Excel Unpivot Multiple Columns to a Single Column - excel

Question

What I want to achieve:
As the title says, is there any way to convert my table structure? I've tried using Power Query but it didn't work. Any kind of help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
So, I was trying to pivot type and type value, but it seems impossible if I maintain the current table structure since it would cause duplicates when I wanted to aggregate on type.
Should I remake the table structure or there is any way to get around this problem?
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

In Power Query, the following is adaptable to any number of type/value column pairs.
Unpivot all except the ID column
Add a custom column to define if the unpivoted value is a Type or a Type Value
Add an Index column and then do an integer/divide by 2 so things will sort in the desired order
Pivot with no aggregation, using a custom function as the "built-in" function will error with multiple items.
Custom function to Pivot with No aggregation
Rename as noted in comments
//credit: Cam Wallace https://www.dingbatdata.com/2018/03/08/non-aggregate-pivot-with-multiple-rows-in-powerquery/
//Rename: fnPivotAll
(Source as table,
ColToPivot as text,
ColForValues as text)=>
let
PivotColNames = List.Buffer(List.Distinct(Table.Column(Source,ColToPivot))),
#"Pivoted Column" = Table.Pivot(Source, PivotColNames, ColToPivot, ColForValues, each _),
TableFromRecordOfLists = (rec as record, fieldnames as list) =>
let
PartialRecord = Record.SelectFields(rec,fieldnames),
RecordToList = Record.ToList(PartialRecord),
Table = Table.FromColumns(RecordToList,fieldnames)
in
Table,
#"Added Custom" = Table.AddColumn(#"Pivoted Column", "Values", each TableFromRecordOfLists(_,PivotColNames)),
#"Removed Other Columns" = Table.RemoveColumns(#"Added Custom",PivotColNames),
#"Expanded Values" = Table.ExpandTableColumn(#"Removed Other Columns", "Values", PivotColNames)
in
#"Expanded Values"
Regular Query
let
Source = Excel.CurrentWorkbook(){[Name="Table1"]}[Content],
#"Changed Type" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(Source,{
{"ID", type text}, {"Type 1", type text}, {"Type 1 Value", Int64.Type}, {"Type 2", type text}, {"Type 2 Value", Int64.Type}}),
#"Unpivoted Other Columns" = Table.UnpivotOtherColumns(#"Changed Type", {"ID"}, "Attribute", "Value"),
#"Added Custom" = Table.AddColumn(#"Unpivoted Other Columns", "Custom",
each if Text.EndsWith([Attribute],"Value") then "Value" else "Type"),
#"Removed Columns" = Table.RemoveColumns(#"Added Custom",{"Attribute"}),
#"Added Index" = Table.AddIndexColumn(#"Removed Columns", "Index", 0, 1, Int64.Type),
#"Inserted Integer-Division" = Table.AddColumn(#"Added Index", "Integer-Division", each Number.IntegerDivide([Index], 2), Int64.Type),
#"Removed Columns1" = Table.RemoveColumns(#"Inserted Integer-Division",{"Index"}),
Pivot = fnPivotAll(#"Removed Columns1","Custom","Value"),
#"Removed Columns2" = Table.RemoveColumns(Pivot,{"Integer-Division"}),
#"Changed Type1" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(#"Removed Columns2",{{"Type", type text}, {"Value", Int64.Type}})
in
#"Changed Type1"

Answer 2

More generically to stack vertically in powerquery while keeping certain columns
let Source = Excel.CurrentWorkbook(){[Name="Table1"]}[Content],
base_columns=1, groupsof=2, //stack them
Combo = List.Transform(List.Split(List.Skip(Table.ColumnNames(Source),base_columns),groupsof), each List.FirstN(Table.ColumnNames(Source),base_columns) & _),
#"Added Custom" =List.Accumulate(Combo, #table({"Column1"}, {}),(state,current)=> state & Table.Skip(Table.DemoteHeaders(Table.SelectColumns(Source, current)),1)),
#"Rename"=Table.RenameColumns(#"Added Custom",List.Zip({Table.ColumnNames(#"Added Custom"),List.FirstN(Table.ColumnNames(Source),base_columns+groupsof)}))
in #"Rename"
What seems to be fastest method of those I've tested
let Source = Excel.CurrentWorkbook(){[Name="Table1"]}[Content],
leading=1, groupsof=2,
#"Added Custom" = Table.AddColumn(Source, "Custom", each List.Split( List.RemoveFirstN(Record.ToList( _),leading), groupsof) ),
#"Added Custom0" = Table.AddColumn(#"Added Custom", "Custom0", each Text.Combine(List.FirstN(Record.ToList(_),leading),"|")),
#"Removed Other Columns" = Table.SelectColumns(#"Added Custom0",{"Custom0", "Custom"}),
#"Expanded Custom" = Table.ExpandListColumn( #"Removed Other Columns", "Custom"),
#"Extracted Values" = Table.TransformColumns(#"Expanded Custom", {"Custom", each Text.Combine(List.Transform(_, Text.From), "|"), type text}),
#"Merged Columns" = Table.CombineColumns(#"Extracted Values",{"Custom0", "Custom"},Combiner.CombineTextByDelimiter("|", QuoteStyle.None),"Custom"),
#"Split Column by Delimiter" = Table.SplitColumn(#"Merged Columns", "Custom", Splitter.SplitTextByDelimiter("|", QuoteStyle.Csv), List.FirstN(Table.ColumnNames(Source),leading+groupsof))
in #"Split Column by Delimiter"

Answer 3

There is probably a better way, but if you first concat the 4 columns with specific unique delimiter to split on later in a custom column, you have a work-around in PQ:
let
Source = Excel.CurrentWorkbook(){[Name="Table2"]}[Content],
#"Changed Type" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(Source,{{"ID", type text}, {"Type1", type text}, {"Type1 Val", Int64.Type}, {"Type2", type text}, {"Type2 Val", Int64.Type}}),
#"Added Custom" = Table.AddColumn(#"Changed Type", "Custom1", each [Type1]&"|"&Number.ToText([Type1 Val])&"$"&[Type2]&"|"&Number.ToText([Type2 Val])),
#"Removed Columns" = Table.RemoveColumns(#"Added Custom",{"Type1", "Type1 Val", "Type2", "Type2 Val"}),
#"Split Column by Delimiter" = Table.ExpandListColumn(Table.TransformColumns(#"Removed Columns", {{"Custom1", Splitter.SplitTextByDelimiter("$", QuoteStyle.Csv), let itemType = (type nullable text) meta [Serialized.Text = true] in type {itemType}}}), "Custom1"),
#"Changed Type1" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(#"Split Column by Delimiter",{{"Custom1", type text}}),
#"Split Column by Delimiter1" = Table.SplitColumn(#"Changed Type1", "Custom1", Splitter.SplitTextByEachDelimiter({"|"}, QuoteStyle.Csv, false), {"Custom1.1", "Custom1.2"}),
#"Changed Type2" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(#"Split Column by Delimiter1",{{"Custom1.1", type text}, {"Custom1.2", Int64.Type}})
in
#"Changed Type2"
Just in case you tagged 'Excel-Formula' and you have access to ms365:
Formula in H1:
=REDUCE({"ID","Type","Val"},ROW(A2:A5),LAMBDA(X,Y,VSTACK(X,INDEX(A:E,Y,{1,2,3}),INDEX(A:E,Y,{1,4,5}))))

Answer 4

Or formula:
=SORT(VSTACK(A2:C5,HSTACK(A2:A5,D2:E5)))