Forum Discussion
Using a REST API as a data source
Anonymous
I don't know the Blackbaud REST API in your case and it is not in the list of suppported "Online Service".
But according to the content in the link that the API reponses in JSON, you can get the data by using "Get Data"-->"Other"-->"Web". And then extend JSON to a table in query editor.
eg. http://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1/comments
You can replace it with a link like "http://[school].myschoolapp.com/api/academics/department/?t=[token returned from previous step]" in your link.
In the query editor,
Done
Regarding refreshing, you can publish it to Power BI Service and schedule refresh.
Microsoft EmployeeAnonymous
I don't know the Blackbaud REST API in your case and it is not in the list of suppported "Online Service".
But according to the content in the link that the API reponses in JSON, you can get the data by using "Get Data"-->"Other"-->"Web". And then extend JSON to a table in query editor.
eg. http://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1/comments
You can replace it with a link like "http://[school].myschoolapp.com/api/academics/department/?t=[token returned from previous step]" in your link.
In the query editor,
Done
Regarding refreshing, you can publish it to Power BI Service and schedule refresh.
Advocate IIEric_Zhang and Anonymous Here's some sample code from the Advanced Query editor in Power BI desktop that would work for making an API call to Blackbaud's ON products, get and store the token from Blackbaud API as variable (NOTE: these are fakes URLs, usernames, passwords, and SLI id for list, but I promise it works in Power BI desktop just be sure your user has access to the Web Services API Manager role and that the list you're pulling from also gives access to the Web Services API Manager role and/or your username).
let
Source = Json.Document(Web.Contents("https://2018036.myschooltraining.com/api/authentication/login?username=jdoe&password=openthedoor&format=json")),
T = Source[Token],
GetList = Json.Document(Web.Contents("https://2018036.myschooltraining.com/api/list/99999/?t=" & T & "&format=json"))
in
GetList
Eric_Zhang can you tell me why this query can't refresh in power bi service - only desktop? I get error message saying this data source can't be refreshed in Power BI online.
I had rest API Call working in Power BI Desktop but its give me error when I push it on power BI Service that it can't be refreshed. Anybody refreshed succesfully REST API DataSource in Power BI Service?
surfersamuHelper II
I think you can schedule a refresh on the dataset once you publish a report and dataset is created.
QuickyAdvocate I
I've also managed to get Power BI to communicate with the Blackbaud Sky API for Raiser's edge NXT. It can be refreshed via Power BI Desktop, but not via the service. The error message is: "Data source error: Unable to refresh the model (id=2519924) because it references an unsupported data source."
The other problem I have is that of token refresh. Having to manually generate an OAuth token every hour or so, and plugging that into a parameter in Power BI Desktop to be able to refresh data is a real pain.
GGetty will this work for BB K-12 school APIs? I'm trying to be able to run this through Power BI or export using Power Automate.