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smpa01's avatar
smpa01
Community Champion
8 years ago
Solved

Dynamically create column if a particular column does not exist within the data

Hi,

 

I receive numerous excel files each month which I need to consolidate. I use Excel.Workbook to do that.

 

However, a particular column "Semi Annual" may or may not present in those files.

 

Is there a way to dynamically create a column if that particular column is absent from that particular table. Is is possible to acheive in PBI?

 

Raw Data and Desired Result- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1iwTNyxrHwHDiRs6zw0UpvLvnSKfVQm7f

 

 

Thank you in advance.

Need Help
  • Ashish_Mathur's avatar
    Ashish_Mathur
    8 years ago

    Hi,

     

    This code works fine for me.  I saved all 3 files on a desktop folder named Data.  From all 3 files i deleted the first row (where the file name was mentioend).  Here's the M query

     

    let
        Source = Folder.Files("C:\Users\Ashish\Desktop\Data"),
        #"Removed Other Columns" = Table.SelectColumns(Source,{"Content"}),
        #"Added Custom" = Table.AddColumn(#"Removed Other Columns", "Custom", each Excel.Workbook([Content])),
        #"Removed Columns" = Table.RemoveColumns(#"Added Custom",{"Content"}),
        #"Expanded Custom" = Table.ExpandTableColumn(#"Removed Columns", "Custom", {"Name", "Data", "Item", "Kind", "Hidden"}, {"Name", "Data", "Item", "Kind", "Hidden"}),
        #"Removed Other Columns1" = Table.SelectColumns(#"Expanded Custom",{"Data"}),
        #"Added Custom1" = Table.AddColumn(#"Removed Other Columns1", "Custom", each Table.PromoteHeaders([Data])),
        #"Removed Columns1" = Table.RemoveColumns(#"Added Custom1",{"Data"}),
        #"Expanded Custom1" = Table.ExpandTableColumn(#"Removed Columns1", "Custom", {"Month #", "ID", "Annual", "Quarterly", "Monthly", "Total", "Semi Annual "}, {"Month #", "ID", "Annual", "Quarterly", "Monthly", "Total", "Semi Annual "}),
        #"Reordered Columns" = Table.ReorderColumns(#"Expanded Custom1",{"Month #", "ID", "Annual", "Semi Annual ", "Quarterly", "Monthly", "Total"}),
        #"Changed Type" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(#"Reordered Columns",{{"Month #", Int64.Type}, {"ID", Int64.Type}, {"Annual", Int64.Type}, {"Semi Annual ", Int64.Type}, {"Quarterly", Int64.Type}, {"Monthly", Int64.Type}, {"Total", Int64.Type}})
    in
        #"Changed Type"

     

    The result is

     

8 Replies

  • Ashish_Mathur's avatar
    Ashish_Mathur
    Super User
    8 years ago

    Hi,

     

    What error do you face when you use that technique for appending data from multiple files/sheets?

    • smpa01's avatar
      smpa01
      Community Champion
      8 years ago

      Hi Ashish,

       

      I could not achieve what I was looking for. Sorry My raw data earlier was incorrect.

       

      Raw Data -https://drive.google.com/open?id=1MCHZZVEvdKU5PyoFEcKqKCfSrJ9tUnNN

       

      This is what I have tried by appending

       

      1.xlsx
let
    Source = Folder.Files("C:\Users\Desktop\Test"),
    #"Added Custom" = Table.AddColumn(Source, "Custom", each Excel.Workbook([Content])),
    #"Filtered Rows" = Table.SelectRows(#"Added Custom", each ([Name] = "1.xlsx")),
    #"Removed Other Columns1" = Table.SelectColumns(#"Filtered Rows",{"Custom"}),
    #"Removed Other Columns" = Table.SelectColumns(#"Removed Other Columns1",{"Custom"}),
    #"Expanded Custom" = Table.ExpandTableColumn(#"Removed Other Columns", "Custom", {"Data"}, {"Data"}),
    #"Expanded Data" = Table.ExpandTableColumn(#"Expanded Custom", "Data", {"Column1", "Column2", "Column3", "Column4", "Column5", "Column6"}, {"Column1", "Column2", "Column3", "Column4", "Column5", "Column6"})
in
    #"Expanded Data"
      2.xlsx

let
    Source = Folder.Files("C:\Users\Desktop\Test"),
    #"Added Custom" = Table.AddColumn(Source, "Custom", each Excel.Workbook([Content])),
    #"Filtered Rows" = Table.SelectRows(#"Added Custom", each ([Name] = "2.xlsx")),
    #"Removed Other Columns1" = Table.SelectColumns(#"Filtered Rows",{"Custom"}),
    #"Removed Other Columns" = Table.SelectColumns(#"Removed Other Columns1",{"Custom"}),
    #"Expanded Custom" = Table.ExpandTableColumn(#"Removed Other Columns", "Custom", {"Data"}, {"Data"}),
    #"Expanded Data" = Table.ExpandTableColumn(#"Expanded Custom", "Data", {"Column1", "Column2", "Column3", "Column4", "Column5", "Column6"}, {"Column1", "Column2", "Column3", "Column4", "Column5", "Column6"})
in
    #"Expanded Data"
      3.xlsx

let
    Source = Folder.Files("C:\Users\Desktop\Test"),
    #"Added Custom" = Table.AddColumn(Source, "Custom", each Excel.Workbook([Content])),
    #"Filtered Rows" = Table.SelectRows(#"Added Custom", each ([Name] = "3.xlsx")),
    #"Removed Other Columns1" = Table.SelectColumns(#"Filtered Rows",{"Custom"}),
    #"Removed Other Columns" = Table.SelectColumns(#"Removed Other Columns1",{"Custom"}),
    #"Expanded Custom" = Table.ExpandTableColumn(#"Removed Other Columns", "Custom", {"Data"}, {"Data"}),
    #"Expanded Data" = Table.ExpandTableColumn(#"Expanded Custom", "Data", {"Column1", "Column2", "Column3", "Column4", "Column5", "Column6"}, {"Column1", "Column2", "Column3", "Column4", "Column5", "Column6"})
in
    #"Expanded Data"
      Append

let
    Source = Table.Combine({#"Test (2)", #"Test (3)", #"Test (4)"})
in
    Source
      • Ashish_Mathur's avatar
        Ashish_Mathur
        Super User
        8 years ago

        Hi,

         

        This code works fine for me.  I saved all 3 files on a desktop folder named Data.  From all 3 files i deleted the first row (where the file name was mentioend).  Here's the M query

         

        let
            Source = Folder.Files("C:\Users\Ashish\Desktop\Data"),
            #"Removed Other Columns" = Table.SelectColumns(Source,{"Content"}),
            #"Added Custom" = Table.AddColumn(#"Removed Other Columns", "Custom", each Excel.Workbook([Content])),
            #"Removed Columns" = Table.RemoveColumns(#"Added Custom",{"Content"}),
            #"Expanded Custom" = Table.ExpandTableColumn(#"Removed Columns", "Custom", {"Name", "Data", "Item", "Kind", "Hidden"}, {"Name", "Data", "Item", "Kind", "Hidden"}),
            #"Removed Other Columns1" = Table.SelectColumns(#"Expanded Custom",{"Data"}),
            #"Added Custom1" = Table.AddColumn(#"Removed Other Columns1", "Custom", each Table.PromoteHeaders([Data])),
            #"Removed Columns1" = Table.RemoveColumns(#"Added Custom1",{"Data"}),
            #"Expanded Custom1" = Table.ExpandTableColumn(#"Removed Columns1", "Custom", {"Month #", "ID", "Annual", "Quarterly", "Monthly", "Total", "Semi Annual "}, {"Month #", "ID", "Annual", "Quarterly", "Monthly", "Total", "Semi Annual "}),
            #"Reordered Columns" = Table.ReorderColumns(#"Expanded Custom1",{"Month #", "ID", "Annual", "Semi Annual ", "Quarterly", "Monthly", "Total"}),
            #"Changed Type" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(#"Reordered Columns",{{"Month #", Int64.Type}, {"ID", Int64.Type}, {"Annual", Int64.Type}, {"Semi Annual ", Int64.Type}, {"Quarterly", Int64.Type}, {"Monthly", Int64.Type}, {"Total", Int64.Type}})
        in
            #"Changed Type"

         

        The result is