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  • Guide and Resources for Web Data Extraction with Power BI & Power Query

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    With the recent release of the Power Query Extensibility Model or Power BI Custom Connectors, I’ve been thinking about posting an article about the status of Web Scraping with Power BI / Power Query, its limitations and how Custom Connectors are here to provide the functionality that was restricted or limited to us within Power BI / Power Query.

    The goal of this blog post is to serve you as a guide on what you can accomplish with the native functionality of the ‘Web Data’ connector inside Power Query and when you should consider creating a Custom Connector.

  • The Ultimate Calendar Table Creator for Power BI

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    Power Query and Power Pivot are AMAZING tools, but if you want to create a Calendar Table with either one of them, you’ll either have to learn how to code in M or DAX, or copy/paste a code that you probably found on the web like this one.

    The problem with that is that every time that you need to create a Calendar Table you need to go through that whole process, and going through either M or DAX code could be intimidating to even a seasoned player. There’s simply no easy or user-friendly interface or portability, but you STILL need a calendar table if you’re trying to use Power BI’s Time Intelligence functions.

    What if there was a single button that could create that Calendar Table for you?

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    Imagine a button that sits right in the ‘Get Data’ window and once you click it, it’ll ask your for a few parameters like start date of your calendar table and, once you hit OK, you’ll get EXACTLY the calendar table that you were looking for?

    Well, this is now possible! and it’s all thanks to the Power BI Custom Connectors.

  • Roundup: New Custom Connectors and Videos

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    For the past 8 weeks I’ve been focusing in exploring the Power Query Extensibility Model (PBI Custom Connectors) and I can confirm that the possibilities with this extensibility model are incredible.

    About Custom Connectors

    Custom Connectors not only bring new functionality to Power Query (like new data sources), but it also extends current functionality and can make some HUGE quality of life changes and improvements to the way we work with Power Query by creating custom connectors that act as function libraries.

  • Connecting to APIs with Power BI (Power Query)–Part 1 of 2

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    Why is it so complex to connect to an API with Power BI or Power Query? The OAuth explained

    It’s easier to explain using analogies, so let’s go with that!

    Analogy: Imagine that you have a gym subscription and this gym also has a VIP lounge, but to get to the lounge you need to head to the front-desk to get authorization for a limited time.

    Using MailChimp as an example:

    • The gym is actually MailChimp – they put all the facilities for you
    • The lounge section is their API and its where you can “access” your data
    • The front-desk authorization is what we know as a Authorization Token, which grants us the chance to “be” in the API

    I’m overly simplifying things here, but the main idea is that the “vip lounge” is the place that the “gym” gives you to do what they give you access to do. They (the gym) could give you access to read, write, delete or modify “data”.