pbi-tools.exe export-bim .\Model1\ -transforms RemovePBIDataSourceVersion creates: .bim instead of Model1.bim.

Support Matrix

Source	Target: PBIX	Target: PBIT
PBIX with model - Complete
PBIX with report and live connection

A stripped-down version of pbi-tools, without the Power BI Desktop dependency, would extend the application of the tool to CI/CD environments, but would need to sacrifice some features:

Features possible without PBID

• export-bim from sources, without data source generation, i.e. fine to target Power BI Premium/XMLA.
• extract PBIX/PBIT: PBIT with data model and PBIX report with live connection possible.
• compile-pbix: V3 model possible w/o Mashup part

Additional features possible

• Deploy to PBI Premium/XMLA: Model sources from folder/repo, credentials to be provided

Inherit project settings from a parent folder or the user profile, allowing system-wide or solution-wide defaults.

• Parameters
• Environments
• Options
• Authentication

In the most ideal case, a pbixproj manifest for a given project would only declare mode and source, and otherwise inherit team/enterprise defaults from a referenced template.

Introduce some better aliases?

• extract-data > export-data (too close to the 'extract' action)
• export-bim > generate-bim (more appropriate verb)

When calling pbi-tools info from external tool, we are only looking for the pbiSessions info.

If there is any delay caused by getting the other data amoVersion, pbiInstalls, effectivePbiInstallDir etc then it would be good to have a switch to just retrive the pbiSessions

However, I'm guessing that the pbiSessions might be the longest step, so only retrieving pbiSessions may not be appreciably faster. If this is the case then ignore the request.

I have tried to run the beta 6 on a small local PBIX.

C:\Program Files\pbi-tools\pbi-tools.exe' extract '.\dataModel.pbix' -extractFolder './data'

I got the following error:

Using Power BI Desktop install: 2.98.882.0 (21.10) at C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.MicrosoftPowerBIDesktop_2.98.882.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\bin
An unhandled exception occurred.
System.IO.FileFormatException: File contains corrupted data.
   at MS.Internal.IO.Zip.ZipIOEndOfCentralDirectoryBlock.FindPosition(Stream archiveStream)
   at MS.Internal.IO.Zip.ZipIOEndOfCentralDirectoryBlock.SeekableLoad(ZipIOBlockManager blockManager)
   at MS.Internal.IO.Zip.ZipArchive..ctor(Stream archiveStream, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, Boolean streaming, Boolean ownStream)
   at MS.Internal.IO.Zip.ZipArchive.OpenOnStream(Stream stream, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, Boolean streaming)
   at System.IO.Packaging.ZipPackage..ctor(Stream s, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, Boolean streaming)
   at System.IO.Packaging.Package.Open(Stream stream, FileMode packageMode, FileAccess packageAccess, Boolean streaming)
   at Microsoft.PowerBI.Packaging.PowerBIPackager.Open(Stream storageStream, Boolean& requiresConversionToReportLayout, Byte[]& securityBindings, Version& pbixFileVersion, Boolean skipValidation)
   at PbiTools.PowerBI.PbixReader..ctor(String pbixPath, IDependenciesResolver resolver) in E:\pbi-tools\pbi-tools-cli\src\PBI-Tools\PowerBI\PbixReader.cs:line 42
   at PbiTools.CmdLineActions.Extract(String pbixPath, Int32 pbiPort, String extractFolder, ExtractActionCompatibilityMode mode, ModelSerializationMode modelSerialization, MashupSerializationMode mashupSerialization) in E:\pbi-tools\pbi-tools-cli\src\PBI-Tools\CmdLineActions.cs:line 77
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
   at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
   at PowerArgs.ArgAction.Invoke()
   at PbiTools.Program.Main(String[] args) in E:\pbi-tools\pbi-tools-cli\src\PBI-Tools\Program.cs:line 76

.Net 6, unlike .Net 5, is LTS release.

I have been using pbi-tools for a few days now, and I find it super good - a real game changer IMHO.

What I have seen is that I get a lot of "noise" changes when I script the PBIX model, and I was thinking what would be the impact of suppressing scripting certain properties.

Example:

• lastModified property: every time I save the file (like refresh data), this property will change although there is no structural change in the PBIX file
• I have seen a bunch of properties (I guess PBI internal stuff), like PBI_ChangedProperties. Like changing a field from visible to invisible is not just adding isHidden: true (which is OK and expected), but also

   {
      "name": "PBI_ChangedProperties",
      "value": "[\"IsHidden\"]"
    } 

So are these properties really needed to compile a new PBIX from the scripted model, or would it make sense NOT to script them?

When using 'pbi-tools extract' with port number (local instance), infer path to PBIX file from session info, i.e. make 'pbixPath' argument optional.

Two instances where info action returns the folder instead of the actual path to the pbix file - I believe it could be when the folder name has ".pbix" in it. You might need to ensure that the match being returned is actually a file and not a folder.

When invoking pbi-tools export-bim for a thin report (no embedded model) then the $LASTEXITCODE returned = 0 and the final line of the response is "A BIM file could not be exported."

Should this be returned as an error?

Change default behaviour: do not generate datasources by default. Switch from opt-out to opt-in.

pbi-tools extract-data -pbixPath '.\Dataset.pbix' -outPath '.\Output\'
Using Power BI Desktop install: 2.87.762.0 (20.11) at C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.MicrosoftPowerBIDesktop_2.87.762.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\bin
MSMDSRV.EXE found at C:\Users\mt\AppData\Local\pbi-tools\Microsoft.MicrosoftPowerBIDesktop_2.87.762.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\msmdsrv.exe
Working directory: C:\Users\mt\AppData\Local\Temp\tmp3F58.tmp
Tabular Server process launched successfully. Port: 57177
Model image from PBIX loaded successfully.
An unhandled exception occurred.
System.ArgumentException: Illegal characters in path.
   at System.IO.LongPathHelper.Normalize(String path, UInt32 maxPathLength, Boolean checkInvalidCharacters, Boolean expandShortPaths)
   at System.IO.Path.NormalizePath(String path, Boolean fullCheck, Int32 maxPathLength, Boolean expandShortPaths)
   at System.IO.Path.GetFullPathInternal(String path)
   at System.IO.Directory.InternalCreateDirectoryHelper(String path, Boolean checkHost)
   at PbiTools.TabularModel.TabularDataReader.ExtractTableData(String outPath) in E:\temp\PBIX-Tools\src\PBI-Tools\TabularModel\TabularDataReader.cs:line 58
   at PbiTools.CmdLineActions.ExtractData(Int32 port, String pbixPath, String outPath) in E:\temp\PBIX-Tools\src\PBI-Tools\CmdLineActions.cs:line 229
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
   at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
   at PowerArgs.ArgAction.Invoke()
   at PbiTools.Program.Main(String[] args) in E:\temp\PBIX-Tools\src\PBI-Tools\Program.cs:line 73

• Error occurs on Directory.CreateDirectory()

• Currently held in /Report/config.json (modelExtensions[])

Proposed folder structure

/Report
  config.json
  /measures
    /{table}
      {measure}.dax
      {measure}.json

Example

"modelExtensions": [
    {
      "name": "extension",
      "entities": [
        {
          "name": "Info",
          "extends": "Info",
          "measures": [
            {
              "name": "_Version",
              "dataType": 3,
              "expression": "\"v2.19\"",
              "errorMessage": null,
              "hidden": false,
              "formulaOverride": null,
              "formatInformation": {
                "formatString": "G",
                "format": "General",
                "thousandSeparator": false,
                "currencyFormat": null,
                "dateTimeCustomFormat": null
              }
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Currency",
          "extends": "Currency",
          "measures": [
            {
              "name": "_Report Currency",
              "dataType": 1,
              "expression": "\nIF (\n    'Currency'[Report Currency] = \"N/A\",\n    \"Multiple CUR\",\n    'Currency'[Report Currency]\n)",
              "errorMessage": null,
              "hidden": false,
              "references": {
                "unrecognizedReferences": false,
                "measures": [
                  {
                    "schema": "",
                    "entity": "Currency",
                    "name": "Report Currency"
                  }
                ]
              },
              "formulaOverride": null,
              "formatInformation": {
                "formatString": "G",
                "format": "Text",
                "thousandSeparator": false,
                "currencyFormat": null,
                "dateTimeCustomFormat": null
              }
            }
          ]
        }
]

When you try to execute the compile-pbix action with a folder string without the trailing "" it fails

c:\MyFolder\MySubfolder

You need to correct the folder string to have the trailing "" for it to work:
c:\MyFolder\MySubfolder\

Would it be possible to accept either input?

Suggest to unpack pods (similar to bookmarks) to enable better change tracking of drill through filters

PBI_NavigationStepName and PBI_ResultType (on tables) change frequently or are being re-ordered, leaving noise in commit history.

PBIX with model is likely to produce an invalid output currently. Warn the user and advise to switch to PBIT instead.

Hi, we are using the Power BI Report Server (on-premise). This brings it's own flavour of the PowerBI Desktop Tools with it. Most of it is seemlingly just the same, there is just a few options to deploy from the desktop tools to the report server.

However: The installation is a little different in terms of folder names and thus the installation cannot be found currently by the pbi-tools.

This is the registry path
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft Power BI Desktop SSRS\Installer

This is the settings path:
C:\Users\{UserName}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Power BI Desktop SSRS

The actual installation path seems to be this C:\Program Files\Microsoft Power BI Desktop RS\, however this value can be identified via the regvalue anyways.

Is there any chance you would add this lookup to the tool?

Provide seamless integration between the tools and migrating TE projects over to pbi-tools workflows (and vice-versa).

• https://docs.tabulareditor.com/onboarding/parallel-development.html#what-is-save-to-folder

VS Code, Windows 10.
.\build.cmd Build

2 errors
CmdLineActions.cs(93,93): error CS0173: Type of conditional expression cannot be determined because there is no implicit conversion between 'int' and ''

FileSystem\ProjectFolder.cs(179,13): error CS0173: Type of conditional expression cannot be determined because there is no implicit conversion between 'System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<PbiTools.FileSystem.ProjectFile>' and 'PbiTools.FileSystem.IProjectFile[]'

Once runtime PBI Desktop install is determined, check version and warn if detected version is too far behind current version.

Suggest we consider user-focussed naming throughout the report repository. It is really going to help disambiguate and provide cues to the user when they are viewing the report in source control.

sections folder to pages

• pageconfig.json
• pagefilters.json
• page.json

visualContainers to visuals

• visualconfig.json
• visualfilters.json
• visual.json

report

• reportconfig.json
• reportfilters.json
• report.json

pods to drillthrough?
bookmarks?

Suggest that visual elements unpacked from report and page level config are deleted leaving only the true report and page level elements to tell if anything has changed at the report or pager level

Otherwise, insignificant changes are introduced when the file is kept under source control:

Primarily for use in CI/CD pipelines. Targeting the .Net Core version.