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title: Step-by-Step Guide to Business Central API Queries
summary: This post explains how to create Query objects configured as APIs in Business Central to expose data for external systems like Power BI and Power Automate. It demonstrates building a Vendor Ledger API and connecting it to Power BI for reporting, highlighting advantages like handling related records and enforcing read-only access.
tier: community
language: en
tags:
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  - query
  - power bi
  - vendor ledger
  - data exposure
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    title: Step-by-Step Guide to Business Central API Queries
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post_id: "2017"
source_id: aardvarklabs-blog
source_name: Aardvark Labs
url: https://aardvarklabs.blog/2025/07/11/step-by-step-guide-to-business-central-api-queries/
published_at: "2025-07-11T12:00:00.000Z"
author: Marcel Chabot
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# Step-by-Step Guide to Business Central API Queries

[Read the post](https://aardvarklabs.blog/2025/07/11/step-by-step-guide-to-business-central-api-queries/) · Aardvark Labs (Marcel Chabot) · 2025-07-11 · 674 words · tier community · reviewed (checked by Opus)

> This post explains how to create Query objects configured as APIs in Business Central to expose data for external systems like Power BI and Power Automate. It demonstrates building a Vendor Ledger API and connecting it to Power BI for reporting, highlighting advantages like handling related records and enforcing read-only access.

## Key points

- Query objects configured with API settings (APIGroup, APIPublisher, APIVersion, QueryType = API) automatically expose data to external systems
- Query-based APIs handle related records easily and can nest several layers deep without requiring separate list parts
- Query APIs are read-only by nature, preventing accidental write operations and protecting data integrity when shared with reporting teams
- Query APIs can be directly connected to Power BI using the Dynamics 365 Business Central connector to build reports

## AL objects mentioned

As named in the post. A name that matches one object page by exact type and name links to it; the others stay as named.

- query "ARD_VendorLedgerAPI"

Not found in BC28-30: query "ARD_VendorLedgerAPI".

## Context

- Features: API Query objects, API data exposure, related data handling, read-only APIs, Power BI integration, vendor ledger reporting

Source: Aardvark Labs, community blog. Summary, key points and quotes are derived (CONTENT-NOTICE.md); read the original for the full text.