How to Use CData Connect to Access Live Dynamics NAV Data in Power Automate



CData Connect for Dynamics NAV enables you to integrate Dynamics NAV data into workflows built using Microsoft Power Automate Desktop.

CData Connect enables you to access live Dynamics NAV data in workflow automation tools like Power Automate. This article shows how to integrate Dynamics NAV data into a simple workflow, moving Dynamics NAV data into a CSV file.

CData Connect provides a pure SQL interface for Dynamics NAV, allowing you to easily integrate with live Dynamics NAV data in Power Automate — without replicating the data. Connect looks exactly like a SQL Server database to Power Automate and uses optimized data processing out of the box to push all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Dynamics NAV, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Dynamics NAV data.

Create a Virtual SQL Database for Dynamics NAV Data

CData Connect Server uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources and generate APIs.

  1. Log into Connect Server and click Connections.
  2. Select "Dynamics NAV" from Available Data Sources.
  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, you will need to 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, you will need to set the Company as well.

  4. Click Save Changes
  5. Click Privileges -> Add and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions.

How to Integrate Dynamics NAV Data into Power Automate Workflows

After configuring CData Connect with Dynamics NAV, you are ready to integrate Dynamics NAV data into your Power Automate workflows. Open Microsoft Power Automate, add a new flow, and name the flow.

In the flow editor, you can add the actions to connect to Dynamics NAV, query Dynamics NAV using SQL, and write the query results to a CSV document.

Add an Open SQL Connection Action

Add an "Open SQL connection" action (Actions -> Database) and click the option to build the Connection string. In the Data Link Properties wizard:

  1. On the Provider tab: select Microsoft OLE DB Driver for SQL Server
  2. On the Connection tab:
    1. Select or enter a server name: set to the address and port of the SQL (TDS) endpoint of CData Connect, separated by a comma (e.g. localhost,8033)
    2. Enter information to log onto the server: select "Use a specific username and password" and use CData Connect credentials
    3. Select the database: use the database configured above (e.g. DynamicsNAV1)
  3. Click "Test Connection" to ensure the connection is configured properly
  4. Click "OK"

After building the connection string in the Data Link Properties wizard, save the action.

Add an Execute SQL Statement Action

Add an "Execute SQL statement" action (Actions -> Database) and configure the properties.

  • Get connection by: SQL connection variable
  • SQL connection: %SQLConnection% (the variable from the "Open SQL connection" action above)
  • SQL statement: SELECT * FROM Customer

After configuring the properties, save the action.

Add a Write to CSV File Action

Add a "Write to CSV file" action (Actions -> File) and configure the properties.

  • Variable to write to: %QueryResult% (the variable from the "Execute SQL statement" action above)
  • File path: set to a file on disk
  • Configure Advanced settings as needed.

After configuring the properties, save the action.

Add a Close SQL Connection Action

Add a "Close SQL connection" action (Actions -> Database) and configure the properties.

  • SQL Connection: %SQLConnection% (the variable from the "Open SQL connection" action above)

After configuring the properties, save the action.

Save & Run the Flow

Once you have configured all the actions for the flow, click the disk icon to save the flow. Click the play icon to run the flow.

Now you have a workflow to move Dynamics NAV data into a CSV file.

With CData Connect, you get live connectivity to Dynamics NAV data within your Microsoft Power Automate workflows.

Related Power Automate Articles

This article walks through using CData Connect Server with Power Automate Desktop. Check out our other articles for more ways to work with Power Automate (Desktop & Online):

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