Using OData in Power BI

This simple example illustrates how one could use results saved in OData format to create a chart or graph in Power BI.

1. Open Power BI
2. On the Power BI ribbon, click Get Data – Blank Query; the Power Query Editor will appear.
3. Within the Power Query Editor, click View – Advanced Editor

   Since Power BI does not currently provide a way to specify headers, M code must be used. Copy and paste the following M code into the Advanced Editor dialog.

         
       let
       url="https://rason.net/odata/result",
       modelID="<your resource="" ID="" here="">
         ",
         token="Bearer <your token="" here="">
           ",
           Source = OData.Feed(url,null,[Headers=[Authorization=token, modelID=modelID], MoreColumns=true]),
           in
           Source
           
       

   URL: Any valid RASON OData endpoint may be substituted for the current URL.

   modelID: You can find the resource ID using the RASON Rest API endpoint: GET rason.net/api/model/id.

   token: You can find your token by logging on to RASON.com and clicking MyAccount. (SeeAPI Authoriziation on the MyAccount page.)

   

   Note that "MoreColumns=True" is required for "Source" in order to see the related open type entities. By default, this setting is false. Setting this parameter to True is equivalent to checking "Include Open Type Columns" checkbox within the OData Feed dialog.

4. Click Done. Power BI will connect to the RASON Server's OData feed and pull the requested results.
   • To view each table, click "Table" under the Data column.

     Table 1 customers.result.transformation

     

     Table 2 orders.result.transformation

     
   • Click "Record" under More Columns (in either table), to see that instance of data.

     Click the Expand button to the right of More Columns to expand the fields.

     

     Uncheck "Use original column name as prefix".

     

     Then click OK.

     
5. Click "Close and Apply" in the Power Query Editor. The data will now be available on the Power BI dashboard. For example, click Map under Visualizations and then drag "Country" under Fields on the right to "Location" on the left.

   To produce the simple map below.