Query Power BI XMLA Data as a SQL Server Database in Node.js

You can use CData Connect Cloud to query Power BI XMLA data through a SQL Server interface. Follow the procedure below to create a virtual database for Power BI XMLA in Connect Cloud and start querying using Node.js.

CData Connect Cloud provides a pure MySQL, cloud-to-cloud interface for Power BI XMLA, allowing you to easily query live Power BI XMLA data in Node.js — without replicating the data to a natively supported database. As you query data in Node.js, CData Connect Cloud pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Power BI XMLA, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Power BI XMLA data.

Configure Power BI XMLA Connectivity for NodeJS

Connectivity to Power BI XMLA from NodeJS is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with Power BI XMLA data from NodeJS, we start by creating and configuring a Power BI XMLA connection.

1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
2. Select "Power BI XMLA" from the Add Connection panel
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Power BI XMLA.

   By default, use Azure AD to connect to Microsoft Power BI XMLA. Azure AD is Microsoft’s multi-tenant, cloud-based directory and identity management service. It is user-based authentication that requires that you set AuthScheme to AzureAD.

   For more information on other authentication schemes, refer to the Help documentation.

4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Power BI XMLA Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

If you are connecting from a service, application, platform, or framework that does not support OAuth authentication, you can create a Personal Access Token (PAT) to use for authentication. Best practices would dictate that you create a separate PAT for each service, to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
2. On the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give your 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, you are ready to connect to Power BI XMLA data from Node.js.

Query Power BI XMLA from Node.js

The following example shows how to define a connection and execute queries to Power BI XMLA with the SQL Server module. You will need the following information:

• server: tds.cdata.com
• port: 14333
• user: a Connect Cloud user (e.g. user@mydomain.com)
• password: the PAT for the above user
• database: The connection you configured for Power BI XMLA (PowerBIXMLA1)

Connect to Power BI XMLA data and start executing queries with the code below:

var sql = require('mssql')
var config = {
	server: 'tds.cdata.com',
	port: 14333, 
	user: 'user@mydomain.com', //update me
	password: 'CONNECT_USER_PAT', //update me	
	options: {
		encrypt: true,
		database: 'PowerBIXMLA1'
	}
}

sql.connect(config, err => { 
    if(err){
        throw err ;
    }
    new sql.Request().query('SELECT * FROM Customer', (err, result) => {
        console.dir(result)
    })
        
});

sql.on('error', err => {
    console.log("SQL Error: " ,err);
})