Power BI Custom Connector

This guide is for customers who have been provided with the Power BI Nexar Connector, and are set up with the Octopart Partner Portal.

If you do not have either of these, please get in touch with your Enterprise Account Manager, or contact [email protected].

Nexar Power BI Custom Connect

This data connector is created using the M language, which is the same as that use by the Power Query user language found in Power Bi. 

This connector allows you to connect to the Nexar API and specifically, access the reports found in your Octopart Partner Portal.

It uses OAuth 2.0 and refresh tokens to keep you logged in for up to 30 days, after which you will have to sign in once again.

Prerequisites:

• Visual Studio Code with the Power Query SDK installed.
• Power BI Desktop
• An Octopart Partner Portal account with Client ID, Client Secret and Customer ID available.

1. Download and unzip the folder, 'NexarConnector' 

2. Right click anywhere in the folder and select, Open with Code

3. In the left hand column, select 'client_id' and update the value to your client ID. This does not need any quote marks

4. Save the file, either with File > Save or ctrl + s

5. In the left hand column, select 'client_secret' and update the value to your client secret. Again, this does not need any quote marks. Save the file.

6. Finally, update 'company_id' in the same way. If you do not know your company_id, please contact your business account manager.

7. In the lift hand column, click 'Nexar_Connector.pq'. In the ribbon at the top, click Terminal > Run Build Task..., or use the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + B

8. Select, build: Build connector project using MakePQX

9. The OUTPUT window at the bottom of the screen should look similar to this:

11. Return to your windows folder explorer. Open bin > AnyCPU > Debug. Copy the file called, Nexar_Connector.mez 

11. Create a directory: [My Documents]\Microsoft Power BI Desktop\Custom Connectors  and paste the .mez file in there.

12. Open Power BI Desktop and check the option (Not Recommended) Allow any extension to load without validation or warning under File > Options and Settings > Security > Data Extensions

13. To access your connector in Power BI Desktop, click on Home > Get Data and search for Nexar. You will see a connector called Nexar_Connector (Beta) (Custom). Select it and click Connect.

14. Click, Continue

15. Click, Sign In. You will be redirected the the Nexar login page. Enter your username and password to log in. When the Nexar Authentication changes to say, You are currently signed in, click connect. 

16. After a few moments, an example of your reports should show. From here, you can either load your data, or transform it as you see fit.