Populate CDS custom entity once a day with external app database

[mmp974]

Hello,

I have one external app (SQL based) and one power apps app (CDS based).

Basicaly, I would like to synch once a day some rows based on certain criteria from my external app to the CDS Custom Entity.

The reason is to avoid to input twice the same "kind" of information in the Power Apps application for given criteria and so users can also populate the CDS Entity throught the application from power apps on other circumstances.

So my question is simple, is there a way somehow to achieve this ?

Kind regards,

Mohammad PATEL

[Satish-Reddy]

Have you considered using data flows? You can periodically load the data from a variety of sources and import it into CDS. You can also perform data transformation during the process. 

For more info, visit the below link:

 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/maker/common-data-service/create-and-use-dataflows

For your scenario, the data source would be SQL DB.  Please mark it as answer if my post helps.

Thanks
Satish Reddy
https://pascalcase.com

[HSheild]

Hi @mmp974 

The suggestion from @Satish-Reddy is good but there are limitations of scheduled dataflows when it comes to Look-up fields.  If the entity you are populating with a dataflow is used as a Look-up on a related entity then the dataflow will clear the Look-up field on each refresh since it completely deletes the data and adds in back in again - breaking the Lookup.

Another option, which is more work but you have more control is to use Power Automate.  Take a look at this article to get you started.  It's about using Power Automate to integrate data from a CSV to Dynamics 365 but the principles are the same and Dynamics 365 uses the CDS connector for Power Automate.

https://dynamicscitizendeveloper.com/2019/06/06/microsoft-flow-csv-integration-with-dynamics-365/

[Satish-Reddy]

@HSheild  Good to know about the limitation. Thank you.

@mmp974 You can try @HSheild  solution. 

If you want a custom solution, I have written XrmTooling console application that loads the data from CSV and creates the records in CDS. I can share the source code with you.