MS Dynamics 365 Business Central - Custom API

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central “Custom API” is a feature of the Business Central ERP system developed by Microsoft, which allows organizations to create tailor-made API endpoints to expose specific business data and logic. It is part of the Business Central extensibility framework and is typically used to integrate external applications or systems with Business Central in a secure and structured way. Custom APIs are ideal for automating workflows, syncing data, and tailoring integrations. They support versioning, controlled access, and data shaping, making them a powerful tool for building flexible and secure connections to Business Central. This article provides an overview to get started with the MS Business Central “Custom API” connector in Peliqan. Please contact support if you have any additional questions or remarks.

Connect to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central using a “Custom API”

Peliqan has 2 connectors to work with a Custom API in Business Central:

MS Business Central Custom API
MS Business Central Custom API (Private app)

The steps below are without using a Private app. If you want to use a Private app, make sure to create the app in Azure first. See the general documentation of Business Central for more information on how to create a Private app in Azure: MS Dynamics 365 Business Central - Getting started in Peliqan

Add connection

In Peliqan, go to Connections, click on “Add Connection” and search for Business Central Custom API. Choose one of the connectors:

Prerequisites

Access to your Microsoft Business Central environment with admin privileges
Valid API permissions set up in Business Central

Configuration Steps

1. Connection Setup

Connection Name Enter a descriptive name for this connection

2. Business Central Credentials

Tenant ID To find your Tenant ID:

Log in to Business Central and navigate to the Dashboard
Click the Settings icon (⚙) in the top toolbar
Select “Admin Center”
Copy the Tenant ID from the URL (it appears as https://businesscentral.dynamics.com/{TENANT_ID}/admin)

Environment Name To locate your Environment Name:

In the Admin Center, select “Environments”
Choose your environment from the list (or create one if needed)
Enter the exact environment name as shown

Company Name To find your Company Name:

On the Business Central Dashboard
Click the Building icon in the top toolbar
Select the company you want to connect to from the list
Enter the exact company name as shown

3. API Configuration

API Category Route Enter the API route in the format: publisher/group/version Example: zy/zygroup/v2.0

4. Entity Selection

List of Entities

Enter a comma-separated list of custom tables you want to access
By default, the primary key is assumed to be “id”
To specify a different primary key: entityName|primaryKey (e.g., customer|systemId)
For composite primary keys: entityName|key1+key2 (e.g., order|orderId+lineNumber)

5. Replication Settings

Replication Key (Optional) Specify which field should be used for incremental refreshes:

Enter the field name that tracks record changes (typically a timestamp or version field)
Leave blank if you don’t need incremental refresh
Provided primary key works for all the Entities provided in connect form.

Incremental/Non-incremental

Select “Incremental” if all your selected entities have the replication key available
Select “Non-incremental” for full refreshes each time

Once done, click on Connect MS Business Central Custom API to initiate an OAuth Flow.

MS Business Central data sync to your data warehouse

Once the connection is added, the ETL/ELT pipeline will start running and the data will be added to new tables in your data warehouse. Peliqan offers an out of the box data warehouse. Optionally you can choose to sync MS Business Central data to your own data warehouse such as Snowflake, Google BigQuery, MS SQL etc. Data will be synced to the chosen data warehouse and made available through the Peliqan UI for exploration:

Support

If you encounter issues or don’t see the tables you need:

Contact support at support@peliqan.io
Include your Business Central version and any error messages received

How to add custom API endpoints in Business Central

This guide explains how to create custom API endpoints in Business Central, e.g. in order to fetch data that is not available in standard API endpoints.

How to create a custom API endpoint in Business Central (extension)

In Business Central click on Search (magnifier icon in top right corner), search for “Extension management” —> click on “Develop in VS Code” —> click on “Generate launch configurations”.

This will open VS Code on your computer and create a project in AL (the extension language for Business Central). In VS Code, first install the extension from Microsoft: “AL Language extension for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central” Hit COMMAND+SHIFT+P —> Select “AL: Download Symbols”

Select the launch configuation “AL: Generated Download Symbols request” Once symbols have downloaded successfully, add a file to create a new custom API endpoint, e.g. VendorApi.Page.al Example content to list vendors with 3 selected fields id, number and displayName:

page 50100 "Peliqan Vendors API"
{
    PageType = API;
    APIPublisher = 'peliqan';
    APIGroup = 'peliqangroup';
    APIVersion = 'v1.0';
    EntityName = 'vendor';
    EntitySetName = 'vendors';
    SourceTable = Vendor;
    DelayedInsert = true;
    ODataKeyFields = SystemId;
    Extensible = false;

    layout
    {
        area(Content)
        {
            repeater(General)
            {
                field(id; Rec.SystemId)
                {
                    Caption = 'Id';
                }
                field(number; Rec."No.")
                {
                    Caption = 'number';
                }
                field(displayName; Rec.Name)
                {
                    Caption = 'displayName';
                }

            }
        }
    }
}

Hit COMMAND+SHIFT+P —> Select “AL: Publish”

Check if the Extension is now published in BC, example:

Add a connection in Peliqan for the newly created API endpoints

In Peliqan, add a connection of type “MS Business Central Custom API”:

For Environment name: see Business Central Admin: https://businesscentral.dynamics.com/{tenant_id}/admin

For Apicategoryroute, use this format: publisher/group/version. See the above created file for details, in our example:

APIPublisher = 'peliqan';
APIGroup = 'peliqangroup';
APIVersion = 'v1.0';

So the Apicategoryroute becomes peliqan/peliqangroup/v1.0

Troubleshooting

User in BC has no access to Extension Management: make sure the user has Permission set EXTEN. MGT. - ADMIN. Example:

Downloading Symbols fails: make sure you are logged in into VS Code with the same Azure user as your login to BC (in VS Code see bottom left corner). Make sure your user is assigned a product license for Business Central in Microsoft 365 admin center: https://admin.cloud.microsoft. Example:

When error “not found” during downloading of symbols: double check the version in app.json: e.g. "application": "27.5.46862.46929". This should be same version as the extension “Application”, in BC go to Extension Management, find this extension and copy its version. Example:

​Connect to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central using a “Custom API”

​Add connection

​Prerequisites

​Configuration Steps

​1. Connection Setup

​2. Business Central Credentials

​3. API Configuration

​4. Entity Selection

​5. Replication Settings

​MS Business Central data sync to your data warehouse

​Support

​How to add custom API endpoints in Business Central

​How to create a custom API endpoint in Business Central (extension)

​Add a connection in Peliqan for the newly created API endpoints

​Troubleshooting