Power BI Connector for C# Connect to your Power BI account and retrieve data, refresh datasets, etc. In this article you will learn how to quickly and efficiently integrate Power BI data in C#. We will use high-performance Power BI Connector to easily connect to Power BI and then access the data inside C#. Let's follow the steps below to see how we can accomplish that! Download Documentation Power BI Connector for C# is based on ZappySys API Driver which is part of ODBC PowerPack. It is a collection of high-performance ODBC drivers that enable you to integrate data in SQL Server, SSIS, a programming language, or any other ODBC-compatible application. ODBC PowerPack supports various file formats, sources and destinations, including REST/SOAP API, SFTP/FTP, storage services, and plain files, to mention a few.

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Create ODBC Data Source (DSN) based on ZappySys API Driver

Step-by-step instructions

To get data from Power BI using C# we first need to create a DSN (Data Source) which will access data from Power BI. We will later be able to read data using C#. Perform these steps:

1. Download and install ODBC PowerPack.

2. Open ODBC Data Sources (x64):

   

3. Create a User data source (User DSN) based on ZappySys API Driver

   ZappySys API Driver

   
   • Create and use User DSN if the client application is run under a User Account. This is an ideal option in design-time, when developing a solution, e.g. in Visual Studio 2019. Use it for both type of applications - 64-bit and 32-bit.
   • Create and use System DSN if the client application is launched under a System Account, e.g. as a Windows Service. Usually, this is an ideal option to use in a production environment. Use ODBC Data Source Administrator (32-bit), instead of 64-bit version, if Windows Service is a 32-bit application.

4. When the Configuration window appears give your data source a name if you haven't done that already, then select "Power BI" from the list of Popular Connectors. If "Power BI" is not present in the list, then click "Search Online" and download it. Then set the path to the location where you downloaded it. Finally, click Continue >> to proceed with configuring the DSN:

   PowerBiDSN

   Power BI

   

5. Now it's time to configure the Connection Manager. Select Authentication Type, e.g. Token Authentication. Then select API Base URL (in most cases, the default one is the right one). More info is available in the Authentication section.

    User Credentials [OAuth]

   Use delegated access (User Credentials) whenever you want to let a signed-in user work with their own resources or resources they can access. Whether it's an admin setting up policies for their entire organization or a user deleting an email in their inbox, all scenarios involving user actions should use delegated access. [API reference]

   Steps how to get and use Power BI credentials : User Credentials [OAuth]
   

   Follow these simple steps below to create Microsoft Entra ID application with delegated access:

   WARNING: If you are planning to automate processes, we recommend that you use a Application Credentials authentication method. In case, you still need to use User Credentials, then make sure you use a system/generic account (e.g. automation@my-company.com). When you use a personal account which is tied to a specific employee profile and that employee leaves the company, the token may become invalid and any automated processes using that token will start to fail.

   1. Navigate to the Azure Portal and log in using your credentials.
   2. Access Microsoft Entra ID.

   3. Register a new application by going to App registrations and clicking on New registration button:

      
      INFO: Find more information on how to register an application in Graph API reference.

   4. When configuration window opens, configure these fields:

      • Supported account type
        • Use Accounts in this organizational directory only, if you need access to data in your organization only.
      • Redirect URI:
        • Set the type to Public client/native (mobile & desktop).
        • Use https://zappysys.com/oauth as the URL.
      

   5. After registering the app, copy the Application (client) ID for later:

      

   6. Copy OAuth authorization endpoint (v2) & OAuth token endpoint (v2) URLs to use later in the configuration:

      

   7. Now go to SSIS package or ODBC data source and use the copied values in User Credentials authentication configuration:

      • In the Authorization URL field paste the OAuth authorization endpoint (v2) URL value you copied in the previous step.
      • In the Token URL field paste the OAuth token endpoint (v2) URL value you copied in the previous step.
      • In the Client ID field paste the Application (client) ID value you copied in the previous step.
      • In the Scope field use the default value or select individual scopes, e.g.:
        • offline_access
        • https://analysis.windows.net/powerbi/api/Workspace.Read.All
        • https://analysis.windows.net/powerbi/api/Dataset.Read.All
        • https://analysis.windows.net/powerbi/api/Dataset.ReadWrite.All
   8. Press Generate Token button to generate Access and Refresh Tokens.
   9. Click Test Connection to confirm the connection is working.
   10. Optional step. Choose Default Workspace from the drop down menu.
   11. Choose Default Dataset from the drop down menu.
   12. Done! Now you are ready to use the API Connector!

   Fill in all required parameters and set optional parameters if needed:

   PowerBiDSN

   Power BI

   User Credentials [OAuth]

   https://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg

   Required Parameters
   Authorization URL	Fill-in the parameter...
   Token URL	Fill-in the parameter...
   Client ID	Fill-in the parameter...
   Scope	Fill-in the parameter...
   Default Dataset (select after generating tokens)	Fill-in the parameter...
   Optional Parameters
   Client Secret
   Redirect URI (must match App Redirect URI)
   Default Workspace (Keep Empty for My Workspace - select after generating tokens)
   RetryMode	RetryWhenStatusCodeMatch
   RetryStatusCodeList	429|503
   RetryCountMax	20
   RetryWaitTimeMs	1000
   RetryMultiplyWaitTime	True
   Login options

   

6. Once the data source connection has been configured, it's time to configure the SQL query. Select the Preview tab and then click Query Builder button to configure the SQL query:

   

   ZappySys API Driver - Power BI

   Connect to your Power BI account and retrieve data, refresh datasets, etc.

   PowerBiDSN

   

7. Start by selecting the Table or Endpoint you are interested in and then configure the parameters. This will generate a query that we will use in C# to retrieve data from Power BI. Hit OK button to use this query in the next step.

   SELECT * 
   FROM Workspaces
   WHERE Id='aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-dddd-eeeeeeeeeeee'

   
   Some parameters configured in this window will be passed to the Power BI API, e.g. filtering parameters. It means that filtering will be done on the server side (instead of the client side), enabling you to get only the meaningful data much faster.

8. Now hit Preview Data button to preview the data using the generated SQL query. If you are satisfied with the result, use this query in C#:

   

   ZappySys API Driver - Power BI

   Connect to your Power BI account and retrieve data, refresh datasets, etc.

   PowerBiDSN

   SELECT * 
   FROM Workspaces
   WHERE Id='aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-dddd-eeeeeeeeeeee'

   
   You can also access data quickly from the tables dropdown by selecting <Select table>.
   A WHERE clause, LIMIT keyword will be performed on the client side, meaning that the whole result set will be retrieved from the Power BI API first, and only then the filtering will be applied to the data. If possible, it is recommended to use parameters in Query Builder to filter the data on the server side (in Power BI servers).

9. Click OK to finish creating the data source.

Video Tutorial

Read data in C#

Using ODBC DSN

1. Create a new Console project and use this code to read the data:
   

   "PowerBiDSN";

   

2. Press F5 to run the code and read the data:
   

3. Here is the code in text format:

   using System;
   using System.Data.Odbc;
   
   namespace ConsoleApp {
       class Program {
           static void Main() {
               var dsn = "PowerBiDSN";
               using (var conn = new OdbcConnection(String.Format("DSN={0}", dsn)))
               {
                   conn.Open();
                   var cmd = new OdbcCommand("SELECT * FROM Products", conn);
                   
                   //Increase the timeout duration from the default 30 seconds, which may be insufficient in certain scenarios
                   cmd.CommandTimeout=600; // 600-Seconds
                   
                   var rdr = cmd.ExecuteReader();
                   while (rdr.Read())
                   {
                       for (int i = 0; i < rdr.FieldCount; i++)
                       {
                               Console.Write("{0}\t", rdr[i]);
                       }
                       Console.WriteLine();
                   }
               }
               Console.ReadKey();
           }
       }
   }
   

Using a full ODBC connection string

If you want to avoid being dependent on a DSN and creating multiple DSNs for each platform (x86, x64), then you can use a fully qualified connection string. Simply go to your DSN and copy the Connection String:

1. Open ODBC data source configuration and click Copy settings:
   

   ZappySys API Driver - Configuration [Version: 2.0.1.10418]

   ZappySys API Driver - Power BI

   Connect to your Power BI account and retrieve data, refresh datasets, etc.

   PowerBiDSN

   
2. The window opens, telling us the connection string was successfully copied to the clipboard:

3. Then in your C# code, pass the connection string as an argument when calling the OdbcConnection object's constructor, for example:

   var connectionString = @"DRIVER={ZappySys API Driver};ServiceUrl=https://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg;Provider=Custom;OAuthVersion=OAuth2;GrantType=Default;Scope=[$Scope$];ScopeSeparator={space};";
   
   using (var conn = new OdbcConnection(connectionString))
   {
       // your code goes here
   }

Limitations of using a full connection string

Despite using a full ODBC connection string may be very convenient it comes with a limitation: it's length is limited to 1024 symbols (or sometimes more). It usually happens when API provider generates a very long Refresh Token when OAuth is at play. If you are using such a long ODBC connection string, you may get this error:

"Connection string exceeds maximum allowed length of 1024"

But there is a solution to this by storing the full connection string in a file. Follow the steps below to achieve this:

1. Open your ODBC data source.
2. Click Copy settings button to copy a full connection string (see the previous section on how to accomplish that).
3. Then create a new file, let's say, in C:\temp\odbc-connection-string.txt.
4. Continue by pasting the copied connection string into a newly created file and save it.
5. Finally, the last step! Just construct a shorter ODBC connection string using this format:

   DRIVER={ZappySys API Driver};SettingsFile=C:\temp\odbc-connection-string.txt

6. Our troubles are over! Now you should be able to use this connection string in C# with no problems.

Actions supported by Power BI Connector

Learn how to perform common Power BI actions directly in C# with these how-to guides:

• Create a Push Dataset
• Delete a Dataset
• Execute a DAX query
• Get a Dataset
• Get a Workspace
• Get Datasets
• Get Table Columns
• Get Table Rows
• Get Tables
• Get Workspaces
• Insert Rows into Push Dataset Table
• Refresh a Dataset
• Truncate a Push Dataset Table
• Generic Request
• Generic Request (Bulk Write)

Conclusion

In this article we showed you how to connect to Power BI in C# and integrate data without any coding, saving you time and effort. It's worth noting that ZappySys API Driver allows you to connect not only to Power BI, but to any Java application that supports JDBC (just use a different JDBC driver and configure it appropriately).

We encourage you to download Power BI Connector for C# and see how easy it is to use it for yourself or your team.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact ZappySys support team. You can also open a live chat immediately by clicking on the chat icon below.

Download Power BI Connector for C# Documentation

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