A Fine Slice Of SQL Server
Boniface Muchendu adds a link:
Tables with nothing but text can be… well, boring. In Power BI, you can take your reports to the next level by adding clickable links and images directly into your tables and matrices. This transforms them from static data dumps into interactive dashboards that encourage exploration.
Read on to see how this works.
Leave a CommentAlex Powers takes us through one major performance optimization technique in Power BI:
One of the most powerful capabilities of Power Query and the M Language is Query Folding (also referred to as query delegation, and predicate push-down). Query Folding allows the Power Query Mashup Engine to push the transformations expressed in an M (mashup) query to the data source, in the data source’s query language, resulting in more efficient data processing.
For inexperienced database technology users this ability to leverage the graphical user interface of Power Query to dynamically generate a query written in the data source’s query language unlocks enormous opportunities to find insights with any data, at any scale.
Click through to see how you can know if query folding is enabled, as well as some hints around when and to what extent query folding will work.
Leave a CommentGilbert Quevauvilliers wants to download a report:
I am sure we have all had it where there is Power BI report in the service which has been working for a long time. Then there is a requirement to make a change, and NO ONE can find the original PBIX.
There now is an easy way to download the Power BI Report or the Power BI Semantic model from the Power BI Service, and I will show you how to do this!
Click through to see how. No Power BI Report Server jokes this time around, however, because that functionality has been around for a while as long as you have appropriate permissions on the reports themselves.
Leave a CommentBen Richardson looks at fonts:
Want your Power BI reports to look more polished and on-brand?
Fonts play a big role in how your reports are perceived – impacting clarity, trust, and style.
But Power BI doesn’t let you upload custom fonts directly. So, what can you do?
Click through for several options.
Leave a CommentMarco Russo and Alberto Ferrari share some thoughts:
SUMMARIZECOLUMNS is the most widely-used function in Power BI queries. An important and unique feature of SUMMARIZECOLUMNS is that it determines automatically how to scan the model to produce its result. Indeed, when using SUMMARIZE, GROUPBY, ADDCOLUMNS, or any of the more basic querying functions, developers must declare the source table to perform the grouping, as well as the group-by columns and the measures to add to the result. On the other hand, SUMMARIZECOLUMNS requires only the group-by columns; there is no need to provide the source table, which is the primary ingredient of any query. SUMMARIZECOLUMNS figures out the structure of the result by itself, using a sophisticated algorithm that requires some understanding.
The pair do have a whitepaper available on their premium (paid) service but even the free post contains a lot of detail you’ll want to check out if you use DAX.
Leave a CommentJohn Kerski gives us the low-down:
The Tabular Model Definition Language (TMDL) provides a simpler way of defining Power BI Semantic Models. Unlike the JSON-based Tabular Model Scripting Language (TMSL), TMDL uses a more accessible tab-based format for specifying DAX measures, relationships, and Power Query code.
Click through for the various ways things could go wrong, as well as how to mitigate those risks.
Mind you, “security risks” is a very broad concept and is not an indictment of the product, but rather something to keep in mind as you attempt to write secure code. For example, did you know that bad guys could potentially access all of your data in your database by using a series of SELECT statements?
Leave a CommentBen Richardson knows what day it is:
Whether you’re tracking daily sales, monitoring customer behaviour, or managing service operations:
Day-level slicers in Power BI give you the precision your reports need.
Power BI offers great flexibility for filtering by year, quarter, or month.
But when daily trends drive your decisions, default settings just aren’t enough.
Read on to see how you can take the normal slicer and make it a bit better for working with dates. And, of course, it also makes sense to have a date dimension to help out with these sorts of things.
Leave a CommentReza Rad sends this item to the back of the line:
When you have multiple items overlapping, you often need the feature to bring one forward or move it backward. In Power BI, this feature isn’t available by right-click. Instead, there is a Selection pane where you can easily set the order of elements. The selection pane also has other benefits. In this article and video, you will learn how to use the Selection pane to build the right order for your visuals.
Read on to see how it works.
Comments closedReza Rad pulls an older post out of the archives:
The latest update of Power BI Desktop (October 2016) has many features. Two of these features are grouping and binning. These features used to create groups of items and visualize them better in the report. Previously you could do that by Power Query or DAX calculated columns, now it is all possible simply through the graphical user interface of report editor. In this post I’ll show you how to create banding (binning) and grouping simply with these features. If you like to learn more about Power BI; read the Power BI online book from Rookie to Rock Star.
How long has Curated SQL been around? Long enough that I covered this the first time. But hey, it’s still valid information.
2 CommentsBen Richardson builds a dictionary:
Have you ever opened a Power BI report and felt overwhelmed by all the columns, measures, and tables?
It can feel like a guessing game trying to figure out what each field represents.
A well-built data dictionary eliminates that confusion, giving you clarity and confidence when exploring reports.
This is one of those bits of documentation that can be incredibly useful but people rarely keep it up to date.
Comments closed