly to Dynamics NAV, leveraging server-side processing to return the requested Dynamics NAV data quickly.

Configure Dynamics NAV Connectivity for datapine

Connectivity to Dynamics NAV from datapine is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Dynamics NAV data from datapine, we start by creating and configuring a Dynamics NAV connection.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection

2. Select "Dynamics NAV" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Dynamics NAV.

   Before you can connect, OData Services will need to be enabled on the server. Once OData Services are enabled, you will be able to query any Services that are published on the server.

   The User and Password properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid Dynamics NAV user credentials. In addition, specify a URL to a valid Dynamics NAV server organization root and a ServerInstance. If there is not a Service Default Company for the server, set the Company as well.

   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Dynamics NAV Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give the 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 and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to Dynamics NAV data from datapine.

Connecting to Dynamics NAV from datapine

Once you configure your connection to Dynamics NAV in Connect AI, you are ready to connect to Dynamics NAV from datapine.

1. Log into datapine
2. Click Connect to navigate to the "Connect" page
3. Select MS SQL Server as the data source
4. In the Integration step, fill in the connection properties and click "Save and Proceed"
   • Set the Internal Name
   • Set Database Name to the name of the connection we just configured (e.g. DynamicsNAV1)
   • Set Host / IP to "tds.cdata.com"
   • Set Username to your Connect AI username (e.g. [email protected])
   • Set Password to the corresponding PAT
   • Set Database Port to "14333"
   
5. In the Data Schema step, select the tables and fields to visualize and click "Save and Proceed"
6. In the References step, define any relationships between your selected tables and click "Save and Proceed"
7. In the Data Transfer step, click "Go to Analyzer"

Visualize Dynamics NAV Data in datapine

After connecting to CData Connect AI, you are ready to visualize your Dynamics NAV data in datapine. Simply select the dimensions and measures you wish to visualize!

Having connect to Dynamics NAV from datapine, you are now able to visualize and analyze real-time Dynamics NAV data no matter where you are. To get live data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from datapine, try CData Connect AI today!