Is there a plan for retrieving code from dataflows for the sake of source control?

[dbeavon3]

I noticed that Microsoft finally came up with a "developer mode" for turning local PBIX assets into something that can be included in a source control system like git.

Is there any similar concept of a "developer mode" on the service side?  I need to be able to download all the code from a workspace in a format that can be included into a source control system.

Today I'm working with manual operations to retrieve dataflow-PQ (and dataflow-gen2-PQ) in the form of json files, or pqt files or whatever.  It is a nightmare.  I'm guessing this is not something that is on Microsoft's radar.  It took them a decade to come up with "developer mode", and I'm guessing that retrieving our source code from the service will take even longer than that.

If anyone is aware of a general-purpose way of making our dataflow code more accessible to us, please let me know.

[dbeavon3]

Hi @GilbertQ 
Thanks for the tip.

I'm not seeing data flows gen 2 in the list of supported items:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/cicd/git-integration/intro-to-git-integration#supported-ite...

Have you tested with DF gen 2 yet?  Does it save the entire PQ script as a one-liner as json, or as a binary PQT file?

I'm really curious about the path forward with this stuff, and I'm hoping Microsoft prioritizes it and delivers something in under a year.  The "developer mode" for PBI desktop seems to be dragging on forever.  Why does Microsoft always start thinking about source control (& CI/CD) as an afterthought?  What kind of software developers find this acceptable?  I feel always feel like I'm living in some parallel universe whenever I'm working with these Power BI tools.

I really hope that the git integration is nothing like it was in ADF/Synapse.  Those integrations were better than nothing at all, but were very cumbersome compared to the patterns used in modern software development.

[GilbertQ]

Hi @dbeavon3 

If you are looking to use Microsoft fabric source control is enabled for data flows gen 2. I would highly recommend looking into this.

Overview of Fabric Git integration - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn

[dbeavon3]

I'm not seeing data flows gen 2 in the list of supported items

[GilbertQ]

Hi @dbeavon3 

Apologies for that you are right in the dataflow gen2 is not supported for Version control.

[dbeavon3]

No problem.  All I'm really looking for is a way to export a whole workspace to code files (similar to "developer mode").  I am getting the feeling that this requirement is not one Microsoft would understand, or facilitate...  but I really don't understand the reasoning.  It is my code so why can't I retrieve it???