Skip to main content
Microsoft Idea

Power BI

Needs Votes

Make functions refreshable when the data source is a parameter of the function

Vote (1230) Share
Bernd Loigge's profile image

Bernd Loigge on 14 Aug 2015 03:16:28

Like discussed here: http://community.powerbi.com/t5/Integrations-with-Files-and/Refreshing-queries-with-functions-doens-t-work/td-p/2450 - queries where data access happens inside a function and where the data source is dependent on parameters to the function should be refreshable.

Comments (120)
Bernd Loigge's profile image Profile Picture

Noah Swanson on 28 Jul 2023 20:13:04

RE: Make functions refreshable when the data source is a parameter of the function

Not having this makes it hard to create PBIT Templates that need the user to enter source data. The specific example is using ODATA URLs to pull data on Azure DevOps. It would be really nice to parameterize the ODATA url for PBIT so end users just need to put in their URL string and it will connect to whatever team project they are using.

Bernd Loigge's profile image Profile Picture

Umut Koyun on 01 Jun 2022 14:36:29

RE: Make functions refreshable when the data source is a parameter of the function

any improvements or workarounds ?

Bernd Loigge's profile image Profile Picture

Jason Townsend on 11 Jan 2022 23:33:12

RE: Make functions refreshable when the data source is a parameter of the function

This functionality really needs to be added asap!

Bernd Loigge's profile image Profile Picture

Power BI User on 06 Jul 2020 00:15:07

RE: Make functions refreshable when the data source is a parameter of the function

It works in Power Plattform Dataflow!

Bernd Loigge's profile image Profile Picture

Power BI Ideas Admin on 06 Jul 2020 00:13:40

RE: Make functions refreshable when the data source is a parameter of the function

This is an essential feature to automate large datasets creation! Ff this is hard to code can an alternative be provided? Is there anyway to work around this?

Bernd Loigge's profile image Profile Picture

Ben van den Berg on 06 Jul 2020 00:13:39

RE: Make functions refreshable when the data source is a parameter of the function

Come on Microsoft, this is essential functionality and it been asked for nearly 5 years.
What is the issue that it cannot be implemented?

Bernd Loigge's profile image Profile Picture

Xander kamphuis on 06 Jul 2020 00:13:30

RE: Make functions refreshable when the data source is a parameter of the function

Please make this work in POWER BI service so i can auto-refresh dynamic web contents queries

Bernd Loigge's profile image Profile Picture

Power BI User on 06 Jul 2020 00:12:48

RE: Make functions refreshable when the data source is a parameter of the function

We have a SaaS multi-tenant system with 1000 On-premise SqlServer databasees with the same schema in each database, one database for each tenant. I am building a common dataset for all tenants, so that we can do reporting on top of all the tenants.

This can only be done with a function where the datasource takes “Server” and “Database” as a parameter. We have a table with all tenants listed, with columns for “Server” and “Database” where the tenant “lives”. Then we loop through all the tenants for each entity, call the function with the Server and database as parameters, and appends the data for each tenant into one dataset.

This is working PERFECT in Power BI Desktop! But I was very frustrated when I published the working dataset and report to Power BI Service. It would not refresh! We got an error message saying that referencing a “Dynamic data source” was not allowed. This is just because of the parameter in the data source in the M-function. So, in my case Power BI is useless!

Same problem exists in the Data Flow! I moved all my queries into a Data Flow, and same problem happened! I got the same error when I tried to save the data flow with the M-function that had parameters with “Server” and “Database” in the data source. So, Power BI Data Flow was also useless for me!

I’m sure this “Dynamic data source”-issue is a big problem for many companies! I really hope this serious weakness is being prioritized now!

Bernd Loigge's profile image Profile Picture

Karim on 06 Jul 2020 00:11:46

RE: Make functions refreshable when the data source is a parameter of the function

This is a much needed feature for Power BI users working on advanced reports!

Bernd Loigge's profile image Profile Picture

Jordan McCann on 06 Jul 2020 00:10:48

RE: Make functions refreshable when the data source is a parameter of the function

Any update?