Using the CData ODBC Driver for Dynamics 365 in PyCharm



Connect to Dynamics 365 as an ODBC data source in PyCharm using the CData ODBC Driver for Dynamics 365.

The CData ODBC Drivers can be used in any environment that supports loading an ODBC Driver. In this tutorial we will explore using the CData ODBC Driver for Dynamics 365 from within PyCharm. Included are steps for adding the CData ODBC Driver as a data source, as well as basic PyCharm code to query the data source and display results.

To begin, this tutorial will assume that you have already installed the CData ODBC Driver for Dynamics 365 as well as PyCharm.

About Dynamics 365 Data Integration

CData simplifies access and integration of live Microsoft Dynamics 365 data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:

  • Read and write data in the full Dynamics 365 ecosystem: Sales, Customer Service, Finance & Operations, Marketing, and more.
  • Extend the native features of Dynamics CRM with customizable caching and intelligent query aggregation and separation.
  • Authenticate securely with Dynamics 365 in a variety of ways, including Azure Active Directory, Azure Managed Service Identity credentials, and Azure Service Principal using either a client secret or a certificate.
  • Use SQL stored procedures to manage their Dynamics 365 entities - listing, creating, and removing associations between entities.

CData customers use our Dynamics 365 connectivity solutions for a variety of reasons, whether they're looking to replicate their data into a data warehouse (alongside other data sources)or analyze live Dynamics 365 data from their preferred data tools inside the Microsoft ecosystem (Power BI, Excel, etc.) or with external tools (Tableau, Looker, etc.).


Getting Started


Add Pyodbc to the Project

Follow the steps below to add the pyodbc module to your project.

  1. Click File -> Settings to open the project settings window.
  2. Click Project Interpreter from the Project: YourProjectName menu.
  3. To add pyodbc, click the + button and enter pyodbc.
  4. Click Install Package to install pyodbc.

Connect to Dynamics 365

You can now connect with an ODBC connection string or a DSN. See the Getting Started section in the CData driver documentation for a guide to creating a DSN on your OS.

Edition and OrganizationUrl are required connection properties. The Dynamics 365 connector supports connecting to the following editions: CustomerService, FieldService, FinOpsOnline, FinOpsOnPremise, HumanResources, Marketing, ProjectOperations and Sales.

For Dynamics 365 Business Central, use the separate Dynamics 365 Business Central driver.

OrganizationUrl is the URL to your Dynamics 365 organization. For instance, https://orgcb42e1d0.crm.dynamics.com

Below is the syntax for a DSN:

[CData Dynamics365 Source] Driver = CData ODBC Driver for Dynamics 365 Description = My Description OrganizationUrl = https://myaccount.operations.dynamics.com/ Edition = Sales

Execute SQL to Dynamics 365

Instantiate a Cursor and use the execute method of the Cursor class to execute any SQL statement.

import pyodbc cnxn = pyodbc.connect('DRIVER={CData ODBC Driver for Dynamics365};OrganizationUrl = https://myaccount.operations.dynamics.com/;Edition = Sales;') cursor = cnxn.cursor() cursor.execute("SELECT GoalHeadingId, Name FROM GoalHeadings WHERE Name = 'MyAccount'") rows = cursor.fetchall() for row in rows: print(row.GoalHeadingId, row.Name)

After connecting to Dynamics 365 in PyCharm using the CData ODBC Driver, you will be able to build Python apps with access to Dynamics 365 data as if it were a standard database. If you have any questions, comments, or feedback regarding this tutorial, please contact us at support@cdata.com.

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the Dynamics 365 ODBC Driver to get started:

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Learn more:

Dynamics 365 Icon Dynamics 365 ODBC Driver

The Dynamics 365 ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live data from Dynamics 365, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access Dynamics 365 data like you would a database - read, write, and update Dynamics 365 Leads, Contacts, Opportunities, Accounts, etc. through a standard ODBC Driver interface.