How to Access Live Power BI XMLA Data in Power Automate Desktop via ODBC

The CData ODBC Driver for Power BI XMLA enables you to access live Power BI XMLA data in workflow automation tools like Power Automate. This article shows how to integrate Power BI XMLA data into a simple workflow, moving Power BI XMLA data into a CSV file.

Through optimized data processing, CData ODBC Drivers offer unmatched performance for interacting with live Power BI XMLA data in Microsoft Power Automate. When you issue complex SQL queries from Power Automate to Power BI XMLA, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Power BI XMLA and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (e.g. SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connect to Power BI XMLA as an ODBC Data Source

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

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.

When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing workflows.

Integrate Power BI XMLA Data into Power Automate Workflows

After configuring the DSN for Power BI XMLA, you are ready to integrate Power BI XMLA 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 Power BI XMLA, query Power BI XMLA 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 configure the properties.

• Connection string: DSN=CData Power BI XMLA Source

After configuring the action, click Save.

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 action, click Save.

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 action, click Save.

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 action, click Save.

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 Power BI XMLA data into a CSV file.

With the CData ODBC Driver for Power BI XMLA, you get live connectivity to Power BI XMLA data within your Microsoft Power Automate workflows.

Related Power Automate Articles

This article walks through using the CData ODBC Driver for Power BI XMLA with Power Automate Desktop. Check out our other articles for more ways to work with Power Automate (Desktop & Online):

• Power BI XMLA Data in Power Automate Desktop using CData Connect Cloud
• Power BI XMLA Data in Power Automate (Online) using CData Connect Cloud