Forum Discussion

squiddly's avatar
squiddly
Advocate I
7 years ago

Importing Multiple HTML Files, Where Some Tables are Empty

I import a few hundred HTML files that are formatted the same.  They have the same number of tables (from a human perspective), but some are blank.  Example:

 

File 1:

 

 

Table 1
Header     Header
Data       Data
Data Data
Data Data Table 2 Header Data Table 3 Header Header Data Data
Data Data

 

File 2:

 

Table 1
Header     Header
Data       Data
Data       Data

Table 2
Header
<empty cell>

Table 3
Header     Header
Data       Data

 

The problem comes when I try to import these multiple files.  File 2 will error out on importing Table 3 because it's skipping Table 2 (I think).

 

Is there a way to get Power Query / BI to recognize that Table 2 is a table, but just blank?

3 Replies

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    Not applicable

    squiddly,

    What connector of Power BI Desktop do you use to import these HTML files? What is the error message do you get? Could you please share the file so that I can test?

    Regards,
    Lydia

    • squiddly's avatar
      squiddly
      Advocate I

      Hello Anonymous,

       

      I used the Web connector and pointed it to the HTML residing on my desktop.  These HTML files are produced by another system and I save them locally or on a shared drive.  Web connector with URL of "file:///C:/example/test.html".  Attaching a sample HTML record here.

       

      https://1drv.ms/u/s!AkatFXL35BRFjCYc8nAMog4CJIAc

      • Anonymous's avatar
        Anonymous
        Not applicable

        squiddly,

        The file you shared works well in my Desktop. How can I reproduce your error?

        Regards,
        Lydia