Dynamics 365 Business Central API Connector

This connector simplifies http connection from Python to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central API providing 4 methods for records: insert, read, modify, delete (CRUD) and exe method for actions execution

General information about developing app for Dynamics 365 Business Central API can be read here.

Connection endpoint rules are described here.

Filters rules for API endpoint are described here

• Existing API pages can be get: http://{server}:{port}/{tenant}/api/v1.0/;
• metadata can be get: http://{server}:{port}/{tenant}/api/v1.0/$metadata;
• sample metadata.xml files for beta and for v1.0 are included in project

Connector uses python requests module

Connector Flow

1. Create connector object = connect(url,url, auth, headers) where:
   • url is connection endpoint (mandatory, but can be modified later)
   • auth is authorization information (optional but can't be modified later). for example for basic use tuple (user, psw)
   • headers is http header used in http calls. For example {"Accept-Language": "en-us"}
2. Read data from database by execute object.read(filter).
   • filter is text according API rules. Filter can be set by execute object.filter_text = new_filter. Filter can be not used if record Id is used, for example url to specific sales order is http://../salesOrders(0736183a-f8c8-ea11-9954-ff17e652b3c3)
   • URL can be modified before read by execute object.url = new_url. In some cases must be specific url used. For example read sales order lines need to be document_id included in url like: http://../salesOrders(0736183a-f8c8-ea11-9954-ff17e652b3c3)/salesOrderLines
   • response is list of dictionaries of records [{"field1":"value1", "field2":"value2",..},{"field1":"value1", "field2":"value2",..},...].
   • if response is blank then maybe filter has no records but check object.except_error value
     • it could be connection error message (for example: wrong url, time out etc.)
     • it could be tuple of errors (for example: error from API execution)
3. Insert (create) new record in database by execute object.insert(json)
   • json must to include all fields required for primary key creation. However if API page creates record by using for example Number Series without allow manual insert (Sales orders header) or autoincrement field then primary key fields values are not required for these fields.
   • URL can be modified before call by execute object.url = new_url. In some cases url must be specific for this operation. For example: if required to create Sales Order Line when sales order already created then url must to include document_id like http://../salesOrders(0736183a-f8c8-ea11-9954-ff17e652b3c3)/salesOrderLines
   • response is API response to action. If record created then response is list [201, Created]. if response is blank then check object.except_error value
4. Modify (update) new record in database by execute object.modify(json)
   • json must to include all fields need to be modified.
   • URL can be modified before call by execute object.url = new_url. In some cases url must be specific for this operation. For example: if need to modify sales order line (subpage of sales order header) then url must to include document_id and line number like http://../salesOrderLines(0736183a-f8c8-ea11-9954-ff17e652b3c3,30000) for beta and line Id for v1.0
   • response is API response to action. If record created then response is list [200, OK]. if response is blank then check object.except_error value
5. Delete existing record by execute object.delete()
   • url must to include document_id for "normal record" like customer, item etc. like http://../salesOrders(document_id) if record has relation to upper table like sales line then (for beta only) url must to include document_id and line_no like: http://../salesOrderLines(0736183a-f8c8-ea11-9954-ff17e652b3c3,20000)
   • response is API response to action. If record deleted then response is list [204, No Content]. if response is blank then check object.except_error value
6. Exe action by execute object.exe()
   • url must to include action name for example http://.../api/v1.0/salesOrders(36183a-f8c8-ea11-9954-ff17e652b3c3)/Microsoft.NAV.shipAndInvoice. If action is bounded then url must to include bound parameter like documentId. For unbounded actions most probably parameters need to be provided in json.
   • json body can be blank (None) if bound parameters are not required.
   • response is API response to action. If action executed then response is list [204, No Content]. if response is blank then check object.except_error value

API structure can be analysed by execute $metadata url like http://{server}:{port}/{tenant}/api/v1.0/$metadata