How to integrate XML File using Microsoft Fabric

Name: ODBC PowerPack
Rating: 4.9 (8 reviews)
Author: ZappySys

Learn how to quickly and efficiently connect XML File with Microsoft Fabric for smooth data access.

Read and write XML files effortlessly. Extract, filter, and sync XML from local files and strings for analytics, reporting, and data pipelines — almost no coding required. You can do it all using the high-performance XML File ODBC Driver. We'll walk you through the entire setup.

Ready to dive in? Download the product to jump right in, or follow the step-by-step guide below to see how it works.

XML File ODBC Driver Powering this integration

Low-code / No-code
High performance
Bidirectional
Easy to use

Built on the ZappySys XML Driver, the XML File ODBC Driver is a high-performance, low-code / no-code solution. It enables you to connect to XML File data without any coding right in your SQL Server, or any ODBC/JDBC application. Part of the ODBC PowerPack.

Documentation

Create data source using XML File ODBC Driver

Video instructions

Watch this quick walkthrough to see how to configure your XML File ODBC data source, or scroll down for the step-by-step written guide.

While this video uses the JSON Driver as an example, the core concepts and setup process are exactly the same for the XML Driver.

Watch this video on YouTube

Step-by-step instructions

To get data from XML File using Microsoft Fabric, we first need to create an ODBC data source. We will later read this data in Microsoft Fabric. Perform these steps:

Download and install ODBC PowerPack (if you haven't already).
Search for odbc and open the ODBC Data Sources (64-bit):
Create a User data source (User DSN) based on the ZappySys XML Driver driver:

ZappySys XML Driver
- Create and use a User DSN if the client application runs under a User Account. This is the ideal option at design time (e.g., when developing in Visual Studio). Use it for both types of applications (64-bit and 32-bit).
- Create and use a System DSN if the client application runs under a System Account (e.g., as a Windows Service). This is usually the required option in a production environment. If your Windows Service is a 32-bit application, you must use the 32-bit ODBC Data Source Administrator to configure this

You can use pass single file or multiple file path using wildcard pattern in path and you can use select single file by clicking [...] path button or multiple file using wildcard pattern in path.

Note: If you want to operation with multiple files then use wild card pattern as below 
(when you use wild card pattern in source path then system will treat target path as folder regardless you end with slash)

C:\SSIS\Test\reponse.xml (will read only single reponse.xml file)
C:\SSIS\Test\j*.xml (all files starting with file name j)
C:\SSIS\Test\*.xml (all files with .xml Extension and located under folder subfolder)

Now enter Path expression in Array Filter textbox to extract only specific part of XML file as below ($.feed.entry[*] will get content of entry attribute from XML document. Entry attribute is array of XML documents so we have to use [*] to indicate we want all records of that array)

NOTE: Here, We are using our desired filter, but you need to select your desired filter based on your requirement.

Click on Test Connection button to view whether the Test Connection is SUCCESSFUL or Not.

$.feed.entry[*]
Once you configured a data source, you can preview data. Hit Preview tab, and use similar settings to preview data:
Click OK to finish creating the data source.
That's it; we are done. In a few clicks we configured the call to XML File using ZappySys XML File Connector.

Install Microsoft On-premises data gateway (Standard mode)

To access and read XML File data in Microsoft Fabric, you must download and install the Microsoft On-premises data gateway (Standard mode). It acts as a secure bridge between Microsoft Fabric cloud services and your local XML File ODBC data source:

On-premises data gateway securely bridging ODBC data source and Microsoft Fabric

There are two types of On-premises data gateways:

Standard mode

Supports Power BI and other Microsoft Cloud services
Installs as a Windows service
Starts automatically
Supports centralized user access control
Supports the Direct Query feature
Ideal for enterprise solutions

Personal mode

Supports Power BI services only
Cannot run as a Windows service
Stops when you sign out of Windows
Does not support access control
Does not support the Direct Query feature
Best for individual use and POC solutions

You can download the On-premises data gateway directly from the Microsoft Fabric or Power BI portals:

Download Power BI On-premises data gateway

You must use the Standard mode of the gateway. Personal mode is not supported by Microsoft Fabric.

Link ODBC data source via the gateway

Follow these steps to download, install, and configure the gateway in Standard mode:

Download On-premises data gateway (standard mode) and run the installer.
Once the configuration window opens, sign in:

Sign in with the same email address you use for Microsoft Fabric.
Select Register a new gateway on this computer (or migrate an existing one):
Name your gateway, enter a Recovery key, and click the Configure button:

Save your Recovery Key in a safe place (like a password manager). If you lose it, you cannot restore or migrate this gateway later.
Once Microsoft gateway is installed, check if it registered correctly:
- Go back to Microsoft Fabric portal
- Click Gear icon on top-right
- And then hit Manage connections and gateways menu item
Continue by clicking the On-premises data gateway tab and selecting Standard mode gateways from the dropdown menu:
If your gateway is not listed, the registration may have failed. To resolve this:
- Wait a couple of minutes and refresh Microsoft Fabric portal page
- Restart the machine where On-premises data gateway is installed
- Check firewall settings
Success! The gateway is now Online and ready to handle requests.
Done!

Make sure to download and install Standard mode. The Personal mode gateway is not supported by Microsoft Fabric cloud services and will not work.

You are now ready to load data into Microsoft Fabric.

Load XML File data into Microsoft Fabric

Now that we have configured the ODBC data source and installed the On-premises data gateway, we can proceed with loading data. You can accomplish this in two ways:

Copy job
Best for simple, high-speed data copying without modification.
Dataflow Gen2
Best if you need to transform, clean, or reshape data before loading.

Let's dive into the steps for both methods.

Use Copy job for high-speed loading

Go to the Microsoft Fabric Portal.
Select an existing Workspace or create a new one by clicking New workspace (ensure you are in the Home section):
Inside your workspace, click the New item button in the toolbar to start creating your data pipeline:
In the item selection window, choose Copy job to open the data ingestion wizard:
In the Choose data source screen, search for odbc and select the Odbc source:
Then enter your ODBC connection string (DSN=XmlFileDSN) and select MyGateway from the Data gateway dropdown we configured in the previous step:

DSN=XmlFileDSN

DSN=XmlFileDSN
Select the table(s) and preview the data you wish to copy from XML File. Once done, click Next:

DSN=XmlFileDSN
Choose your Data Destination. You can create a New Fabric item (like a Lakehouse or Warehouse) or select an existing one:

In this example, we will use a Lakehouse as the destination.
Choose Full copy to load all data, or Incremental copy to load only changed data in subsequent runs:
Review the Column and Table mappings section:
On the summary screen, review your settings. You can optionally enable Run on schedule. Click Save + Run to execute the job:

DSN=XmlFileDSN

DSN=XmlFileDSN
The job will enter the queue. Monitor the Status column to see the progress:

DSN=XmlFileDSN
Wait for the status to change to Succeeded. Your XML File data is now successfully integrated into Microsoft Fabric!
Let's go to our Lakehouse (MyLakehouse) and verify the data:
Success! The data has been loaded.

Use Dataflow for advanced transformation

Another way to load data is by creating a Dataflow Gen2. This approach allows you to perform complex data transformations (ETL) before loading the data into its destination.

Configure Dataflow activity

Go to the Microsoft Fabric Portal.
Inside your workspace, click New item and select Dataflow Gen2:
In the Power Query editor, click Get data from another source:
Search for ODBC in the search bar and select the ODBC connector:
Then in the next step follow these instructions:
- Enter your ODBC connection string (e.g., DSN=XmlFileDSN)
- Expand Advanced options
- Enter your SQL statement
- Select your On-premises data gateway
- Finally, click Next:
DSN=XmlFileDSN

DSN=XmlFileDSN

SELECT * FROM Orders
You will see a preview of your XML File data. You can now transform the data if needed (filter rows, rename columns, change types, etc.):

Odbc.Query("DSN=XmlFileDSN", "SELECT * FROM Orders")
Now, let's send this data to the Lakehouse. Click the + button (Add data destination) at the bottom right and select Lakehouse:

Odbc.Query("DSN=XmlFileDSN", "SELECT * FROM Orders")
Configure the destination connection settings and click Next:
Select your specific Lakehouse, enter the Table name you want to create, and click Next:
Uncheck Use automatic settings to set data update or schema options manually. Map the columns with proper data types and click Save settings when done:
The destination is now set. Click the Publish button to save the Dataflow:

Odbc.Query("DSN=XmlFileDSN", "SELECT * FROM Orders")
Done! You can now start building reports using your new semantic model.

Configure and run Pipeline

Once you have created and published your Dataflow, you can use a Pipeline to orchestrate and run it.

Go to the Microsoft Fabric Portal.
Inside your workspace, click New item and select Data Pipeline to create a new pipeline.
In the pipeline editor, select the Dataflow activity from the toolbar to add it to your canvas:
Select the Dataflow activity on the canvas and click the Settings tab. Choose your Workspace and the Dataflow you created in the previous steps:
You are now ready to link the Dataflow with other Pipeline activities.
Once the Pipeline flow is configured, click the Run button at the top, then click Save and run to execute the pipeline:
Monitor the Output tab below. The Pipeline status will initially show as In progress:
Wait for the process to complete. The status will update to Succeeded, indicating your data has been successfully loaded via the Dataflow:
Done! You can now start building reports on your new semantic model.

Optional: Centralized data access via ZappySys Data Gateway

In some situations, you may need to provide XML File data access to multiple users or services. Configuring the data source on a Data Gateway creates a single, centralized connection point for this purpose.

This configuration provides two primary advantages:

Centralized data access
The data source is configured once on the gateway, eliminating the need to set it up individually on each user's machine or application. This significantly simplifies the management process.
Centralized access control
Since all connections route through the gateway, access can be governed or revoked from a single location for all users.

	Data Gateway	Local ODBC data source
Simple configuration
Installation	Single machine	Per machine
Connectivity	Local and remote	Local only
Connections limit	Limited by License	Unlimited
Central data access
Central access control
More flexible cost

To achieve this, you must first create a data source in the Data Gateway (server-side) and then create an ODBC data source in Microsoft Fabric (client-side) to connect to it.

Let's not wait and get going!

Create XML File data source in the gateway

In this section we will create a data source for XML File in the Data Gateway. Let's follow these steps to accomplish that:

Search for gateway in the Windows Start Menu and open ZappySys Data Gateway Configuration:
Go to the Users tab and follow these steps to add a Data Gateway user:
- Click the Add button
- In the Login field enter a username, e.g., john
- Then enter a Password
- Check the Is Administrator checkbox
- Click OK to save
Now we are ready to add a data source:
- Click the Add button
- Give the Data source a name (have it handy for later)
- Then select Native - ZappySys XML Driver
- Finally, click OK
XmlFileDSN

ZappySys XML Driver
When the ZappySys XML Driver configuration window opens, go back to ODBC Data Source Administrator where you already have the XML File ODBC data source created and configured, and follow these steps on how to Import data source configuration into the Gateway:
- Open ODBC data source configuration and click Copy settings:
  
  ZappySys XML Driver - Configuration [Version: 2.0.1.10418]
  
  ZappySys XML Driver - XML File
  
  Read and write XML files effortlessly. Extract, filter, and sync XML from local files and strings for analytics, reporting, and data pipelines — almost no coding required.
  
  XmlFileDSN
- The window opens, telling us the connection string was successfully copied to the clipboard:
- Then go to Data Gateway configuration and in data source configuration window click Load settings:
  
  XmlFileDSN
  
  ZappySys XML Driver - Configuration [Version: 2.0.1.10418]
  
  ZappySys XML Driver - XML File
  
  Read and write XML files effortlessly. Extract, filter, and sync XML from local files and strings for analytics, reporting, and data pipelines — almost no coding required.
  
  XmlFileDSN
- Once a window opens, just paste the settings by pressing CTRL+V or by clicking right mouse button and then Paste option.
Once done, go to the Network Settings tab and Add a firewall rule for inbound traffic:
- This will initially allow all inbound traffic.
- Click Edit IP filters to restrict access to specific IP addresses or ranges.
Crucial Step: After creating or modifying the data source, you must:
- Click the Save button to persist your changes.
- Hit Yes when prompted to restart the Data Gateway service.
This ensures all changes are properly applied:

Skipping this step may cause the new settings to fail, preventing you from connecting to the data source.

Create ODBC data source to connect to the gateway

In this part we will create an ODBC data source to connect to the ZappySys Data Gateway from Microsoft Fabric. To achieve that, let's perform these steps:

Search for odbc and open the ODBC Data Sources (64-bit):
Create a User data source (User DSN) based on the ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server driver:

ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server

If you don't see the ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server driver in the list, choose a similar version.
Then set a Name for the data source (e.g. Gateway) and the address of the Data Gateway:

ZappySysGatewayDSN

localhost,5000

Make sure you separate the hostname and port with a comma, e.g. localhost,5000.
Proceed with the authentication part:
- Select SQL Server authentication
- In the Login ID field enter the user name you created in the Data Gateway, e.g., john
- Set Password to the one you configured in the Data Gateway
Then set the default database property to XmlFileDSN (the one we used in the Data Gateway):

XmlFileDSN

XmlFileDSN

Make sure to type the data source name manually or copy/paste it directly into the field. Using the dropdown might fail because the Trust server certificate option is not enabled yet (next step).
Continue by checking the Trust server certificate option:
Once you do that, test the connection:
If the connection is successful, everything is good:
Done!

We are ready to move to the final step. Let's do it!

Access data in Microsoft Fabric via the gateway

Finally, we are ready to read data from XML File in Microsoft Fabric via the Data Gateway. Follow these final steps:

Go back to Microsoft Fabric.
Then, go to your Copy job or Dataflow and start configuring your ODBC data source (like you did in the previous step).
In the ODBC configuration window, configure these fields:
- Enter your ODBC connection string (DSN format), for example: DSN=ZappySysGatewayDSN
- Expand Advanced options and set the SQL statement
- Select MyGateway from the Data gateway dropdown that you configured in the previous step
- Select Basic from the Authentication kind dropdown
- Enter the Username (e.g., john) and Password that you configured in ZappySys Data Gateway
DSN=ZappySysGatewayDSN
```
SELECT * FROM Orders
```
DSN=ZappySysGatewayDSN
Read the data the same way we discussed at the beginning of this article.
That's it!

Now you can connect to XML File data in Microsoft Fabric via the Data Gateway.

Conclusion

In this article we showed you how to connect to XML File in Microsoft Fabric and integrate data without writing complex code — all of this was powered by XML File ODBC Driver.

Download ODBC PowerPack now or ping us via chat if you have any questions or are looking for a specific feature (you can also reach out to us by submitting a ticket):

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