Using Write Endpoints
Sending New Records into BC using Postman
Postman is an API Platform/Tool, allowing you to call API endpoints. When used with Data Braider, it is used to send and receive data through the API Endpoints you have created.
This guide will assume you understand how Postman works and know how to set up the baseline structure to be able to communicate with Data Braider. (A basic setup would include setting up the correct Environment, supplying it with the Company ID, and the API URL to your Business Central Server that has Data Braider installed.)
When working on an endpoint on Data Braider, you do not need an external tool to view the results for Read-Only endpoint, as Data Braider allows you to view the JSON results by clicking a simple action button called “Results JSON”. This will show exactly what you’ll get in Postman.
However, when you create Write endpoints to send information into BC, that is where you need Postman to test the JSON results. For example, when you have a Write type of endpoint, you can see that when you open “Edit Endpoint Fields,” you can see more information on the field definition than there is in the Read Only mode.
[screenshot]
You can see the “Write Enabled” field that allows you to choose which fields are writable and which are not. Also, there is the “Default Value” and “Mandatory” fields.
- The “Default Value” allows you to pre-specify information on an endpoint.
- The “Write Enabled” allows you to define whether the pre-specified information is writable or not. For example, you can have the Credit Value of a company included, with a pre-specified value that cannot be changed.
[screenshot]
The “Mandatory” field specifies which fields are required. And this ability to have “Write Enabled”, “Default Values”, and “Mandatory” checking on a per-field basis is Data Braider specific, which saves time and effort on each endpoint for people who are not developers. And it also saves time for developers since they no longer have to hard code for hours to achieve the results provided by Data Braider with just a few clicks.
Updating Existing Records in BC using Postman
Postman is an API Platform/Tool, allowing you to call API endpoints. When used with Data Braider, it is used to send and receive data through the API Endpoints you have created.
This guide will assume you understand how Postman works and know how to set up the baseline structure to be able to communicate with Data Braider. (A basic setup would include setting up the correct Environment, supplying it with the Company ID, and the API URL to your Business Central Server that has Data Braider installed.)
To edit the API of an item on BC, you do the following:
- Configure an endpoint called Item, for example.
- In the Edit Endpoint Field, you can add information you want to be visible in the API. For example, you can add the shelf No. The item is on in the warehouse, or the ship-to information, etc.
The same path allows you to hide the information you do not want to be visible in the API.
[Screenshot]
Instead of relying on developers to re-write the entire API to add the information you want to an API, Braider allows non-developers to add and remove information easily. This allows you to easily generate and update Read-Only JASON endpoints.
[Screenshot]
Accelerate Usage with Generators
Generate Postman Collection:
Postman is an API Platform/Tool, allowing you to call API endpoints. When used with Data Braider, it is used to send and receive data through the API Endpoints you have created.
This guide will assume you understand how Postman works and know how to set up the baseline structure to be able to communicate with Data Braider. (A basic setup would include setting up the correct Environment, supplying it with the Company ID, and the API URL to your Business Central Server that has Data Braider installed.)
Since Postman is a common tool for API testing, Data Braider makes it even easier. As is evident from the name of the feature, it allows you to generate Postman collections. Namely, once you have selected all the endpoints you want, you simply click on a button added by Data Braider called “Generate Postman Collection”.
[Screenshot]
Once you click the button, the following will happen:
- It will download a file in Postman which you can import.
- It will create examples of all the different endpoints.
- It will provide examples of all the different types, inserts, and updates.
- It pre-fills all the information in all the examples mentioned above.
Fast Generation of Power BI Calls
When people are building Power BI dashboards against BC, they are pulling information out of BC and putting it into an analysis tool. Analysis tools allow you to display different information.
However, with Data Braider, you are provided with a new functionality that allows you to copy/paste the information we want into Power BI directly, thus displaying the information in detail.