Rename column in a Power BI semantic model without breaking related reports

[zenisekd]

Hi, 

I have one semantic model report, which is being used by many other reports. 

There is one table with a typo; I desperately need to fix it. However, the incriminated table's columns are being used across related reports (which use the report as a "semantic model" data source. So if I try to fix the table name in Desktop and republish it or if I try to fix it online in service, it breaks all the visuals in the related reports. 

My question is what would be the most efficient way to solve this issue. The simple, yet time wasting would be to fix it in the desktop and then go report by report and fixing all broken visuals (e.g. a value form the incriminated column is used in the visual level filter). This is not efficient. 

I don't use git integration, but I am sure that there is some simpler way, where I just CTRL+F all the misspelled table code in the source code and replace it with the correct code. I am willing to do this report by report (15 reports), but I am not sure how ...

[zenisekd · Accepted solution]

Thank you @danextian , I followed the suggested blog post, however, I struggled with using the Power Shell console to run and decompose the .pbix to .zip file. 

I did some more digging and it turned up, that the most useful is TMSL format, which can be gained natively from Power BI nowadays. There is also TMDL, however that one decomposes the code to the single page level code files, which is not my desired outcome. I needed one file, which will contain all pages, so I could use notepad++ and replace the code. That can be done by the TMSL format. 

To do this, I had to select following preview feature (and uncheck the others, otherwise it would create TMDL). 

This video was my source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ4cTuUc3so&t=601s&ab_channel=Fernan

[Anonymous]

Hi @zenisekd 

I wish you all the best. I would like to confirm whether you have successfully resolved this issue or if you need further assistance. If danextian 's reply was helpful to you, could you consider marking it as a solution? This will help more users who are facing the same or similar difficulties. Thank you!

Best Regards,
Yulia Xu

[danextian]

Hi @zenisekd 

It's a pretty old blog post but this might be what you need - https://data-goblins.com/power-bi/replace-report-measures