PowerBI: Importing data from mixed folder files - excel

I got a question related to the importing different files from the folder into Power Query (Power BI). When I say different, in my case are .xslx and .txt files. Actually just one text file but it is important to be inside report. Excel files are and will be always consistent as it is shown down in a first picture only with date as a dynamic part, but inside are consistently structured, so I just have to put it into folder and hit refresh into Power Query and magic.. that works fine, but I got also that .txt file which has completely different information but still connected to the report (because there is a field of date/time inside with additional information). My question is how or what is good approach to have all these files inside one or more queries?
As you can see on the second picture (from PQ editor) in the content part on the last position is .txt file, which I "isolated" when right click on it and "Add as a new query", and then I need to do editing and so on. Is there maybe another approach to solve this? One problem I discovered is when I change path of the file, all queries are refreshed but not this one with .txt - even though I changed path completely in the Advanced editor. Simply gives an error. Has anyone idea how to deal with different files from one folder, assuming that you need all the files from inside?

If you do not want 2 folders, your approach for isolating the txt is appropriate. about refreshing issues: if you expanded the data by clicking combine, Excel must have created other queries and parameters ("Sample from....") you must change the path in those queries too.

Related

Excel behaves strange with XSLX file created manually

Based on knowledge gained through working with the OpenXML SDK, I have implemented an Excel generator in JS (using TypeScript with ReactJS and a custom JSX factory generating plain XML). The files generated open fine in Excel and one can also edit and save them fine in Excel, no errors.
However, if one tries to copy cells (even a single one) from such a generated Excel file to another worksheet in the same Excel instance, it fails with the error "The command cannot be used on multiple selections.". Just saving and reopening the file is enough to fix the problem. Copying to other applications (e.g. Notepad) works fine.
It seems that this particular error is shown by Excel in several edge cases where the data is not exactly meet the expected format, for instance I found reports of that happening when a sheet is hidden when manipulating it via VBA. However, in my case I'm not sure what could be causing the issue.
Just saving the file in Excel unfortunately significantly alters its parts, so that I couldn't get a meaningful diff out of it. I did not see what could be causing the problem. Maybe someone has some experience with the internals of Excel?
To get a sample file, copy the following into your browser address bar and save it as xlsx file:
data:application/vndopenxmlformats-officedocumentspreadsheetmlsheet;base64,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
Well, I don't know the particulars of how you are generating the xml file, but I can tell you how to edit the underlying xml files so that it will work, and then perhaps you can figure out how to use your implementation to change the property that's gunking things up.
First, an xlsx is a set of xml files. I'm sure you know that, but I'm just starting at the beginning. You can change the extension to zip and then extract the files, and then rezip them and change the extension back to xlsx.
So do this:
take the generated xlsx
change the extension to .zip
extract the files
find xl\worksheets\sheet1.xml
open it and find this property: worksheet>sheetViews>sheetView:tabSelected
set it to 0
save the file
go back to the unzipped folder
select all files and send to zip
change the extension on the new zip file to .xlsx
You should now be able to open the newly created xlsx, add a new sheet, and copy freely.
If this works for you, then you have diagnosed the problem, one property set to true when it shouldn't be, and it should be relatively simple for you to modify your export procedure.
I've had this issue multiple times in the past.
The way I solved it was by filling out (populating) a template (file, previously created in Office) with the exported data rather than generating a file from scratch. Office unfortunately does not fully comply with OpenXML, and for more complex exports you might even be unable to open the file.
I would also recommend Beyond Compare (now Scooter Software) for comparing the two files instead of just doing a diff.

Alteryx download & process multi-tabbed excel

I am using an Alteryx workflow to download a .xlsx with multiple tabs from an FTP. The file is downloaded to temp folder as that's the option I choose. I want to further process this file by accessing various tabs. I am aware of how to process excel with multiple tabs (reading the sheet names and selecting one as template).
However, in this case, I can't select a single tab as template since the file downloaded from FTP is only created at run time. I can provide a relative path for file %temp%test.xlsx but can't access individual tabs to select one.
I need to schedule this workflow in Alteryx gallery so I don't want to use an absolute download path on local system that may fail when running in gallery.
Can someone throw light on how to get around this situation?
You can use an example of that file to develop the workflow and then change the path to %temp%test.xlsx||| with '' being one of the sheets you use.
I haven't got the exact example to test, but that should work. You may need a Block until Done before the Dynamic Input though.

Updating "text connection" path using provided string and preserve text to column settings

I have an Excel file with several sheets connected to many external csv files. This has worked fine for now working on my own, but now I'd like to be able to move the Excel file and/or csv files, or hand them off to someone else, and not break the connections.
The method here works for updating the file name based on a provided string:
Editing "text connection" paths
...but it doesn't preserve the text to columns settings after updating the path. Since I'm dealing with csvs, I need the import to come in as comma delimited. Since I'm dealing with a lot of connections in a single file, I'd also like to be able to let the user define a single path somewhere, and have it automatically use that path to find the files.

File that normally opens our application, but will fall back to Excel

Our application exports snippets of databases in XLSX format. We wrote our own code on top of System.Packaging as it is many (many!) times faster than using the Excel objects.
Right now we save these files with a .xlsx format, and that works OK. However, it would be much nicer if double-clicking one of these opened our app instead, but failed back to Excel on machines without it.
I know that SpreadsheetML has a feature to do this. If you insert this near the top of the file:
<?mso-application progid=""Excel.Sheet""?>
some sort of magic occurs that causes Excel to open on Win machines. While this might work in SML files, it does not appear to work in "real" xlsx files - I tried adding this line to various parts of the workbook structure but it remained unrecognized.
So is there a similar mechanism we can use in "true" XLSX files generated by System.Packaging? Or some other Windows mechanism we should use in these situations?

Excel open same names files

I need to create a button in Excel that opens a dialog box and I select the file that I recorded on the second sheet, but I also automatically select other files with the same name differs just ending. So I need to choose one file, and always record 2-3 more with the same name and to open a new worksheet. How to do it?
What you need to select the file abc.txt and uploaded to other files abc.ydd and abc.dyk name will always be the same only the ending will be different.
An advice for any work you are doing: Break down your big task into small steps as often as needed until the steps are small enough so that you know how to process them.
On your specific programming task, this means, you should break it down into:
You need a button on one of the excel sheets.
That button has to open a dialog box for selecting a file
I don't know whether it can be any arbitrary file or a specific one, as you wrote that the file was recorded on another sheet. I think that makes no difference at all.
After finishing the file selection, you have to evaluate the result of the dialog box (OK -> which file, ABORT -> do nothing).
Take the file name, remove the extension and search for other files (in the same directory or elsewhere) with that name.
I don't know why you want to open another worksheet. Of course you can do that, but if you want to show the content of that files in the worksheet, they better be excel files.
How you do these suggested steps is something you need to find out by yourself. Or you are lucky and find someone else who has plenty of free time to do that for you, but I don't think you will be that lucky, especially after providing a quite vague description of your problem.
In general, stackoverflow is for asking for solutions to specific programming problems, not for providing ready-to-use solutions for beginners. Take a look at VBA manuals and tutorials. They can be found widely across the internet and in book stores.

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