Reading API Pages in Business Central

Via the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central OData connection, you can also read API Pages. In order to do so, you would need to make sure that the API request URLs follow a specific structure:

https://api.businesscentral.dynamics.com/v2.0/{environment}/api/{publisher}/{group}/{version}/{entity}

Breakdown of the URL:

  1. https: The protocol used for secure communication over the web.
  2. api.businesscentral.dynamics.com: The base domain where the Business Central API is hosted.
  3. v2.0: This indicates the version of the API you are using. In this case, it's version 2.0.
  4. {environment}: This part refers to the environment in which your Business Central instance is running. It could be:
    • Production: Your live environment.
    • Sandbox: Your test or development environment.
  5. api: This part signifies that you're accessing the API layer of Business Central.
  6. {publisher}: The publisher of the API. Microsoft-provided APIs will use "Microsoft" as the publisher.
  7. {group}: This defines the group or module of the API, such as "financials," "sales," or "inventory." It groups APIs based on business areas.
  8. {version}: The version of the specific API group. Typically, you will see "v2.0" or similar.
  9. {entity}: This represents the specific data entity you're interacting with, such as "customers," "salesOrders," or "items."

Examples:

https://api.businesscentral.dynamics.com/v2.0/Production/api/v2.0/customers

https://api.businesscentral.dynamics.com/v2.0/Production/api/MyCompany/Inventory/v1.0/items

https://api.businesscentral.dynamics.com/v2.0/{environment}/api/{publisher}/{group}/{version}/companies({companyId})/{entity}

Important: Reading API pages in Business Central is not supported for all versions:

  • Business Central Online (Cloud): API pages are fully supported for all API versions (v1.0, v2.0, etc.).
  • Business Central On-Premises: API page support is available, but it requires proper configuration and depends on the version of the system.
  • Older versions of Dynamics NAV: Modern API pages are not available for these versions.