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Anonymous's avatar
Anonymous
Not applicable
1 year ago
Solved

XML Hierarchical data expanding error in Power Query

Hello!

I am having problems with consuming an XML file that has hierarchical data.

 

This is the structure of the XML file. I want to read the columns shown in green. Note that "LAST_DAY_UPDATED" has multiple values, therefore, the rows will need to be expanded so that each record contains one of the "LAST_DAY_UPDATED".

Note that the dates are two levels below the "Individual" level

 

 

 

This is the source XML file

https://scsanctions.un.org/resources/xml/en/consolidated.xml

 

This is the column that needs to be expanded, shown in Power BI Desktop.

When expanded, the field data appears as Tables.

Note that there is no option to further expand "Values" column eventhough cells are shown as "Table" 

 

 

When clicked on a particular cell, it shows the underlying data, as below

 

 

As a result, I am unable to expand the dates.

 

Any advice on how to fix this error and explanation on why Power Query behaves this way?

 

 

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  • dufoq3's avatar
    dufoq3
    1 year ago

    Hi Anonymous, just write another Table.ExpandTableColumn manualy:

     

    Output:

    let
    Source = Xml.Tables(Web.Contents("https://scsanctions.un.org/resources/xml/en/consolidated.xml")),
    INDIVIDUALS = Source{0}[INDIVIDUALS],
    INDIVIDUAL = INDIVIDUALS{0}[INDIVIDUAL],
    #"Expanded LAST_DAY_UPDATED" = Table.ExpandTableColumn(INDIVIDUAL, "LAST_DAY_UPDATED", {"VALUE"}, {"VALUE"}),
    #"Expanded VALUE" = Table.ExpandTableColumn(#"Expanded LAST_DAY_UPDATED", "VALUE", {"Element:Text"})
in
    #"Expanded VALUE"

     

2 Replies

  • dufoq3's avatar
    dufoq3
    Community Champion
    1 year ago

    Hi Anonymous, just write another Table.ExpandTableColumn manualy:

     

    Output:

    let
    Source = Xml.Tables(Web.Contents("https://scsanctions.un.org/resources/xml/en/consolidated.xml")),
    INDIVIDUALS = Source{0}[INDIVIDUALS],
    INDIVIDUAL = INDIVIDUALS{0}[INDIVIDUAL],
    #"Expanded LAST_DAY_UPDATED" = Table.ExpandTableColumn(INDIVIDUAL, "LAST_DAY_UPDATED", {"VALUE"}, {"VALUE"}),
    #"Expanded VALUE" = Table.ExpandTableColumn(#"Expanded LAST_DAY_UPDATED", "VALUE", {"Element:Text"})
in
    #"Expanded VALUE"

     

    • Anonymous's avatar
      Anonymous
      Not applicable
      1 year ago

      dufoq3 ,

      Do you have a solution to expanding the "DESIGNATION" column?

      This is the problem: 

      "DESIGNATION" xml element sometimes has 1 child, sometimes 2 or more children.
      After expanding the column, it shows the expanded value when there is 1 child, otherwise shows "[Table]". There is no icon on the column header to Expand again.

       

      I tried your previous trick and manually added another Table.ExpandTableColumn, however, it produces the error below. Looks like when the column is a simple text, it fails this time because it is not a table?

       

      Are you able to explain why this error occurs in the first place? Is this a bug in Power Query or is this how it is supposed to work?

      To fix this, I suppose an "IF" condition is required, but I am not sure how to write it.