Forum Discussion
Advocate IUnexpected Uncommitted Changes in Power BI service for Models with „Via Enhanced Api“ Refresh Type
Hi everyone,
Yesterday, we discovered a significant number of uncommitted changes in our Power BI workspaces connected to DevOps GIT. Upon investigation, we found out these changes were exclusively present for .pbix models (not reports) that have a refresh schedule configured as “Via Enhanced Api".
Models with other refresh types (e.g., scheduled refresh, no refresh) or DirectQuery did not show any update.
To understand the nature of these changes, we committed some of them. The only noticeable points were a strikethrough of the model.bim file and the appearance of the new .tmdl files. The next day refreshes “Via Enhanced Api” did not trigger further model changes in the Power BI service.
We initially thought this might be related to the recent announcement about “Deep dive into TMDL view for Power BI Desktop (Preview)”. But we couldn’t find any info on why these changes specifically happened to models refreshed “Via Enhanced Api”.
This suggests a potential automatic update within the Power BI service, but we have not found any official communication regarding such an update.
The key thing is to understand what caused these unexpected model changes. Was the “Via Enhanced Api” refresh type just a coincidence or did it play a role ...
Any idea how to puzzle this together?
Tx in advance,
Imik
Hi imik
These are the some of the points which makes me think that unexpected model changes in Power BI workspaces for datasets refreshed with the "Via Enhanced API" refresh type were likely caused by the recent adoption of the Tabular Model Definition Language (TMDL)
TMDL Transition and Model Changes
- Power BI has introduced TMDL as a new, more efficient file format for managing semantic models, replacing the older .bim files. This change improves source control integration, versioning, and collaboration by breaking down the semantic model into smaller, more manageable .tmdl files
- When a dataset is refreshed using the "Via Enhanced API," it may trigger backend updates to align the dataset with the new TMDL structure. This explains why .bim files were replaced with .tmdl files in your case.
The enhanced refresh process may have interacted with backend systems that automatically updated datasets to comply with the new TMDL standard. This behavior was not observed in other refresh types because they might not invoke the same level of metadata processing.
The "Via Enhanced API" likely acted as a trigger for these updates because it engages with datasets at a more detailed level than standard refresh methods.
Athough I am not able to find any official announcement ,known issue related to this.
Hope this helps
Thanks
2 Replies
- nilendraFabric
Super User
Hi imik
These are the some of the points which makes me think that unexpected model changes in Power BI workspaces for datasets refreshed with the "Via Enhanced API" refresh type were likely caused by the recent adoption of the Tabular Model Definition Language (TMDL)
TMDL Transition and Model Changes
- Power BI has introduced TMDL as a new, more efficient file format for managing semantic models, replacing the older .bim files. This change improves source control integration, versioning, and collaboration by breaking down the semantic model into smaller, more manageable .tmdl files
- When a dataset is refreshed using the "Via Enhanced API," it may trigger backend updates to align the dataset with the new TMDL structure. This explains why .bim files were replaced with .tmdl files in your case.
The enhanced refresh process may have interacted with backend systems that automatically updated datasets to comply with the new TMDL standard. This behavior was not observed in other refresh types because they might not invoke the same level of metadata processing.
The "Via Enhanced API" likely acted as a trigger for these updates because it engages with datasets at a more detailed level than standard refresh methods.
Athough I am not able to find any official announcement ,known issue related to this.
Hope this helps
Thanks
imikHi nilendraFabric,
Thank you for your explanation! Even though I understand there is no official MS statement or proof of all this, your theory fits perfectly. The way you connected all the details and behaviors I described is truly impressive.
Thank you again for your time and effort. I really appreciate it!
Best regards,
imik