Refresh dataset api

Hey smpa01,

I've dealt with this exact issue before. The problem is that the API doesn't automatically respect your incremental refresh settings like the manual refresh does. Here's what worked for me:

Quick Fix - Try This First

Replace your current payload with:

{
"type": "automatic",
"commitMode": "transactional"
}

Don't specify individual tables initially - let Power BI handle the incremental logic automatically.

If That Doesn't Work

Use this approach (worked for most of my datasets):

{
"type": "dataOnly",
"applyRefreshPolicy": true,
"objects": [
{
"table": "DimCustomer"
},
{
"table": "DimDate"
}
]
}

What I Learned

• Avoid "type": "full" - this bypasses incremental refresh completely
• "automatic" mode should respect your incremental settings
• applyRefreshPolicy: true is crucial when specifying objects
• Sometimes the API needs explicit table specification, sometimes it doesn't

Debugging Steps

1. First try without specifying any objects at all
2. If that fails, add your tables but keep applyRefreshPolicy: true
3. Check the refresh history to see which partitions actually got processed
4. Compare timing with manual refresh

Personal Experience

I had the same frustration where manual worked perfectly but API either took forever (full refresh) or did nothing (automatic with wrong settings). The key breakthrough was realizing that "automatic" mode needs the right parameters to actually trigger the refresh logic.

Give the automatic approach a shot first - that's usually the cleanest solution.

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Best Regards,

Jainesh Poojara | Power BI Developer