In Power BI first we get source data. And then we add multiple query steps to filter data/remove column/etc. Then we add relations and model the data.
We can have calculated columns that are stored in the data. And measures that are not stored in the data but calculated on the fly.
Which data is stored in Power BI - the one after query or the one after modelling?
Power BI has 3 connection types for data access. They are import, direct query and live connections.
If we use import method as a connection type, data imported into Power bi file using Power BI desktop. So all the data always stays in disk. When query or refresh, data stays in computer memory.This data we can use to query and modeling. After work, we save the Power BI file it will save as file with .pbix extension. Data compressed and stored inside this file.
in direct query mode , data stays in remote location and we can connect data. each time we refresh or make change in slicer request goes to data source and bring back data to power bi. In this method, we can't access data but we can create data model.
live connection is another method. It only support for few data sources. In this method, data not stored in computer memory and can't create data model using Power BI desktop.
Power BI is very well documented. Many of the questions you've recently asked are answered in that resource, so please take a look. I get the feeling that you are using this community because you don't want to read the manual. I strongly suggest you take a look at the documentation, because everything we write in answer to your questions has already been written and documented, and SO is not meant to be a shadow user guide for well documented systems.
Depending on the data source you use in Power BI Desktop, Power BI supports query folding, which will do as much processing of the data at the source (for example SQL Server).
If query folding is not possible because the source does not support it, then the source data is loaded before the query steps are applied.
Read more about query folding here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/guidance/power-query-folding
When you perform additional modelling after the Power Queries are loaded, i.e. creating tables with DAX, adding columns, etc., these will be performed when the PBIX file is published to the Power BI service, and they will be performed each time the data is refreshed with the data gateway.
Related
We have a situation were a table full data is replaced during data refresh. We would like to compare the refreshed data with the previous data that it held.
One option that I thought of was to clone the table and then refresh the original table. However, refreshing the original table also refreshes the data in the clone.
Is there any other way that the original table is refreshed without refreshing the clone/copy table?
Other solution I thought was to use SSAS and create two tables on the top of the source. This way each table can be processed individually.
However, in this situation, SSAS is not an option so is it possible to do this within Power BI?
Power BI is not really suited to this purpose and accumulating historic data is best done upstream in your DB or data warehouse.
However, there are options out there using dataflows which you can read about here although it is not a recommended pattern: https://data-azure.com/2021/10/25/dataflows-to-store-as-historical-data/
I have a power BI dataset that takes its data from a software made by the IT team in my organization.
I was wondering if it was possible for me to "freeze" all the data in the PBI dataset (like, taking a picture of the data for exemple today) and use this dataset for further analysis (I have another power BI file linked to that Power BI dataset). I know the data won't refresh, but it's not important for what I need to do, as I only need to have the past info.
The reason why I need to know if that's possible is that I'm going oversea for one month and won't have access to the original dataset. Downloading all the data into one excel is impossible as it is way to big.
thanks
It sounds like you're after some sort of snapshotting functionality
If you just wanted to keep the file as is, then you can download the pbix and just not refresh it provided its in import mode.
However one approach you could take if you want to continue doing development without worrying about accidentally refreshing is to use a power bi dataflow
You could copy your power query queries to a dataflow. Refresh them all as at today. Then don't refresh the dataflow anymore
You can then point your power bi dataset to your dataflow
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/transform-model/dataflows/dataflows-create
That way if you wanted to do further transformation of data, you wouldnt be getting new data from the data source (so long as you dont refresh the dataflow)
I am new to Power BI and trying to build a report for one of our business requirements. I have access to a Power BI dataset which I imported in the Power BI desktop version. I also need to import an excel file placed in SharePoint/OneDrive and merge the data in these two sources. When I am trying to do this, I am getting the below error.
Is this feature not available in Power BI?
If not, is there a way to achieve this objective?
You are connected to a Tabular SSAS cube or Power BI Service dataset, you can't add other data sources.
You can only mix data source types in the modes direct query and import. See the limitations section of the MS docs
One option would be to recreate the Tabular data model in Power BI, over the base table/views it is based on in direct query mode, then add the SharePoint list, or add it as a table in the Tabular/Power BI Service Dataset
I'm trying to build a simple report in Power BI based upon data published on a website.
Here is what I want to achieve
This website publishes data for COVID cases in the country.
The number are just the current numbers, without any time-series.
I want to fetch these numbers from this website daily and build a report on
top of it (with time series kind of analysis).
So I fetch these numbers (Get Data > Web > URL) and get this into a query I then add
a custom column with a timestmap (M's DateTime.LocalNow() function)
and get this data with the required timestamp.
Now I want to refresh this query daily, so that I get daily results in this query.
6. As expected, PBI simply overwrites the existing rows with new data,
with the latest timestamp (my custom column).
I tried few things like:-
Creating a new query and appending data to it, it doesn't seem to work, existing data gets over-written (maybe the way I have created the new query).
Explored incremental refresh functionality, it doesn't seem to fit my use case.
Tried looking at other similar posts, none seem to help me resolve this.
Questions:-
Is there a simple workaround to circumvent this (point#7) and have PBI append new data instead of overwriting existing data.
Am i correct on point#2 above (incremental refresh)?
Appreciate any pointers. Thanks in advance!
There is no simple workaround within Power BI.
Power BI is not designed to be used as a database where you store historical data. It's designed to connect to data and create reports from that, so you'll need to store the daily data somewhere external.
There are tons of ways to store the data. E.g., you could save them as CSVs in a folder that Power BI loads from or you could write them to a database table and connect to that.
Edit: That said, there is a non-simple workaround if this is something you really must do.
Though not recommended, you can use incremental refresh to trick Power BI into doing what you want.
So, currently I'm having difficulty understanding how Power BI Embedded can be setup so that each customer can access data from their own separate Azure Analysis Service, this is an App Owns Data situation. Analysis Services will be running in In-Memory mode and it will be accessed from Power BI via Live Connect.
Ideally I would like the Power BI Report to be ignorant of the data set/data source until the embedded report is provided with a parameter (e.g. connection string) which the report interprets so that it knows which server to connect to. So, ideally have: one Workspace, one Report, and zero (or a fake) Dataset.
The following is roughly what I'm looking to do (note the Red and Blue flow access a different server):
It looks like if I created both a Report and Dataset per customer I can achieve my goal but this seems like a poor approach since if the Report needs to be updated this involves updating, potentially, hundreds of reports. Also creating hundreds of Reports seems like unnecessary overhead when all Power BI needs to change for each request is the connection string pointing to the data source.
So is it possible to share the Workspace and Report across all customers but having completely separate data sources? Or is my approach in conflict with the way Power BI expects to function?
To date, I've tried using Query Parameters when configuring the data source in Power BI Desktop but I get the following error:
The connect live option for this file is disabled because it already contains data from another data source. You cannot explore live data and connect to another type of data source in the same file.
Please note,
Every report in Power BI can be connected to only one Dataset.
There is NO ability to dynamically change a connection string on the fly.
Currently, and in the foreseeable future, you'd have to clone the report & dataset per customer (or per connection setup) and modify the new dataset's connection string to match.
You can then dynamically choose which report to display based on your customer's needs.
Cloning a report can be done using:
POST https://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/reports/{report_id}/Clone
POST https://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/groups/{group_id}/reports/{report_id}/Clone
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt784674.aspx
Changing the connection string would be done using:
POST https://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/datasets/{dataset_id}/Default.SetAllConnections
(similar API for groups)
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt748181.aspx
using the C#.NET library provided by Power BI team, you'd use
Reports.CloneReport(string reportKey, CloneReportRequest requestParameters)
Datasets.SetAllDatasetConnections(string datasetKey, ConnectionDetails parameters)