Forum Discussion

kleighton's avatar
kleighton
Helper II
4 years ago
Solved

Importing Data from an external Embedded Report URL

Hi!

 

We have an external company which provides us reporting tables via a web portal (with authentication) and an embedded powerbi report.

 

I was wondering is there any way to import this Data into my own report. I tried a normal "Web" Data source import and when i enter the username and password credentials under "Basic authentication" i get the error "Web.BrowserContents currently supports only anonymous credentials"

Then the Table preview opens and it seems like it's trying to refresh to no avail..

Any ideas if this is possible? or if i can acheive this another way?

Need Help
  • v-luwang-msft's avatar
    v-luwang-msft
    4 years ago

    Hi kleighton ，

    According to the official article, this is the current limitation of Web connector.

    The new version of the Web connector (currently available in Power BI Desktop) automatically creates a Web.BrowserContents query. Such queries currently only support anonymous authentication. In other words, the new Web connector can't be used to connect to a source that requires non-anonymous authentication. This limitation applies to the Web.BrowserContents function, regardless of the host environment.

    And the legacy Power Query Web connector automatically creates a Web.Page query that supports authentication. The only limitation occurs if you select Windows authentication in the authentication method dialog box. In this case, the Use my current credentials selection works correctly, but Use alternate credentials won't authenticate.

    Currently, Power BI Desktop automatically uses the Web.BrowserContents function. The Web.Page function is still used automatically by Excel and Power Query Online.

    And you could use vba to import data to excel ,then import to PowerBI. And refer the   Super User shared the way about vba he used:

    https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Desktop/Get-data-from-web-with-credentials/td-p/650307#:~:text=As%20I%20stated,I%20quoted%20above%3A 

     

     

    Best Regards

    Lucien

1 Reply

  • v-luwang-msft's avatar
    v-luwang-msft
    Community Support
    4 years ago

    Hi kleighton ，

    According to the official article, this is the current limitation of Web connector.

    The new version of the Web connector (currently available in Power BI Desktop) automatically creates a Web.BrowserContents query. Such queries currently only support anonymous authentication. In other words, the new Web connector can't be used to connect to a source that requires non-anonymous authentication. This limitation applies to the Web.BrowserContents function, regardless of the host environment.

    And the legacy Power Query Web connector automatically creates a Web.Page query that supports authentication. The only limitation occurs if you select Windows authentication in the authentication method dialog box. In this case, the Use my current credentials selection works correctly, but Use alternate credentials won't authenticate.

    Currently, Power BI Desktop automatically uses the Web.BrowserContents function. The Web.Page function is still used automatically by Excel and Power Query Online.

    And you could use vba to import data to excel ,then import to PowerBI. And refer the   Super User shared the way about vba he used:

    https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Desktop/Get-data-from-web-with-credentials/td-p/650307#:~:text=As%20I%20stated,I%20quoted%20above%3A 

     

     

    Best Regards

    Lucien