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Hello Power Query enthusiasts,
many of you know that Power Query is an amazing tool for data import and data transformation. It is powerful an easy to use. But there is always a BUT. It is a pain to write custom M code. The Power Query Advanced Editor comes without intellisense (auto completion), no parameter hints, no syntax highlighting, no help texts, which explain what the functions do, no nothing. The fact, that M is case sensitive doesn’t make it easier at all.
In 2015 I read the following article, written by Matt Masson. Matt is a Senior Program Manager at Microsoft and member of the Power BI Developer Team. He showed how to create an editor for Power Query with Notepad++. At that time I did not even know that it was possible to create a custom language in Notepad++. Thanks a lot Matt
Matt’s tool already had intellisense and syntax highlighting. What I was still missing was parameter hints and help texts. The number of Power Query functions are getting more every month and I am always looking for the right function for my specific problem. This is why I was investigating a bit and found a solution, which I hope will be helping others as well.
I use my editor mainly in two scenarios:
Scenario 1: Finding the right function for my problem
Using the editor makes it much easier to find the function that fits your needs. Especially the help texts help you to get more familiar with the M language.
Scenario 2: Taking a look at M code with highlighted keywords and comments
Syntax highlighting helps to keep (or get) an overview over your M code. Commenting becomes more important, the longer and complex your M code gets.
If you are dealing with these scenarios as well and you find my solution interesting, please read further and learn how to get it. It is completely FREE and will take your M Code to the next level
Let’s see how to get there.
Creating your own M editor in Notepad++ is not complicated and can be seperated in the following steps:
I will guide to create your editor. Stay tuned
Of cause you need to download the free tool Notepad++ (e. g. from here). I installed the first version („Take this one if you have no idea which one you should take„) on my machine.
After you installed the software you need to do some modification in Notepad++. Go to Language and choose Define your language…
The form for defining the user defined language opens. Choose Create New… and give your language a name. I called it M.
Now you have to define special keywords and their styles. Go to tab Keywords Lists and fill the first group with all the functions from Power Query (Click this link ssbi-blog.de to get to my personal blog, where I provide this list of functions for you). Go there and click the link list of functions for keywords highlighting). Mark everything in Excel (ctrl + a), then copy (ctrl + c), move to 1st Group in Notepad++ and paste all the function into that box (ctrl + v). The result looks like this:
Then press Styler and style the keywords as you like it. I decide turn all my function keywords in deep blue and bold letter.
Take care also to select the check box for prefix mode. That way your keyword only get styled, when it is used as a prefix. And now comes one of the most important steps: Don’t ignore case
After we have defined all functions as keywords, we need to add some more keywords. The list of keywords is not complete. Feel free to add specific keywords and adjust the styles as you like it.
For your convenience copy the following words into the groups:
Group 2: let in
Group 3: each
Group 4: if then else
Group 5: try otherwise
Group 6: #table #date #shared #sections; Because the elements in the 6th group are used like function, take care to activate Prefix mode.
Now we’re coming to comments:
Use Styler in the same way as you did it before. I choose deep green as color for comments. To select Allow folding of comments does exactly what it says. It allows you to fold comments together, if you want to focus on the source code only.
The final step is to define the delimitors. Select the operators and deliminators tab.
For your convenience copy it from here:
Operators1: „>, ; = & ( ) [ ] { } @ ! ? => .. … = < > <> + = * / <= >=</ #
Operators2: and or not
There is no save button. So just click the cross in the upper right corner to close the dialog.
Adding styles by pushing the button Stylers is recommended… I suggest to use red color for Operators.
Now my code already has intellisense and highlights keywords. But I am still missing parameter hints and help texts.
Adding parameter hints and help texts is easy for you. I already created the necessary XML file for you. On my personal blog SSBI-Blog (follow this link) you find several links to download several files. I provide two files for auto completion and help texts: One in German and one in English. Download one of the following two files English auto completion file or German auto completion file from the very end of this article and put it into your APIs folder of Notepad++. On my machine I find it under …
C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\plugins\APIs
Now restart your Notepad++, press ctrl+n for a new window and choose “M” as your language (as you can see in the following screenshot).
Now have fun writing M-statements much easier than before
TAKE CARE: The name of the new language and the name of the XML file has to be the same. If you decide to use something different from M, keep this in mind.
After each update of Power BI Desktop I will provide you with new files following this link. Then just do 2 things:
I hope this will help you to get a deeper understanding of the M language. Sharing is caring. If you liked this article, feel free to share it.
Regards,
Lars
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