Forum Discussion
404 error when loading data to model
Yes, that's why I proposed it as a workaround ;)
Thanks for your reply Anonymous
I've traced the error to one of URL encoding. When loading the data to the model, Power BI is decoding a "%2f" in the URL to a "/", which must be encoded. See below.
https://[DOMAIN]/[PATH]%2fuser?[QUERY]
I've tried forcing the "/" to be encoded in the M query, which works in the Query Editor using "Uri.EscapeDataString("/").
let
Encoded = Uri.EscapeDataString("/"),
Source = Json.Document(Web.Contents("https://[DOMAIN]/[PATH]" & Encoded & "user?[QUERY]", [Headers=[Authorization="[AUTHKEY]"]]))
in
SourceThis is ignored when loading data to model and I'm received (redacted) the "/" decoded, which is causing the 404 Error.
OLE DB or ODBC error: [DataSource.Error] Web.Contents failed to get contents from 'https://[DOMAIN]/[PATH]/user?[QUERY]' (404): Not Found.
Unfortunately, the API I'm working with requires this section of the URL to be encoded (I've tested this outside of PBI). I'm able to view and model the data unimpeded in the query editor, but the encoding during the model loading is causing an Error 404. Is there a workaround for this?
Thanks for your help!
HI seann,
Unfortunately, I also not found effective solutions to work through this issue. Maybe you can take a look at following blog about handling special characters.
Handling special characters from html files with Power BI (M language).
ImkeF Any suggestion with web connector and character encode?
Regards,
Xiaoxin Sheng
Sorry, this looks like a bug to me: You clearly have the correct strings in your URL and it loads correctly in the editor and when transforming to the model it does an extra conversion. You should file a bug-report for it.
Theoretically one could enforce the string-evaluation by using "Expression.Evaluate", but unfortunately this doesn't work when loading to the model as well (but this is by design).
So the only workaround I can think of at the moment is to run the query in the editor and use an R- or Python-script to export from the editor to a csv-file and re-import from there.
Actually, another idea:
Try the "Relative Path"-method: https://blog.crossjoin.co.uk/2016/08/16/using-the-relativepath-and-query-options-with-web-contents-in-power-query-and-power-bi-m-code/
With any luck, this bypasses the problem:
let Encoded = Uri.EscapeDataString("/"), Source = Json.Document(Web.Contents("https://[DOMAIN]/[PATH]",
RelativePath="user?[QUERY]",
Query=[Headers=[Authorization="[AUTHKEY]"]])) in SourceThanks for the workaround ImkeF. Unfortunately the "RelativePath" function seems to be a placeholder for "/", rather than the encoded "%2f" so I'm encountering the same 404 error. I'll file a bug report.
Can an R/Python script access the data in the query editor without it being loaded to model?
Thanks for the suggestions Anonymous, but I'm having no issues dealing with special characters in the query editor, only when loading to model.