Forum Discussion
Disabling load on linked entity - what is effect on computed entity ?
Hi,
I read something on radacad informative site "You can create a reference even from a query that is the disabled load. However, that is not called a Computed entity, and as a result, it won’t have the special behavior that I mentioned about the data refresh from the staging area. It will be only considered as a computed entity if the original query is set as enable load"
https://radacad.com/linked-entities-and-computed-entities-dataflows-in-power-bi-part-4
I'm a bit confused.
I have two workspaces, one for ingestion and one for transformation.
In the transformation workspace, I create a linked entity to the ingestion workspace. I am using premium capacity.
From here there are a few options and I'm not sure what is the "right" way forward. Lets assume I have a small set of PQ transform steps to apply.
Option 1A : mark the linked entity as disable load. create refernce entity, apply PQ steps and ensure entity is loaded
Option 1B : mark the linked entity as enable load. create refernce entity, apply PQ steps and ensure entity is loaded
Option 2A : mark the linked entity as disable load, apply PQ steps. create final referenced entity
Option 2B : mark the linked entity as enable load, apply PQ steps. create final referenced entity (not possible as linked entitys can have transformation steps and be loaded)
I only really want to see one final entity in the transformed workspace, so prefer Options 1A and 2A that have the entity disabled.
The advice seemed to be that you needed the linked entity enabled for your referenced entity to be considered a computed entity ie Option 1B above ?
What does "enable load" actually do behind the scenes. It makes the linked entity visible but is it doing something behind the scenes with ADLg2 ? The originating entity has already been loaded in ADLg2 so surely this doesn't load another set of that data ?
Is there a performance issue by turning off the enable load ?
Thanks !
8 Replies
Hi frano72
Enable Load outputs the Data into the data lake ( dataflows ) Power BI desktop ( Model/dataset )
If Enable Load is disabled the query will not run or else is being referenced by any of the Enable Load EntitiesDataflows final output always ends in a data lake as SCV file, so linked entity will be calculated first when backed premium capacity and in the same workspace, or if referenced it will use existing data in the referenced dataflow and apply extra transformations on top and again write into data lake as SCV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veuxofp0ZIg
Best Regards,
Mariusz
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LinkedInHi frano72 ,
Linked entities are read only. If you want to create transformations for a linked entity, you must create a new computed entity with a reference to the linked entity. The Linked entities have no transformation , no storage , read only , just a link.
The computed entities can be good for performance .Main table is stored in Power BI Dataflow storage, and the new table will query the main table (not the data source).
If your dataflow isn’t in a Premium capacity workspace, you can still reference a single query or combine two or more queries as long as the transformations aren’t defined as in-storage transformations. Such references are considered standard entities. To do so, turn off the Enable load option for the referenced queries to prevent the data from being materialized and from being ingested into storage. From there, you can reference those Enable load = false queries, and set Enable load to On only for the resulted queries that you want to materialize.
For reference:
Link entities between dataflows in Power BI
Dataflow Integration Solution for Power BI
Best Regards,
Amy
Community Support Team _ Amy
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.
Will the linked entity still refresh? Or is it static with the data that existed before enable load was disabled?
For my dataflow, I don't need the linked entity to load into a report. I just need a few fields to merge into the main entity. But the data does update constantly so it has to be a fresh pull. I'm trying to figure out if unchecking enable load prevents keeping the linked data current.
HI Anonymous ,
There are two options - enable load and refresh. You can disable the load but keep the refresh Enabled.
I would appreciate Kudos if my response was helpful. I would also appreciate it if you would Mark this As a Solution if it solved the problem. Thanks!
