September 2020 release causing errors generating templates

[ldardick]

Hello!
I was working on a report that will be shared using Power BI Templates and I realized that generating the template file using September 2020 release (Version: 2.85.985.0 64-bit) causes the following error.

I checked that the August 2020 release does not cause any error. 

The strange thing is that the PBIT file generated with the September release weights twice the size of the template generated using the same PBIX file as a source using the August release.

I didn't find any change in the changelog that may cause this issue.

Any thoughts?

[v-lili6-msft]

hi  @ldardick 

I used the same version 2.85.985.0 64-bit, it works well.

and from this error message, there should be something changed in the relationship management.

so it may be that when you open this pbit file, then it load the data. now the relationship update.

so just adjust the relationship manually or disable the red part and try it again.

Regards,

Lin

[ldardick]

@v-lili6-msft 

I have the same configuration as you and I'm still getting the error. 

Doing exactly the same using the August release doesn't throw any error so it should be related to the September release. 

[v-lili6-msft]

hi  @ldardick 

Try to use Version:2.86.727.0 to try it again.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=58494

Regards,

Lin

[ldardick]

Hi @v-lili6-msft ,

I updated Power BI Desktop to the October release and I got a different error stating that some calculated objects need to be manually refreshed. When I clicked on the "Refresh Now" button nothing seemed to happen, but after of a couple minutes the information was updated and the visuals started showing.

The problem now is that the button seems unresponsive and no "Working on it" screen is shown until a few minutes (2-3) have passed.

[artemus]

This issue is caused if you have any parameters in your pbit file. If you have a copy of the pbix file that was working, you can convert all your parameters to Queries, save as pbit then open it up again, then convert your parameters back.

Repo:

Open Blank report

Add any query.

Disable load on that query.

Add any parameter.

Save as pbit.

Open pbit.

Go to Transform Data.

Notice that the query that was previously disabled is now enabled (and the icon on it has a table with a ? until you click on it). Other similar metadata is lost.

[ldardick]

@artemus we are using a parameter to prompt whoever opens the template to enter the path to the folder containing the dataset CSV files, that's why we are not using Queries instead.

Is this intended or it's an issue that may be fixed soon? 

[artemus]

@ldardick , @v-lili6-msft , no this is not intended. It is a bug. As far as timeline goes on getting this resolved, I don't know, it affects me too, and I don't have any insights into the Power Bi team's priority. My vote on this issue is just as impactful as yours.

That being said, I think you can work around this, it appears once you change a metadata value to a different value, The change persists.

[artemus]

@ldardick I think I found a way to fix this:

1.  Copy the .pbit file to a .zip file (please back up the file first)
2. Open the archive, and delete the file DataMashup(DataMashupSchema is the important one)
3. Rename the .zip file to .pbit
4. Open it up.

Does this work for you?