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Can I use Business Central Virtual Tables though Power Apps without a BC license?

Posted on by 35

In short my question is: do the Power Apps licenses (per app and per user) give use rights to any table in Dataverse, including virtual tables from BC?


I hope I'm not posting a question that has already been answered somewhere but I haven't found a clear answer on either this forum or the Power Apps forum, as well as the licensing guides.

I have a Power App that uses Business Central Virtual Tables in Dataverse. Users WITH a license for BC have no issue loading the tables (Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials). However users that can only use the Power Apps per App license cannot load the data. They get an error message on both custom API pages and standard webservices:

  • The requested operation is invalid. Server Response: MyTableName failed: The server has rejected the client credentials.

However if I do a lookup through a Power Automate workflow, the Power Apps per App users can get to the data in Dataverse.

Power Platform Licensing Guide June 2021

The user rights table on page 6 suggests that you have some use rights wit D365 within the same environments, such as using standard and premium connectors and Dataverse. But I believe this table is meant to show the use rights for Power Apps if you already have a BC license, not the other way around.

D365 Licensing Guide June 2021

Page 43: "Power Apps users who have a Power Apps license may use custom applications to access (that is, create, read, update or delete) any Dynamics 365 non-restricted table in the Dataverse. However, Power Apps users and devices that need to create, update, or delete data in Dynamics 365 restricted tables must be properly licensed for Dynamics 365."

I think the term restricted tables apply to tables in other D365 applications, but not in BC. I think this doesn't really apply to my scenario.

  • Andy Sather Profile Picture
    Andy Sather on at
    RE: Can I use Business Central Virtual Tables though Power Apps without a BC license?

    Thank you for posting your resolution

  • Verified answer
    _bark_ Profile Picture
    _bark_ 35 on at
    RE: Can I use Business Central Virtual Tables though Power Apps without a BC license?

    Having given this a little thought, I am beginning to become more certain that the Power Apps per App license does not give use rights with BC through Dataverse. It does allow you to access Dataverse - even the virtual table, but because BC rejects the authorisation you'll get an error in the app.

    However there is a solution: you can have a licensed service account make the calls to dataverse and parsing the JSON through a workflow such as below. I'm not sure if this technically violates the license. I'm not sure.

    App calls workflow of that belongs to a licensed service account > workflow calls the virtual dataverse table as the service account > dataverse calls the BC webservice > workflow gets a JSON from the virtual dataverse table > the workflow responds (Response action) code 200 with the values JSON array including a schema > Power Apps collects the JSON in a collection.

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