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karnzo
Regular Visitor
Partially syndicated - Outbound

Web Service inquiry - Beginner question

I apologize if this is a simple question or I should be asking this elsewhere, but I am very new to Power BI and I do not know much about web services (I am a database guy!).  Currently, I use a web based application at my job,  and this application queries against a database (I do not have direct access).  For example, this application has a "reports" feature.  Using this feature I can write an SQL statement and it returns the results in different formats.  The results can be returned as HTML, XML, CSV, XLSX, etc.  Currently, I run a report to return data I need, export it as CSV, import it to a local database on my machine (using MySQL Workbench), and then import it to Power BI.  I recently discovered that using an XML file would be much faster, but also discovered my application provides a web service feature.  When I run my report as a web service I am provided with the following sets of information:

 

Web Services Page, WSDL, and DataSource for Web Services Export  (this is the URL, begins with https)

Encrypted Connection String (contains a long line of encrypted text)

Query for Dataset Export  (appears to be the entire query, such as above URL, the encryption key, and my parameters)

Query for XML Export  (appears to be same as above, but in XML format)

 

 

So my question is, is there a way for me to set up a web service in Power BI to automatically call this web service to retrieve data?  Do I have to actual set up a web service call, like writing something in C#?  I watched a few videos and one mentioned using Microsoft Flow, is that required to accomplish what I want?  I would prefer not to have to use another service we have to pay for, unless it's the only way.  Thanks in advance to anyone who can help!

1 REPLY 1
v-yuezhe-msft
Microsoft Employee
Microsoft Employee

Syndicated - Outbound

@karnzo,

You would need to confirm that if the web application provides OData URL or Rest API for you to query data. It is possible to directly connect to OData URL/Rest API in Power BI Desktop. There is a blog for your reference.

http://angryanalyticsblog.azurewebsites.net/index.php/2016/05/16/api-strategies-with-power-bi/

Regards,
Lydia

Community Support Team _ Lydia Zhang
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.
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