Share your thoughts on DirectQuery for Power BI datasets and Azure Analysis Services (preview)

[tessahurr]

Hit Reply and let us know what you think of the DirectQuery for Power BI datasets and Azure Analysis Services.  To learn more about this feature, please visit this blog post or our documentation.

Here are some areas that we'd like to hear about in particular:

• Performance
• Query editor experience--the remote model query doesn't show up in the query editor and only in the data source settings dialog. What are your thoughts?
• Navigator experience
• Thoughts around governance and permissions for models that leverage this feature
• Nesting models, i.e. building a composite model on top of a composite model
• Automatic page refresh for live connect in composite models

Thanks and we look forward to hearing your feedback!

- The Power BI Modeling Team

[jeroenterheerdt]

I assume with "don't have Pro license" you mean Free users - they will be able to see the reports created using this feature if: a) they have at minimum Read permission on all datasets involved and b) the datasets involved are published on a Premium capacity.

[samaguire]

Looks like DQ is importing calculated tables (not normal tables) flagged as private. This is irrespective of the "Include tables added later" checkbox. I noticed this after adding some clustering via the standard Scatter Chart visual to one of the datasets.

I imagine this would be an issue for those who use private tables to track things - like the dataset template version that I've just started tracking using a private table 😞

The below images show the tables selected for import (not the private tables are not listed), and the ClusterMappingTable tables that ended up in the model.

[jeroenterheerdt]

thanks for reporting this - I will look into this!

[jeroenterheerdt]

@samaguire it took me a while to get back to you as we are unable to reproduce this problem. Are you still seeing this issue?

[samaguire]

@jeroenterheerdt 

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Yes, this is still a problem.

I created an example for you. SourceModel.bim which is used as the source model for the Desktop DQ for AS connection as shown in the below snips.

I also now note that it looks like it only happens when a table is both flagged as private and hidden.

SourceModel.bim as Json:

Spoiler

{
  "name": "SourceModel",
  "compatibilityLevel": 1550,
  "model": {
    "culture": "en-NZ",
    "dataAccessOptions": {
      "legacyRedirects": true,
      "returnErrorValuesAsNull": true
    },
    "defaultPowerBIDataSourceVersion": "powerBI_V3",
    "sourceQueryCulture": "en-NZ",
    "tables": [
      {
        "name": "PqTable",
        "lineageTag": "7001ad32-dbd3-4728-a2da-095a886fb709",
        "columns": [
          {
            "name": "Column1",
            "dataType": "string",
            "sourceColumn": "Column1",
            "lineageTag": "aab2170a-ae38-4eec-8765-32a2cdab3d7c",
            "summarizeBy": "none",
            "annotations": [
              {
                "name": "SummarizationSetBy",
                "value": "Automatic"
              }
            ]
          }
        ],
        "partitions": [
          {
            "name": "PqTable-2446d46a-8837-4b4f-b324-f8cb57d49656",
            "mode": "import",
            "source": {
              "type": "m",
              "expression": [
                "let",
                "    Source = Table.FromRows(Json.Document(Binary.Decompress(Binary.FromText(\"i45W8ssvycjMSw/JD05N9UgtSlWKjQUA\", BinaryEncoding.Base64), Compression.Deflate)), let _t = ((type nullable text) meta [Serialized.Text = true]) in type table [Column1 = _t]),",
                "    #\"Changed Type\" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(Source,{{\"Column1\", type text}})",
                "in",
                "    #\"Changed Type\""
              ]
            }
          }
        ],
        "annotations": [
          {
            "name": "PBI_ResultType",
            "value": "Table"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "name": "PqTablePrivate",
        "isPrivate": true,
        "lineageTag": "a3264cb3-17b2-45e0-9628-8f916380f694",
        "columns": [
          {
            "name": "Column1",
            "dataType": "string",
            "sourceColumn": "Column1",
            "lineageTag": "3ff1f0ad-f03b-4861-8fd5-674c27991c66",
            "summarizeBy": "none",
            "annotations": [
              {
                "name": "SummarizationSetBy",
                "value": "Automatic"
              }
            ]
          }
        ],
        "partitions": [
          {
            "name": "PqTablePrivate-d62a028b-42cd-4a3a-b97d-ce883e99a833",
            "mode": "import",
            "source": {
              "type": "m",
              "expression": [
                "let",
                "    Source = PqTable",
                "in",
                "    Source"
              ]
            }
          }
        ],
        "annotations": [
          {
            "name": "PBI_NavigationStepName",
            "value": "Navigation"
          },
          {
            "name": "PBI_ResultType",
            "value": "Table"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "name": "PqTablePrivateHidden",
        "isHidden": true,
        "isPrivate": true,
        "lineageTag": "83b80701-e6f4-4c64-8ca1-0fb0c5399c83",
        "columns": [
          {
            "name": "Column1",
            "dataType": "string",
            "sourceColumn": "Column1",
            "lineageTag": "1f665f61-f972-4ac0-ba1c-492b6c98f170",
            "summarizeBy": "none",
            "annotations": [
              {
                "name": "SummarizationSetBy",
                "value": "Automatic"
              }
            ]
          }
        ],
        "partitions": [
          {
            "name": "PqTablePrivateHidden-64c17b17-de9b-402d-8d25-dc37c9285f48",
            "mode": "import",
            "source": {
              "type": "m",
              "expression": [
                "let",
                "    Source = PqTable",
                "in",
                "    Source"
              ]
            }
          }
        ],
        "annotations": [
          {
            "name": "PBI_NavigationStepName",
            "value": "Navigation"
          },
          {
            "name": "PBI_ResultType",
            "value": "Table"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "name": "DaxTable",
        "lineageTag": "3e2f348a-a902-4608-b1c7-aa71d407dea0",
        "columns": [
          {
            "type": "calculatedTableColumn",
            "name": "Column1",
            "dataType": "string",
            "isNameInferred": true,
            "isDataTypeInferred": true,
            "sourceColumn": "PqTable[Column1]",
            "lineageTag": "5d04fbcc-0316-42bd-968b-3ba3ef20230e",
            "summarizeBy": "none",
            "annotations": [
              {
                "name": "SummarizationSetBy",
                "value": "Automatic"
              }
            ]
          }
        ],
        "partitions": [
          {
            "name": "DaxTable-e9cdb89e-ccdf-4558-8b65-0d9b4fa93ee9",
            "mode": "import",
            "source": {
              "type": "calculated",
              "expression": "PqTable"
            }
          }
        ],
        "annotations": [
          {
            "name": "PBI_Id",
            "value": "4c2f8b71a4a54f56a62b1456a4812712"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "name": "DaxTablePrivate",
        "isPrivate": true,
        "lineageTag": "f3f4992d-0ea8-4f7c-a167-c70760c2f2a5",
        "columns": [
          {
            "type": "calculatedTableColumn",
            "name": "Column1",
            "dataType": "string",
            "isNameInferred": true,
            "isDataTypeInferred": true,
            "sourceColumn": "PqTable[Column1]",
            "lineageTag": "c9b74999-e76b-4621-866d-1a89a62e9c89",
            "summarizeBy": "none",
            "annotations": [
              {
                "name": "SummarizationSetBy",
                "value": "Automatic"
              }
            ]
          }
        ],
        "partitions": [
          {
            "name": "DaxTablePrivate-173e0da7-40bd-4f77-89bd-9a9430bc3733",
            "mode": "import",
            "source": {
              "type": "calculated",
              "expression": "PqTable"
            }
          }
        ],
        "annotations": [
          {
            "name": "PBI_Id",
            "value": "ec0e344532bd46439b6b3cc56d73dd44"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "name": "DaxTablePrivateHidden",
        "isHidden": true,
        "isPrivate": true,
        "lineageTag": "9c4a8457-dd9e-4d1e-a89b-2d8d79abf52c",
        "columns": [
          {
            "type": "calculatedTableColumn",
            "name": "Column1",
            "dataType": "string",
            "isNameInferred": true,
            "isDataTypeInferred": true,
            "sourceColumn": "PqTable[Column1]",
            "lineageTag": "b857de53-def6-4096-b0ca-9a44eddfd1fa",
            "summarizeBy": "none",
            "annotations": [
              {
                "name": "SummarizationSetBy",
                "value": "Automatic"
              }
            ]
          }
        ],
        "partitions": [
          {
            "name": "DaxTablePrivateHidden-21fee87e-f8cd-474c-a789-ff9fc8b40e24",
            "mode": "import",
            "source": {
              "type": "calculated",
              "expression": "PqTable"
            }
          }
        ],
        "annotations": [
          {
            "name": "PBI_Id",
            "value": "9ee117f94d894652abee8a5df6f00d77"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "name": "PqTableHidden",
        "isHidden": true,
        "lineageTag": "79520b06-87e3-4980-9164-47f2ba6229a8",
        "columns": [
          {
            "name": "Column1",
            "dataType": "string",
            "isHidden": true,
            "sourceColumn": "Column1",
            "lineageTag": "ae0dcab9-8d91-4fdd-98d5-25ee3189b1e5",
            "summarizeBy": "none",
            "annotations": [
              {
                "name": "SummarizationSetBy",
                "value": "Automatic"
              },
              {
                "name": "PBI_ChangedProperties",
                "value": "[\"IsHidden\"]"
              }
            ]
          }
        ],
        "partitions": [
          {
            "name": "PqTableHidden-e11b05cc-a916-4282-99dc-18cfd20b5c0f",
            "mode": "import",
            "source": {
              "type": "m",
              "expression": [
                "let",
                "    Source = PqTable",
                "in",
                "    Source"
              ]
            }
          }
        ],
        "annotations": [
          {
            "name": "PBI_NavigationStepName",
            "value": "Navigation"
          },
          {
            "name": "PBI_ResultType",
            "value": "Table"
          },
          {
            "name": "PBI_ChangedProperties",
            "value": "[\"IsHidden\"]"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "name": "DaxTableHidden",
        "isHidden": true,
        "lineageTag": "835545c4-882b-4d4b-b421-95093a38c93e",
        "columns": [
          {
            "type": "calculatedTableColumn",
            "name": "Column1",
            "dataType": "string",
            "isNameInferred": true,
            "isDataTypeInferred": true,
            "isHidden": true,
            "sourceColumn": "PqTable[Column1]",
            "lineageTag": "aa414bfb-83d6-4750-9969-c4754407bd44",
            "summarizeBy": "none",
            "annotations": [
              {
                "name": "SummarizationSetBy",
                "value": "Automatic"
              },
              {
                "name": "PBI_ChangedProperties",
                "value": "[\"IsHidden\"]"
              }
            ]
          }
        ],
        "partitions": [
          {
            "name": "DaxTableHidden-b1232328-42b2-40e6-8c2b-5012d927c408",
            "mode": "import",
            "source": {
              "type": "calculated",
              "expression": "PqTable"
            }
          }
        ],
        "annotations": [
          {
            "name": "PBI_Id",
            "value": "351ba69ae8f6473da85ce525ba0f002c"
          },
          {
            "name": "PBI_ChangedProperties",
            "value": "[\"IsHidden\"]"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "cultures": [
      {
        "name": "en-NZ",
        "linguisticMetadata": {
          "content": {
            "Version": "1.0.0",
            "Language": "en-US",
            "DynamicImprovement": "HighConfidence"
          },
          "contentType": "json"
        }
      }
    ],
    "annotations": [
      {
        "name": "__PBI_TimeIntelligenceEnabled",
        "value": "0"
      },
      {
        "name": "PBIDesktopVersion",
        "value": "2.107.841.0 (22.07)"
      },
      {
        "name": "PBI_QueryOrder",
        "value": "[\"PqTable\",\"PqTablePrivate\",\"PqTablePrivateHidden\",\"PqTableHidden\"]"
      },
      {
        "name": "TabularEditor_SerializeOptions",
        "value": "{\"IgnoreInferredObjects\":true,\"IgnoreInferredProperties\":true,\"IgnoreTimestamps\":true,\"SplitMultilineStrings\":true,\"LocalRelationships\":false,\"LocalPerspectives\":false,\"LocalTranslations\":false,\"PrefixFilenames\":false,\"Levels\":[\"Data Sources\",\"Shared Expressions\",\"Perspectives\",\"Relationships\",\"Roles\",\"Tables\",\"Tables/Columns\",\"Tables/Hierarchies\",\"Tables/Measures\",\"Tables/Partitions\",\"Tables/Calculation Items\",\"Translations\"]}"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Tables selected:

Tables loaded:

[jeroenterheerdt]

thank you, I will pass this along and get back to you!

[samaguire]

Been a while since I checked. I'll confirm when I'm back in the office on Monday. I ended up manually modifying the json annotation that controls the schema import using TE3; to remove the tables I didn't want included. 😊 (And haven't made any subsequent changes since...)

[philqc77]

Hi,

Since the latest PowerBi Desktop update (April 2022), I'm unable to connect to more than one live dataset.

I'm getting this error after selecting the database/tables (for the second dataset connection) :

It's obviously not a timeout issue since I'm able to connect to the dataset if it's the first one that I'm connecting to.

Note that I can still open and refresh existing datasets containing multiple live dataset connections. Those were created in a previous version of Power BI Desktop.

Am I the only one getting this error?

Thanks

[jeroenterheerdt]

@philqc77 when you say "live connection" do you mean, an actual LIVE connection or a DQ connection? Because an actual LIVE connection is always just to one source. If you're talking about DQ connections, please give some more details on what source you're using.

[philqc77]

Sorry, maybe I'm not using the right terminology. Here's what I did:

1. I created a live connection to a Power BI Dataset (let's call it ds1). No problem there.
2. Then I wanted to add another connection to another Power BI Dataset (ds2). I got this prompt which I was expecting and I clicked on "Add a local model".
3. Clicked "Submit" on the following. This is related to ds1.
4. Selected ds2 and clicked on "Create"
5. Clicked on "Submit". This is for ds2
6. Then I got the login prompt which is unusual at this point.
7. Then I got the error.

I did the exact same steps (using the same connection) on Power BI Desktop updated to dec 2021 and it worked flawlessly.

[jeroenterheerdt]

Hi thanks for sharing these details with me. I can reproduce a similar issue on my end. Looking at it now.

[jeroenterheerdt]

This is a known issue at this point and has been fixed - we will release an update soon. It only affects datasets in Pro workspaces.

[rjs2]

Do you know when this will be fixed for the Pro workspaces?  Is there a work around?

[jeroenterheerdt]

I cannot give you a timeline yet, but rest assured this will be updated for Pro workspaces as well. There is no workaround.

[datamodel]

Is there an 'issue tracker' we can check to know this has been fixed? 

[jeroenterheerdt]

this is not an issue. It's a design that we're changing. But to answer your question, no there is no such thing. Just keep an eye on the blog and our documentation. Rest assured, this will be aligned before we reach general availability.

[datamodel]

Ok great! Thank you for the quick response. 

[pbiembedded]

Thanks for looking into the issue. Even I am having the same issue. Trying to connect 2 PBI datasets.

In the old reports which had combined PBI datasets, I am unable to establish relationship betweeen tables from different data sets. Seems this issue will get fixed alongwith the earlier reported issue.

[Anonymous]

I have an OData datsource (InTune Data Warehouse (IDW) ) that I have published to the Power BI Service.

I built a composite PBI Report in PBI Desktop from the above PBI Dataset in the PBI Service that augments the model by joining upns on the IDW model with an organisational data set also joined by upn.

When the new model is published it goes bad. There is a message about the OData source being removed and the dataset cannot be mapped to any datasource.

[jeroenterheerdt]

hmm, interesting. can you please open an issue on issues.powerbi.com or reach out to our support channels so we can collect detailed info from you?

[Anonymous]

DirectQuery for Power BI datasets and Azure Analys... - Microsoft Power BI Community