Forum Discussion

Josh_BI_UK's avatar
Josh_BI_UK
Icon for Helper II rankHelper II
8 years ago
Solved

Reference two or more Columns as Source in new query

Hi PWRBI family,

 

How do you references two columns from a table in another query as the source for a new query using Power BI - Query editor?

 

 

Example

 

Query A > Table called: "Tbl_CoursesbyTutorTable", Columns needed called: "Course Codes" and "Course Title"

 

New Query (B) > References only columns "Course Codes" and "Course Title" from Query A.

 

I don't want to use the Reference shortcut function or Duplicate the original query.

 

I would like to simply create a new query using M (Advanced Editor), and have some code similar to this, but for two columns, instead of just one:

 

 

 

let
    Source = Tbl_CoursesbyTutorTable[Course Title]
in
    Source

 

Mega appreciate the help in advance.

Need Help
  • Stachu's avatar
    Stachu
    8 years ago

    I speak from personal experience - if there is difference in performance I don't think it will be visible in most cases
    I do prefer the clarity of the code in my syntax, it's quite straightforward so in case you need to handover it shouldn't be too complex

    as for learning you can give this a go
    https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/query-bi/m/power-query-m-language-specification

    a bit tough read, but gives much better understanding of M

    EDIT
    you can even simplify it more

    let
    Source = Table.SelectColumns(Tbl_CoursesbyTutorTable,{"Course Codes", "Course Title"})
in
    Source

    but I actually prefer to have the steps separated

8 Replies

  • Josh_BI_UK's avatar
    Josh_BI_UK
    Icon for Helper II rankHelper II
    8 years ago

    Hi all, had a quick mess about and got something to work. I referenced one column using:

     let
        #"QueryA_Col_1" = Tbl_CoursesbyTutorTable[Course Title]
    in
        #"QueryA_Col_1"

     then I edited the query and added a custom column which used my 2nd column as a source.

     Code I used:

     

    let
    #"QueryA_Col_1" = Tbl_CoursesbyTutorTable[Course Title],
    #"Converted to Table" = Table.FromList(#"QueryA_Col_1", Splitter.SplitByNothing(), null, null, ExtraValues.Error),
    #"QueryA_Col_2" = Table.AddColumn(#"Converted to Table", "Course", each Tbl_CoursesbyTutorTable[Course Codes]),
    #"Expanded Course Codes Col" = Table.ExpandListColumn(#"QueryA_Col_2", "Course Codes")

in
    #"Expanded Course Codes Col"

     

    Is there a cleaner / slimier code I could use? My code worked but looks clumsy.

    • Stachu's avatar
      Stachu
      Icon for Community Champion rankCommunity Champion
      8 years ago

      I'd reference the whole table, and then select only valid columns in next step

      let
    Source = Tbl_CoursesbyTutorTable,
    #"Removed Other Columns" = Table.SelectColumns(Source,{"Course Codes", "Course Title"})
in
    #"Removed Other Columns"
      • Josh_BI_UK's avatar
        Josh_BI_UK
        Icon for Helper II rankHelper II
        8 years ago

        Hi Stachu,

         

        Thank you for sharing. Happy to go with your suggestion, if there is a reason why it is a better approach e.g. speed of processing, best practice, your experience etc.

         

        Could you elaborate, so this post acts as a learning tool also? Any blogs mentioning the topics would also be fab.

         

         

  • actzikas's avatar
    actzikas
    Frequent Visitor
    6 years ago

    Could you bring into two tables as a source? 

    = Table.SelectColumns(Table 1, {"OwnerId", "Type", "CreatedDate", "Creator_Role__c"}) and somehow have another Table.SelectColumns for Table 2?

    • Josh_BI_UK's avatar
      Josh_BI_UK
      Icon for Helper II rankHelper II
      6 years ago

      Hi  actzikas, I hope I'm interpreting your question, right? From the looks of it you wish to Join or Combine two tables into one query?
       
      I don't think this post best suits your question. May I suggest looking at this post Append vs Merge using Power Query       ; or if that doesn't help please add further clarification.
       
      Teamwork makes the BI work - always happy to help🙌