Direct Query for OData?

[atsats]

I have an OData endpoint with over 8 million rows. I would like use something analgous to Direct Query against OData sources (like Direct Query for database tables). It seems that Power BI always imports all rows from an OData entity - which will not work in my use-case due to the large number of rows. In addition, all our queries are global to the data source (so we can't filter to reduce the # of records). So, I have 2 questions:

1. Is there a custom connector that provides Direct Query functionality against OData sources?
2. If the answer to (1) is no, how does one deal with OData sources that have millions of rows when up-front filtering is not an option (i.e. we always need to run global queries against the source)? 

[ConorMcCoy]

Hi atsats,

I know this thread is now ancient but I've been searching for a solution to a similar problem and I've found this:

https://www.biinsight.com/optimising-odata-refresh-performance-in-power-query-for-power-bi-and-excel...

You may very well have already found the answer in the years since this was posted but I thought I would share this in case anyone like myself comes across this thread for the same reasons. 

[Anonymous]

Any update on this?

[v-cherch-msft]

Hi @atsats 

It seems you may use the custom data connector.For further,please check this similar post.

Regards,

[atsats]

Thanks, but based on information  I reviewed, I think creating a direct query custom data connector for OData is a substantial project. It also seems that only ODBC custom connectors can support direct query, which means that the custom connector has to be an ODBC type.

There's a company already offering this ODBC->OData connector for Power BI, but it's pricey for large-scale deployments: https://www.cdata.com/drivers/odata/order/odbc/

[v-cherch-msft]

Hi @atsats 

For your requirement, you may submit an idea here.

Regards,

[atsats]

This idea was already submited almost 3 years ago and Microsoft has done nothing about it:

https://ideas.powerbi.com/forums/265200-power-bi-ideas/suggestions/13873722-direct-query-option-for-...