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Viewing Dynamics 365 Data in RAD Studio Data Explorer
How to view Dynamics 365 data in RAD Studio Data Explorer using the CData ODBC Driver for Dynamics 365.
Embarcadero RAD Studio provides a development environment for Delphi and C++Builder applications. With the CData ODBC Driver for Dynamics 365, you gain access to live Dynamics 365 data within RAD Studio, abstracting the data into tables, views, and stored procedures that can be used to both retrieve and update Dynamics 365 data. This article will walk through connecting to Dynamics 365 using the Data Explorer.
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
Configure a Connection to Dynamics 365
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.
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
Connecting to Dynamics 365 Data Using Data Explorer
You can create a simple application for displaying Dynamics 365 data by utilizing the CData FireDAC Components for Dynamics 365 and a new VCL Forms Application:
- Open the Data Explorer in RAD Studio and expand FireDAC.
- Right-click the ODBC Data Source node in the Data Explorer.
- Click Add New Connection.
![]( "Adding a New Connection. (Salesforce is shown.)")
- Enter a name for the connection.
- In the FireDAC Connection Editor that appears, set the DataSource property to the name of the ODBC DSN for Dynamics 365.
![]( "Setting the Connection Parameters. (Salesforce is shown.)")
- Back in the Data Explorer, expand the tables for the connection.
Create a new VCL Forms application and drag a table (for example: GoalHeadings) onto the form.
![]( "Placing the Table on the Form. (Salesforce is shown.)")
- Select the GoalHeadingsTable object on the form and set the Active property to true.
Right-click on the object, bind visually, and link everything (*) to a new control (TStringGrid).
![]( "Visually Binding the Table. (Salesforce is shown.)")
Arrange the TStringGrid on the form and run the application to see the GoalHeadings data.
![]( "The Table data on a Form. (Salesforce is shown.)")
Related Articles
Below you can find other articles for using the CData ODBC Driver with RAD Studio, Delphi, and C++ Builder.
Ready to get started?
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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.
