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Powershell automation to create new pbix files from templates (pbit files)

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Andy on 03 Dec 2017 13:56:06

Now that we have pbit files to help create new pbix files quickly it would be great to be able to automate this process.

Perhaps we could have some Powershell commands that would allow you to pass the needed parameters and output a new pbix file.

Comments (78)
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Aaron Hagopian on 13 Jan 2021 19:13:04

RE: Powershell automation to create new pbix files from templates (pbit files)

I'm hoping to use something like this to regularly backup my reports since many of them are huge, this would allow a much more efficient use of storage.

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Aliaksandr Stadolnik on 18 Dec 2020 11:45:34

RE: Powershell automation to create new pbix files from templates (pbit files)

There is an API and some 3rd party modules on different platforms to deploy pbix files. This enables a good CI/CD process linked to version control for PBI development. Unfortunately pbix files are really large sometimes + storing data in version controls is not nice, so jsut enabling this functionality on API level will boost CI/CD process.

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Rajavel Balachandar on 13 Oct 2020 11:38:09

RE: Powershell automation to create new pbix files from templates (pbit files)

This is a much needed functionality. We cannot store PBIX files in source control systems due to compliance and data sensitivity. In-order to automate some of the process, we much be able to convert PBIT to PBIX and vice-versa programmatically. This prevents us from automating our deployment pipelines and enforces a lot of manual effort on developers.

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easpect consulting on 06 Jul 2020 00:16:15

RE: Powershell automation to create new pbix files from templates (pbit files)

'+1 for this. We should be able to deploy PBIT separately and dataset separately.

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Chris Vance on 06 Jul 2020 00:14:31

RE: Powershell automation to create new pbix files from templates (pbit files)

I'm working with a multi-tenant web app where each tenant has the same data structure. I need to upload a PBIT file to a central storage location, then copy the template into each workspace (1 for each tenant) and connect the data source to inflate the model. Uploading 300 to 500 PBIX files is not the way to go.

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Power BI User on 06 Jul 2020 00:14:07

RE: Powershell automation to create new pbix files from templates (pbit files)

Definitely agree with publishing the .pbit file from a data security standpoint. Also my data source is a variety of SQL Stored Procedures which usually have parameters such as Start and End date. Depending on the range, they could retrieve anywhere from a few records to 500k records. And the data is constantly changing, so storing another copy of the data in the .pbix version makes no sense. It would be useless in a very short time.

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Ronnie Li on 06 Jul 2020 00:13:36

RE: Powershell automation to create new pbix files from templates (pbit files)

It would be safer if we have the option to publish the metadata file (.pbit ) only.

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K V on 06 Jul 2020 00:13:28

RE: Powershell automation to create new pbix files from templates (pbit files)

'+1. Definitely needed for enterprise PBI practices

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Power BI User on 06 Jul 2020 00:11:36

RE: Powershell automation to create new pbix files from templates (pbit files)

Badly needed

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Alan on 06 Jul 2020 00:10:55

RE: Powershell automation to create new pbix files from templates (pbit files)

agree with the comment on better enabling source control, as well as not storing large/sensitive data within the source control system. Being able to deploy a PBIT file or being able to auto inflate it would be a huge step in being able to automate fully the deployment of reports.

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