A common question I have gotten over the years is if it is possible to build a Power Pages that can surface and interact with data that is stored in a different database than Microsoft Dataverse, such as Azure SQL or other databases.
Using a different database for Power Pages was not only difficult, but downright impossible in the past. Remember (and repeat) Power Pages runs on Dataverse! My colleague at Microsoft, Skylar Shonblom wrote an excellent post There is no Power Pages without Dataverse that explains the importance of learning how to use Dataverse, its features and how it powers Power Pages.
Thankfully, there is now a way to easily link up your tables in Azure SQL, SharePoint, and eventually other data sources to your Power Pages site using virtual tables.
The Microsoft documentation does a good job 😉 at explaining how to configure and setup the virtual tables provider and surface the information on a page.
Here is a video where I will walk through the process of setting up and configuring an Azure SQL database table as a virtual table in Dataverse and surfacing it as a list on a webpage, as well as linking it to the Account table and setting up table permissions to protect the data using Power Pages security.
I hope you found this video useful and hoping this feature unblocks you from integrating your Azure SQL or SharePoint list data to your Power Pages sites!
Summary
Virtual tables are a powerful feature of the Power Platform, and being available in Power Pages provides another solution in building powerful business websites and applications.
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Nick Doelman is a Senior Content Developer at Microsoft, a Microsoft Certified Trainer, a former Most Valuable Professional (2017-2021), one of the cohosts of the Power Platform BOOST podcast, a community presenter and also competes in international Powerlifting competitions, including the upcoming World Bench Press Championships in South Africa. Follow Nick on twitter at @ReadyXRM
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Anyone that is planning to use the SQL server connetor for virtual tables should be extremely careful to read the documentation first. There is a very long list of limitation that can be a showstopper for using the connector.
In my case I experienced problems when I wanted to create a virtual table that connected to a SQL server table that contained events. It turned out that the SQL server connentor does not allow you to filter on date fields. Also the connector itself does not perform very well. So if you have a lot of date you might run into problems.
The list if specific searches and filters you can’t perform is long and to some extend very hard to understand.
So be warned before you make to many assumptions about the SQL server connetor. READ THE DOCUMENTATION VERY CAREFULLY. I suggest doing a Proff of Concept before using the connector.
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Thanks for feedback!
Good advice and great tips/warnings.
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