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The Power Pages Web API is a great tool that makes portal functionality more powerful. It allows developers to interact with Dataverse tables easily, making data handling smooth and improving the user experience. Whether you need to fetch data, update records, or delete entries, the Web API helps you do it efficiently.

In this guide, we will look at why the Web API is useful, go through the setup process, see some practical examples, and answer common questions to help you use it better

Advantages of Using Power Pages Web API.

1. Better User Experience: The Web API lets you create custom experiences like interactive forms and editable lists, making the portal more user-friendly.

2. More Control and Security: Developers can choose which fields should be accessible through the Web API, ensuring better data protection.

3. Easy Integration: While mainly used to improve portal experiences, the Web API can also connect with other systems.

4. Faster Data Handling: It supports server-side caching, making subsequent API calls faster than initial ones.

How to set up Web API in Power Pages.

Step 1: Enable Web API for Your Page

1. Open the Portal Management App.

2. Go to Site Settings in the left pane.

3. Add this site setting to enable the Web API:

Name: Webapi/Enabled
Value: true

4. If you want to enable Web API error logging, add this site setting as well:

Name: Webapi/error/innererror
Value: true

Step 2: Enable Web API for a Table

1. Open the Portal Management App.

2. Go to Site Settings in the left pane.

3. Create a new site setting to enable the Web API for a specific table (e.g., contacts). Use this format:

Name: Webapi/table_logical_name/enabled
Value: true
Example: If enabling it for the "contact" table, use Webapi/contact/enabled

4. Define which fields can be modified using the Web API

Name: Webapi/table_logical_name/fields

Value: List of fields separated by commas (e.g., firstname,emailaddress1) or use * to allow all fields.

Step 3: Set Up Table Permissions

1. Create a table permission for the same table to allow API access.

2. Fill in the required details, like Access Type, Privileges, and Web Roles as per your needs.

Step 4: Configure Web API Safe AJAX Wrapper

1. Open the Portal Management App and go to Web Templates under the Content section.

2. Click New and select the website where you want to create the template. Name it something like "Portal Web API Wrapper."

3. Paste the following AJAX wrapper function in the Source field of the template. This helps with authentication and token management for API calls. Wrap this under the script tag before saving.

4. Include Wrapper into your HTML: Wherever you plan to use the Web API, include the wrapper function by adding {% include 'Portal Web API Wrapper' %} before making any API calls.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the main use of the Power Pages Web API?

It allows you to perform CRUD operations on Dataverse tables directly from Power Pages, making data management and user experience better.

2. What HTTP methods are supported by the Web API?

The Web API supports GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE HTTP methods for reading, creating, updating, and deleting records, respectively.

3. Can I use the Web API for configuration tables?

No, the Web API is limited to data-related tables like accounts, contacts, and custom tables. It does not support configuration tables such as adx_contentsnippet, adx_entityform, or adx_entitylist.