Query Dynamics NAV Data through ODBC in Node.js

Node.js is a JavaScript runtime environment that allows you to run JavaScript code outside of a browser. With the CData ODBC Driver for Dynamics NAV, you can access live Dynamics NAV data from Node.js apps and scripts. In this article, we walk through installing node-odbc and the required tools to create a simple Node.js app with access to live Dynamics NAV data.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Dynamics NAV data in Node.js. When you issue complex SQL queries from Node.js to Dynamics NAV, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Dynamics NAV and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connecting to Dynamics NAV Data

If you have not already done so, provide values for the required connection properties in the data source name (DSN). You can use the built-in Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to configure the DSN. This is also the last step of the driver installation. See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for a guide to using the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure a DSN.

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.

Building node-odbc

In order to connect to Dynamics NAV through the CData ODBC Driver, you need to build node-odbc manually (after installing the required tools).

Installing the Required Tools

The following commands install the tools required to build node-odbc (note the -g parameter, which installs the tools globally).

npm i -g windows-build-tools
npm i -g node-gyp

Building node-odbc

After installing the required tools, create a directory for the Node.js app and install odbc (which builds the binary for us to use in our Node.js script).

mkdir nodeodbc
cd nodeodbc
npm i -g node

Querying Dynamics NAV from Node.js

With the ODBC Driver installed, a DSN Configured, and node-odbc built, we are ready to query live Dynamics NAV data from a Node.js app. The sample code below connects to a specific DSN and queries the Customer table.

myscript.js

const odbc = require('odbc');

async function queryDynamicsNAV() {
    const connection = await odbc.connect(`DSN=CData DynamicsNAV Source`);
    const data = await connection.query('SELECT Name, Prices_Including_VAT FROM Customer');
    console.log(data);
}

queryDynamicsNAV();

Once you write the app, use node to execute the script:

node myscript.js

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData ODBC Driver for Dynamics NAV and start working with your live Dynamics NAV data in Node.js. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.