Dynamics 365

The Dynamics 365 connector lets you connect to the live data from Dynamics 365 from your applications. You can access the Dynamics 365 data similar to how you access a database, and perform read, write, and update operations on the data.

Before you begin

Before using the Dynamics365 connector, do the following tasks:

• In your Google Cloud project:
  • Enable the following services:
    • secretmanager.googleapis.com (Secret Manager API)
    • connectors.googleapis.com (Connectors API)

    To understand how to enable services, see Enabling services.

  If these services or permissions have not been enabled for your project previously, you are prompted to enable them when configuring the connector.

Configure the connector

Configuring the connector requires you to create a connection to your data source (backend system). A connection is specific to a data source. It means that if you have many data sources, you must create a separate connection for each data source. To create a connection, do the following steps:

1. In the Cloud console, go to the Integration Connectors > Connections page and then select or create a Google Cloud project.

   Go to the Connections page

2. Click + Create new to open the Create Connection page.
3. In the Location section, choose the location for the connection.
   1. Region: Select a location from the drop-down list.

      Supported regions for connectors include:

      For the list of all the supported regions, see Locations.

   2. Click Next.
4. In the Connection Details section, complete the following:
   1. Connector: Select Dynamics 365 from the drop down list of available Connectors.
   2. Connector version: Select the Connector version from the drop down list of available versions.
   3. In the Connection Name field, enter a name for the Connection instance.

      Connection names must meet the following criteria:

      • Connection names can use letters, numbers, or hyphens.
      • Letters must be lower-case.
      • Connection names must begin with a letter and end with a letter or number.
      • Connection names cannot exceed 63 characters.
   4. Optionally, enter a Description for the connection instance.
   5. Service Account: Select a service account that has the required roles.
   6. Optionally, configure the Connection node settings:
      • Minimum number of nodes: Enter the minimum number of connection nodes.
      • Maximum number of nodes: Enter the maximum number of connection nodes.

      A node is a unit (or replica) of a connection that processes transactions. More nodes are required to process more transactions for a connection and conversely, fewer nodes are required to process fewer transactions. To understand how the nodes affect your connector pricing, see Pricing for connection nodes. If you don't enter any values, by default the minimum nodes are set to 2 (for better availability) and the maximum nodes are set to 50.

   Note: You can customize the connection node values only if you are a Pay-as-you-go customer.
   7. Azure Tenant: The Microsoft Online tenant being used to access data. If not specified, your default tenant will be used.
   8. Organization URL: The URL to your Dynamics 365 organization. For instance, https://abc123.cloudax.dynamics.com/.
   9. ADFS Server: The ADFS Server used for authentication. Only used with FinOpsOnPremise edition.
   10. Api Version: Default Value is 9.0. This can be specified to access a new version of the API once it is released. This property only applies when Edition is set to either CustomerService, FieldService, Marketing, ProjectOperations or Sales.
   11. Cross Company: Whether to pull data for all companies or just the user's default company.
   12. Edition: The edition of Dynamics 365 being used.
   13. Include Formatted Values: Indicates if columns that hold formatted values should be exposed.
   14. Include Navigation Properties: Indicates if navigation properties should be included in the column listing.
   15. Use Dynamic Stored Procedures: Indicating if dynamic stored procedures should be exposed.
   16. Verbosity Level: Verbosity level for connection, varies from 1-5. Higher verbosity level will log all the communication details (request,response & ssl certificates).
   17. Optionally, click + Add label to add a label to the Connection in the form of a key/value pair.
   18. Click Next.
5. In the Authentication section, enter the authentication details.
   1. Select an Authentication type and enter the relevant details.

      The following authentication types are supported by the Dynamics 365 connection:

      • OAuth 2.0 Auth Code Grant

   To understand how to configure these authentication types, see Configure authentication.

   2. Click Next.
6. Review: Review your connection and authentication details.
7. Click Create.

Configure authentication

Enter the details based on the authentication you want to use.

• OAuth 2.0 Auth Code Grant
  • Access token: The access token used for authenticating requests with auth-code-flow-based connections.
  • Client ID: The client ID used for requesting access tokens.
  • Client secret: The client secret used for requesting access tokens.

Entities, operations, and actions

All the Integration Connectors provide a layer of abstraction for the objects of the connected application. You can access an application's objects only through this abstraction. The abstraction is exposed to you as entities, operations, and actions.

Note: You can view the entities, operations, and actions of a connector in the Connectors task.

• Entity: An entity can be thought of as an object, or a collection of properties, in the connected application or service. The definition of an entity differs from a connector to a connector. For example, in a database connector, tables are the entities, in a file server connector, folders are the entities, and in a messaging system connector, queues are the entities.

  However, it is possible that a connector doesn't support or have any entities, in which case the Entities list will be empty.

• Operation: An operation is the activity that you can perform on an entity. You can perform any of the following operations on an entity:
  • List
  • Get
  • Create
  • Update
  • Delete

  Selecting an entity from the available list, generates a list of operations available for the entity. For a detailed description of the operations, see the Connectors task's entity operations. However, if a connector doesn't support any of the entity operations, such unsupported operations aren't listed in the Operations list.

• Action: An action is a first class function that is made available to the integration through the connector interface. An action lets you make changes to an entity or entities, and vary from connector to connector. However, it is possible that a connector doesn't support any action, in which case the Actions list will be empty.

System limitations

The Dynamics 365 connector can process 1 transaction per second, per node, and throttles any transactions beyond this limit. By default, Integration Connectors allocates 2 nodes (for better availability) for a connection.

For information on the limits applicable to Integration Connectors, see Limits.

Note: The number of Integration Connectors nodes will autoscale dynamically based on your usage. However, if you want to reserve capacity for large volumes without waiting for autoscaling, you can adjust the minimum node value for a connection. More nodes are required to process more transactions for a connection. Conversely, fewer nodes are required if a connection processes fewer transactions. To configure the node values, do the following:

• If you are a pay-as-you-go customer, configure the minimum and maximum node value in the edit connection page.
• If you are a subscription based customer, contact support.

The maximum transactions that a node can handle depends on various factors. So, before adjusting the minimum nodes for better throughput, it is recommended you check if your backend systems are set up optimally to handle the required traffic.

Entity operation examples

This section shows how to perform some of the entity operations in this connector.

Example - List all the products

This example lists all the products in the Products entity.

1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
2. Select Products from the Entity list.
3. Select the List operation, and then click Done.
4. Optionally, in Task Input section of the Connectors task, you can filter your result set by specifying a filter clause. Specify the filter clause value always within the single quotes (').

Example - Get a lead

This example gets a lead with the specified ID from the Leads entity.

1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
2. Select Leads from the Entity list.
3. Select the Get operation, and then click Done.
4. In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click EntityId and then enter c5233ad8-a1a4-ee11-a568-000d3ac9f67f in the Default Value field.

   Here, c5233ad8-a1a4-ee11-a568-000d3ac9f67f is a unique record ID in the Leads entity.

Example - Create a lead

This example creates a lead in the Leads entity.

1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
2. Select Leads from the Entity list.
3. Select the Create operation, and then click Done.
4. In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click connectorInputPayload and then enter a value similar to the following in the Default Value field:

   {
   "fullname": "nameadded1703832358758",   
   "subject": "test subject",   
   "firstname": "firstname1703832358766",   
   "lastname": "lastname1703832358767"
   }

   If the integration is successful, your connector task's connectorOutputPayload field will have a value similar to the following:

   [{
   "leadid": "220166e8-15a6-ee11-a569-002248d5dd6b"
   }]

Example - Update an order

This example updates a record in the SalesOrder entity.

1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
2. Select SalesOrder from the Entity list.
3. Select the Update operation, and then click Done.
4. In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click connectorInputPayload and then enter a value similar to the following in the Default Value field:

   {
   "name": "Nameupdated1704863189087"
    }

5. Click entityId, and then enter 580775a4-17aa-ee11-a568-000d3ac9f67f in the Default Value field.

   If the integration is successful, your connector task's connectorOutputPayload field will have a value similar to the following:

   [{
   "salesorderid": "580775a4-17aa-ee11-a568-000d3ac9f67f"
   }]

Example - Delete a contact

This example deletes the contact with the specified ID in the Contacts entity.

1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
2. Select Contacts from the Entity list.
3. Select the Delete operation, and then click Done.
4. In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click entityId and then enter 524f543b-3ea5-ee11-a568-000d3ac9f67f in the Default Value field.

Note: If your entity has a composite primary key, you can specify a filter clause.

Use the Dynamics 365 connection in an integration

After you create the connection, it becomes available in both Apigee Integration and Application Integration. You can use the connection in an integration through the Connectors task.

• To understand how to create and use the Connectors task in Apigee Integration, see Connectors task.
• To understand how to create and use the Connectors task in Application Integration, see Connectors task.

Get help from the Google Cloud community

You can post your questions and discuss this connector in the Google Cloud community at Cloud Forums.

What's next

• Understand how to suspend and resume a connection.
• Understand how to monitor connector usage.
• Understand how to view connector logs.