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Caesarus7's avatar
Caesarus7
Copper Contributor
Feb 25, 2020
Solved

Refresh query to add new columns

Hi all,

 

I'm looking to track the Coronavirus and update daily so I can see how many new cases there are. 

I am pulling the information from github.  

 

As you can see, each day new information is added to a new column.

My query is capturing new rows for new cases in different regions, but not the new columns for each new day's data. 

Can someone assist to advise how I can update the query to capture the new columns? 

 

Regards

Joel 

  • Caesarus7 

    To work with columns dynamically you shall to change Columns parameter to null. After that depends what are you doing here, in this script change type for the dynamic list of columns.

    let
        //Source= Csv.Document(File.Contents("C:\Test\time_series_19-covid-Confirmed.csv"),[Delimiter=",", Columns=38, Encoding=1252, QuoteStyle=QuoteStyle.None])
        // Change in above Columns=38 (or whatever number you have) on
        // Columns=null  - all existing columns will be taken automatically    
        Source = Csv.Document(
            File.Contents("C:\Test\time_series_19-covid-Confirmed.csv"),
            [Delimiter=",", Columns=null, Encoding=1252, QuoteStyle=QuoteStyle.None]
        ),
    
        #"Promoted Headers" = Table.PromoteHeaders(
            Source,
            [PromoteAllScalars=true]
        ),
    
        //Here we dynamically change columns type on Whole Number
        //for all columns starting from 5th one (4+1)
        // Before that remove automatically added #"Changed Type" step
        #"Changed Type"=Table.TransformColumnTypes(
            #"Promoted Headers",
            List.Transform(
                List.Range(
                    Table.ColumnNames(#"Promoted Headers"),4
                ),
                each {_, Int64.Type}
            )
        ),
        // Additionally apply proper type to first coluns,
        // they are always the same
        #"Changed Type1" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(
            #"Changed Type",
            {
                {"Lat", type number},
                {"Long", type number}
            }
        )
    in
        #"Changed Type1"

    Same script is in attached file, you only shall to change the source to make it workable.

  • Lewis-H's avatar
    Lewis-H
    Iron Contributor
    You can add the column in your new data source, when Power BI refreshes against the data set you will NOT see it in report designer. You will have to go into the Query editor, select the dataset & refresh the preview. It will then pick up the new column. It will now show in the report designer.

    Hope that helps
  • Caesarus7 

    To work with columns dynamically you shall to change Columns parameter to null. After that depends what are you doing here, in this script change type for the dynamic list of columns.

    let
        //Source= Csv.Document(File.Contents("C:\Test\time_series_19-covid-Confirmed.csv"),[Delimiter=",", Columns=38, Encoding=1252, QuoteStyle=QuoteStyle.None])
        // Change in above Columns=38 (or whatever number you have) on
        // Columns=null  - all existing columns will be taken automatically    
        Source = Csv.Document(
            File.Contents("C:\Test\time_series_19-covid-Confirmed.csv"),
            [Delimiter=",", Columns=null, Encoding=1252, QuoteStyle=QuoteStyle.None]
        ),
    
        #"Promoted Headers" = Table.PromoteHeaders(
            Source,
            [PromoteAllScalars=true]
        ),
    
        //Here we dynamically change columns type on Whole Number
        //for all columns starting from 5th one (4+1)
        // Before that remove automatically added #"Changed Type" step
        #"Changed Type"=Table.TransformColumnTypes(
            #"Promoted Headers",
            List.Transform(
                List.Range(
                    Table.ColumnNames(#"Promoted Headers"),4
                ),
                each {_, Int64.Type}
            )
        ),
        // Additionally apply proper type to first coluns,
        // they are always the same
        #"Changed Type1" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(
            #"Changed Type",
            {
                {"Lat", type number},
                {"Long", type number}
            }
        )
    in
        #"Changed Type1"

    Same script is in attached file, you only shall to change the source to make it workable.

    • Muhammad_Faheem's avatar
      Muhammad_Faheem
      Copper Contributor

      SergeiBaklan 

      Hi Sir, 

      I want to add more column to my Excel workbook but i couldn't update it Power BI, it shows the below error, kindly feedback. thanks

       

      When i added a new column, the column next to it goes missing as per below.

       

    • ColoCokeBoy's avatar
      ColoCokeBoy
      Copper Contributor
      Thank you so much for this! This was driving me crazy why my refresh wasn't adding the new columns to the data but was updating the rest of the data.
      Thank you again!
      • SergeiBaklan's avatar
        SergeiBaklan
        MVP

        ColoCokeBoy 

        You are welcome. Automatic Change Type is the core of many issues, I'd recommend to exclude it settings. At the same time I'd recommend to explicitly assign proper types at least before any merging and on final step. So far that's not critical in Power Query for Excel but could be an issue for other Power Query editions. That could require some extra efforts if number of columns is changed dynamically, not everything could be solved from user interface only. More time you invest in M-script better results you have.

    • Ed_K3's avatar
      Ed_K3
      Copper Contributor

      SergeiBaklan This helped me also, at least a bit.  I'm working the same data but just thru Excel365/Query.  Within the query removing the Columns =189 and changing to Columns = null worked great inside of the query application.  But I'm having some trouble working in the rest of your code.


      How do I fit everything in after that?

       





       

       

      • Ed_K3 

        You shall delete the step on you second screenshot (automatically generated Change Type) and use Change Type from the code instead.

  • I have exactly the same problem. The best I can do is:

     

    Refresh the query in Excel to flush the cache
    Open a blank Excel

    Open the Raw link in the blank Excel

    Copy the query from Advanced Editor

    Go to my original Excel, go to Advanced Editor and copy in the new query

     

    Its a hassle and I am tempted to forget the query route altogether and just copy paste from the web site and use Text to Columns.

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