Dataset Refresh processing error: We cannot convert the value null to type Text

[laratari]

Dears,

I am trying to Refresh a dataset via MS Flow and stuck with an error.

On Flow I don't have any issues, everything has a green checkmark, but on PowerBI I get 99% of times ( I've seen it run succesfully couple times ) the following error ( Pasting last error, seen this morning 😞

Last refresh failed: Wed Jan 27 2021 10:30:00 GMT+0100 (Central European Standard Time)
There was an error when processing the data in the dataset.Hide details

Processing error:	We cannot convert the value null to type Text.
Cluster URI:	WABI-WEST-US-redirect.analysis.windows.net
Activity ID:	06da8115-a56f-4824-8a12-02ecd4409a7f
Request ID:	e04dc166-f3d4-fd62-1fd5-57e5bdac6aff
Time:	2021-01-27 09:30:00Z Refreshing the Dataset from PowerBI is working fine - without changing anything, any clue?

[laratari]

Unfortunately I am not sure which column causes the issue, but I can add some details to what's happening here:

This morning we faced again the issue, but we noticed that the error disappears if we open, save & close the Excel file ( Without touching any data inside ), source of our Dataset, and run the Dataset refresh again.

As additional info: This Excel file is being generated and saved in Sharepoint online from a MS Flow, capturing a mail attachment.

[v-janeyg-msft]

Hi, @laratari 

Is this problem solved now? It looks like a problem with data source.

If it doesn’t solve your problem, please feel free to ask me.

Best Regards

Janey Guo

If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[laratari]

Hi Janey,

unfortunately we're still facing the issue.

I can confirm, once again, that the source ( XLSX file that is being automatically saved from a mail attachment to Sharepoint ) is giving the following error on the refresh ( Doesn't matter if scheduled or manually run 😞

Processing error: We cannot convert the value null to type Text.
Cluster URI: WABI-WEST-US-redirect.analysis.windows.net
Activity ID: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
Request ID: c565daf6-28bb-4576-ac38-8524124a63bc
Time: 2021-01-30 06:31:25Z

In order to have a valid Dataset refresh I have to open, save & close the file ( Without changing anything in the content ).

I am lost 🙂

[v-janeyg-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi, @laratari 

It should be a conflict about the format of the data in the data source and powerbi. If possible, I suggest you to check in detail whether there is a null value in the text format column.

Best Regards

Janey Guo

If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[laratari]

Thank you and @lbendlin ! 

In fact we deep dived in our Excel source file, there was a merged excel column ( That we really didnt use ) that after a file save was moving the content from one cell to the other.

We skipped those 2 columns and now the dataset is refreshing as it should, brilliant!

[lbendlin]

Power Query on the dataset is more lenient than Power Query on dataflows. Do you know which column causes the error and do you have a way to replace nulls with (for example) empty strings?