Forum Discussion
How do I connect to Web API data with Power BI Desktop?
I am trying to connect Power BI Desktop to a website API and was given the following information on the backend of our web portal to configure API and authentication. See screenshot below. How do I even get started with this?? If I go to Power BI/Power Query and choose "New Source > Web" I tried both the Token URL and Redirect URL, but am unable to authenticate in. The Request URL for the GET Request is something like "https://CompanyName.open.data.com/api/api/intake/v1/requests" and I am also using this URL in the access sign in but am unable to authenticate in with "Anonymous" and if I try and select "Web API" it's asking for a "KEY" which I am not sure I have judging by the information below...Thoughts?
How do I connect to this website using API connection info below in Power BI allowing me to get the data and build the dashboards needed?
Below is a view of the API connection information that was given to me....
Also, I am open to any and all suggestions for "Best Practice" solutions here. If this is something better designed in a Dataflow or Datamart let me know. I have a "Premium" Account in the Power BI Platform. Let me know what the best solution would be to design this connection to pull in data. Thanks!
6 Replies
Please read the documentation. It is really good. Web.Contents - PowerQuery M | Microsoft Learn
It seems like that you need to get a token first and then get the data with this token.
Meaning first you need to do a GET request in Power Query to receive the token as a result.
Then you use this result to send a POST request (is not that straight forward, you need to specify a body of the request only then Power Query will send it as POST - otherwise it always defaults to GET which you dont want) to get the data.
What other options apart from "ClientCredentials" do you have? If you only have an legged oauth authentication, you will need to build a custom connector, which is more complex.
If you have a "basic" option, you should be able to build the query in the Power Query editor and the function that you require Web.Contents. We have written a very complete article, including sample code, about it.
https://www.bibb.pro/post/web-contents-and-apis-in-powerbi
Web.Contents in Power BI
