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tctrout's avatar
tctrout
Responsive Resident
4 years ago

Dataflow - Computed Entity not displaying added column

Scenario:

I am creating dataflows and follwing the Microsoft best practices to split Extract and Transform into 2 separate dataflows.  Both dataflows are in the same workspace for the benefit of cascading refreshes between dataflows with linked entities.  Enhanced compute engine is turned on for the worksapce.

 

The linked entity cascading refresh appears to be working, when I click refresh on Extract dataflow I can see that the Transform dataflow also refreshes.

 

Issue:

If I added a column to Extract dataflow the column is not added to the Transform Dataflow Computed Entity.  Below is an outline, I started out with a single table single column load and refresh the dataflows.  I add Column 2 to Dataflow Extract after the initial creation and refresh Dataflow - Extract.  Dataflow - Transform also refreshes automagically because of the cascading refresh of linked entities.  However, Column 2 does not appear in the Computed Entity of Dataflow Transform.  

I connected PBI destop to Dataflow - Transform.  Consumed both tables

 

linked entity Table A from Dataflow Extract
Computed entity from referencing linked entity Table A from Dataflow Extract

 

Here I can see Column 2 in the linked entity but it is not visible in the computed entity.  If I go back into Dataflow Transform and edit the tables (make no changes) close and load column 2 finally appears in Dataflow Transform table Computed Entity.

Is this expected behavior and is there any documentation on it?  Why must I 'edit' Dataflow Transform to pick up the column added upstream within the computed entity?  I expected that columns added upstream would flow downstream due to the cascading refresh.

 


Dataflow - Extract

      Table A

           Column 1

           Column 2 (added after initial creation)

 

Dataflow - Transform

       linked entity Table A from Dataflow Extract

           Column 1

           Column 2 - appears in linked entity

 

       Computed entity from referencing linked entity Table A from Dataflow Extract

            Column 1

Need Help

3 Replies

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    Not applicable
    4 years ago

    Hi tctrout ,

    Could you please check if you can see the new column when using the same query in Power BI Desktop?

     

    Please refer to the following document.

    Creating computed entities in dataflows 

    To perform in-storage computations, you first must create the dataflow and bring data into that Power BI dataflow storage. After you have a dataflow that contains data, you can create computed entities, which are entities that do in-storage computations.

    There are two ways you can connect dataflow data to Power BI:

    If I have misnuderstood your meaning, please provide more details with your desired.

    Best Regards
    Community Support Team _ Polly

    If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

    • tctrout's avatar
      tctrout
      Responsive Resident
      4 years ago

      Thank you, I am not having issues connecting to a computed entity via powerbi.  My question is why doesnt a computed entity get updated with an added column further upstream?  I see the added column in the linked entity but not the computed entity.  I must 'edite' the dataflow containing the computed entity, though I make no changes, and save and close to see the added column.  


      I must be missing something, adding a column should just flow to the computed entity but it doesnt in my examples.

      • tctrout's avatar
        tctrout
        Responsive Resident
        4 years ago

        Anonymous 

        Can anyone in the community explain this?