Dataflow Gen1 - Index Issue

[Max_701]

I have a Gen1 Dataflow which gets fed into a linked entity in a child dataflow. The whole setup looks like this 
REST API ->Parent DF1 ->Child DF2 ->Report. Parent DF1 has an index column which goes like this 1,2,3.... but when I import it in child DF2, this gets renumbered to 140,141,142....

Has anybody else also faced this issue & is there a work around to make sure that the index values are amintained over this setup.

Thanks in Advance!

[Anonymous]

Hi @Max_701,

As we haven’t heard back from you, we wanted to kindly follow up to check if the solution provided for the issue worked? or Let us know if you need any further assistance?
If our response addressed, please mark it as Accept as solution and click Yes if you found it helpful.

Regards,
Vinay Pabbu

[Max_701]

Thanks for the response! You mentioned another way would be to chnage the linking - could you please elaborate? Currently the DF2 uses only linked entitites from multiple parent dataflows, if this helps in better understanding of the setup.

[Anonymous]

Hi @Max_701,

when you use linked entities, Power BI runs the steps again — so the index gets recalculated and doesn't stay the same. To keep the original index from the parent dataflow, you need to use a computed entity, which actually brings in the data as it is, without redoing the steps.

Regards,

Vinay Pabbu

[collinq · Accepted solution]

HI @Max_701 ,

This is actually by design I believe.  This is because each "table" is getting its own index.  So, the parent gets one and then the child gets another one.  There are a few workarounds depending on how you want to do it.  But, the easiest is probably to generate the index after the loading of the child table.

Another option would be to change the linking - so that the child is not referenced but rather linked (but that might not be really the way you want to do it).