M

Bulk-extracting Power Query M-code from multiple pbix files in Power BI

by

Edit: Unfortunately this method isn’t working any more for files with the latest Power BI file formats (including the enhanced metadata format).

If you want to audit or analyse the M-code of multiple Power BI pbix-files at once, you start with either:

  1. a from-folder query where you filter all files of interest or
  2. a table with the full file-path-specification of the files to be analysed in “Column1”.

Then you add a column where you call the function that extracts the M-code:

Function to extract the M-code

https://gist.github.com/dbb3cd22d0825cb7d0d8f95d1ac35a31

This code is a variation of Igors function which retrieves the code from an opened pbix-file. So now you can apply it to closed pbix-files as well.

For method 1 you call it like so (as it takes the full string for the file-path as its parameter):

Read more

Create a function library in Power BI using M-Extensions

by

Having the ability to use own M-function the same way than native functions in Power BI and Excel has been one of my biggest wishes for quite some time. So I was more than amazed to see Frank Tonsen’s comment showing a way to do exactly this in PowerBI, that has been available for almost half a year now: M-Extensions as part of the custom connectors.

Unlike custom connectors who show up in the import-dialogue and provide a custom tailored option for importing data or creating queries, M-Extensions don’t show up explicitly anywhere in Power BI: They just do their M(agic) job to make the functions that you’ve defined in them accessible, as if they were inbuilt native functions: Type their name into the formula bar like this (1):

And enjoy the function description (2: if you’ve specified it in the definition, which is optional):

Simplest example

  1. Your functions: Number.Double and Number.Triple
  2. Combined with the keyword “shared” and separated by “;”
  3. Prefix by “section MyLibrary” gives this text:
section MyLibrary;
shared Number.Double = (Number as number) =>
2 * Number;
shared Number.Triple = (Number as number) =>
3 * Number;

 

How to make M-Extensions work

Read more

Custom Connector to import Google Sheets with OAuth2 authentication in PowerBI

by

EDIT 17th Feb 2022: Finally, we have the native connector in Power BI: Power Query Google Sheets connector – Power Query | Microsoft Docs – so no need for the workaround described in this blogpost.

EDIT 17th August 2019: Added instructions for the newly added consent screen below..

Recently I came across the need to connect to Google Sheets with a secure authentication process quite often, so I will share with you how and to what extend I got the custom connector working that I found here. It uses OAuth2 authentication, so you can share your workbook with selected colleagues and they will be prompted to enter their credentials in Power BI if they try to access these files.

High level overview

First you have to create an API in your Google account. This will enable other programs to connect to your data (provided they pass the correct credentials). After that you have to adjust the .mez-file to include the client id and client secret that identify your API. This data will be generated when setting up the API. After you’ve adjusted the .mez you have to store it in a dedicated folder so that Power BI can access it. Lastly, if you want to use this connector in the Power BI service, you have to add the .mez-file to a gateway.

Setup Google API

Go to the Google Developer API and if you don’t have a project yet, just create one:

NEW: A OAuth consent screen will pop up and you have to give your app a name and fill in “PowerBI.com” into the “Authorized Domains”:

Next go to “Credentials” -> Create credentials and choose “OAuth client ID”:

Choose “Web application”, adjust the “Name” if you like and paste the redirect-url into “Authorized redirect URLs”: https://preview.powerbi.com/views/oauthredirect.html

This will return the client ID and secret for your connector:

 

Adjust the files for the connector

Read more

How Power Query can return clickable hyperlinks with friendly names to Excel

by

When you use Power Query as an Excel-automation-tool rather than just to feed the data model, you might want to return clickable hyperlinks that carry friendly names. This doesn’t work out of the box, but with a little tweak it will be fine:

The trick

Return a text-string that contains the Excel (!)-formula for hyperlinks, preceded by an apostrophe  ‘ . After the data has been loaded to the sheet, check the column and replace ‘= by = to activate your Excel-formula:

Activate the HYPERLINK formula by replacing ‘= with =

You can then format the column to “Hyperlink”:

Read more

How to open a complex JSON record in Power BI and Power Query

by

Today I’ll show you a very useful technique how to deal with a JSON record that contains a wild mixture of different elements like this: If you click on one of the expandable elements, their content will be shown, but you’ll loose all the “surrounding” information (metadata) that is visible now. This is often an … Read more