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Om_Bhartiya's avatar
Om_Bhartiya
Frequent Visitor
10 months ago
Solved

Power BI Service Refresh Fails Unknown Function AutodeskDataExchange Contents

HI Everyone I have a Power BI report that connects to Autodesk Data Exchange for 3D model data. It works fine in Power BI Desktop, but when I publish it to Power BI Service, the refresh fails. The...
Need Help
  • v-venuppu's avatar
    v-venuppu
    10 months ago

    Hi Om_Bhartiya ,

    Unfortunately, there is no possibility that one can legally share a .mez connector file unless it’s an officially released or open-source connector.

    The supported way is to install the official Autodesk connector locally, set up an On-premises Data Gateway (Standard mode) with the .mez in the Custom Connectors folder, enable custom connectors, and map your dataset to the gateway. 

    Please go through the below documentation for your reference:

    Use custom data connectors with the on-premises data gateway - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

    Thank you.

tayloramy's avatar
tayloramy
Super User
10 months ago

Hi Om_Bhartiya,

 

That error means the Service can’t “see” your custom connector. In Desktop, the AutodeskDataExchange.Contents function is available because the connector is installed locally. In the Service, refresh runs through a gateway, and if that gateway doesn’t have the Autodesk connector enabled and loaded, static analysis fails and you get “unknown function name.”

Quick solution

  1. Install/configure an On-premises data gateway on a machine that’s always on (Standard or Personal mode can work; I recommend Standard).
  2. Enable custom connectors in the gateway app and point it to the folder containing the Autodesk .mez file, then restart the gateway service.
  3. In the Power BI Service, go to Manage gateways > your gateway cluster > Allow user's custom data connectors to refresh through this gateway cluster  and Add data source that matches the Autodesk connector. Enter credentials there.
  4. Open your dataset settings > Gateway and cloud connections > map it to that gateway/data source.
  5. Refresh.

Docs:
• Power BI – enable and use custom connectors with a gateway: https://learn.microsoft.com/power-bi/connect-data/service-gateway-custom-connectors

 

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