Extracting data from External tables in semantic Model

[Arnab0111]

I have 4 delta file in ADLS , I want to create  shortcuts to the same in fabric lakehouse table space and build a semantic layer model on top of the shortcut table and use the the semantic layer model to generate a powerbi report. I want to achieve the same without using any managed table in fabric, please guide me in the same.

[v-shex-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @Arnab0111,

So you mean directly use external resource without getting data to fabric? The requirement sounds like the mirroring feature in data warehouse, but current it seems only work for specific data sources.

Perhaps you can take a look at following document about this feature usage and submit idea for add the support to add more data source types:

Mirroring - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn

Regards,

Xiaoxin Sheng

[frithjof_v]

Hi @Arnab0111 

Could you tell more about why you don't want to use managed table?

I guess the easiest is to create the shortcut in the managed Lakehouse table section. Just click here (yellow marker) and create New shortcut:

[Arnab0111]

Spoiler

I don't want to use managed table as I want the data to only reside in ADLS and not in fabric but want to use the data in fabric ecosystem by using shortcut only. 
Can I use shortcut in the table section for a csv file in ADLS and see the table in semantic model or sql endpoint of the lakehouse ?

[frithjof_v]

I'm not sure I understand the comment:

>Spoiler

Perhaps it is a screenshot from ADLS? I'm not familiar with ADLS myself.

Is your data in ADLS already in Delta Table format (also called Delta Lake)? If so, it should be possible to create the shortcut inside the managed table section of the Lakehouse. Then it is possible to use Direct Lake in Power BI.

Or is the data in ADLS stored in another format?

In that case, I don't think you can use it with Direct Lake. However, you could create a shortcut in the Files section and then connect to the data from Power BI in import mode. (However, in that case you could also connect Power BI directly to ADLS, by creating the semantic model in Power BI desktop, and then you don't need to create a shortcut).

Perhaps it is also possible to create the shortcut into the Files section of the Lakehouse. Then use notebook to create an external table in the Table section of the Lakehouse. This external table can use the shortcut in Files section as it's data source. However I don't think you can use Power BI direct lake with such table.