Skip to main content
cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

July 7 - July 17 | Round 2 of the Power BI Dataviz World Championships. Don't miss your chance! Learn more

Reply
netwire
Frequent Visitor

Connect with secure JSON source

Hi,

I'm a newbie to PowerBI. I know that PowerBI can connect to pre-built web services like Google Analytics, but how do I connect to other online sources that aren't part of PowerBI yet but require authentication? For example, many JSON sources require HTTP Basic Authentication. I looked into oData Feed but I don't think it works with JSON data sources. I also read http://superuser.com/questions/977249/loading-a-json-file-into-power-query/977376#977376 which connects with publicly viewable JSON API's (and then convert them to PowerBI table), but I don't think that works with secure API's. Any ideas on how to address this?

Dean

2 REPLIES 2
dstramilov
Helper II
Helper II

netwire,

 

for your API example below use Get Data - Web - in Power Bi Desktop. http://api.nobelprize.org/v1/laureate.json

 

or use this 

 

let
    Source = Json.Document(Web.Contents("http://api.nobelprize.org/v1/laureate.json")),
    laureates = Source[laureates],
    #"Converted to Table" = Table.FromList(laureates, Splitter.SplitByNothing(), null, null, ExtraValues.Error),
    #"Expanded Column1" = Table.ExpandRecordColumn(#"Converted to Table", "Column1", {"id", "firstname", "surname", "born", "died", "bornCountry", "bornCountryCode", "bornCity", "diedCountry", "diedCountryCode", "diedCity", "gender", "prizes"}, {"id", "firstname", "surname", "born", "died", "bornCountry", "bornCountryCode", "bornCity", "diedCountry", "diedCountryCode", "diedCity", "gender", "prizes"})
in
    #"Expanded Column1"

for basic auth API, use something like this. 

 

let
 authKey = "{""Username"":""USERNAME"",""Password"":""PASSWORDGOESHERE"",""LocationID"":""LOCATIONIFNEEDED""}",
 url = "https://APILINKGOESHERE.com",
 // Uses the authentication/token method to obtain a token
 GetJson = Web.Contents(url,
     [
         Headers = [#"Content-Type"="application/json"],
         Content = Text.ToBinary(authKey),
         RelativePath="/Authentication/AuthorizeUser"
     ]
 )
in
    GetJson

 

I'm trying the basic auth API method and getting the error below.

DataSource.Error: Web.Contents with the Content option is only supported when connecting anonymously.

Any ideas?

Helpful resources

Announcements
FabCon and SQLCon Barcelona 2026

FabCon & SQLCon – Barcelona 2026

Join us in Barcelona for FabCon and SQLCon, the Fabric, Power BI, SQL, and AI community event. Save €200 with code FABCMTY200.

60 days of Data Days Carousel

Data Days 2026

Join Fabric Data Days 2026: 60 days of free live/on-demand sessions, challenges, study groups, and certification opportunities.

Power BI DataViz World Championships carousel

Power BI DataViz World Championships - June 2026

A new Power BI DataViz World Championship is coming this June! Don't miss out on submitting your entry.