Power Query - Loop through unknown number of Tables and append them all - solved

Anonymous
2018-07-17T09:29:18+00:00

Hello,

I have an Excel spreadsheet with a lot of columns but I want to save it in csv format with line breaks to put certain columns on different lines.   This is because I can upload different record types into my database but each record type needs its own line in csv with a header type as the first field on that line.

eg this in Excel:

col1   col2   col3   col4   col5   col6   col7   col8   col9   col10

01        b        c        d       e        02         g       h        03         j

01        r         s         t       u        02         v       w        03         x

becomes this in csv:

01, b, c, d, e

02, g, h

03, j

01, r, s, t, u

02, v, w

03, x              

Is this possible?  Easy?  

thanks

Louise

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Lz365 38,201 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2018-08-01T12:23:56+00:00

This is a very simplified version of this thread. We have an Input Table that looks like:

where each Group of colored columns needs to be transformed in a separate Table (so 3 in this case) and at the end we want the 3 Tables to be Appended (Combined according to Power Query M language)

Challenge

The number of Groups may vary (i.e. from 1 to say 10) from time to time. So we need a query that is flexible enough to handle this variation

Note

In the above example the 1st Group has 3 columns, the 2nd has 4 and the last has 5. To properly Append/Combine Tables they all must have the same number of columns. That aspect of the problem is not detailed in the below Power Query M snipet.

How To

Power Quey M language doesn't offer an easy way to loop. This example uses the List.Generate function to do that the appropriate number of times to build each Table and then Append/Combine them

let

    ...

    GroupsList = Record.ToList(Table.FirstN(Source, 1){0}),

    NbGroups = List.Count(List.Distinct(GroupsList)),

    // Loop (actually NbGroups of times) to create a Table for each "Group"

    // At the end we get a List that contains Table(s)

    The next Step will Append/Combine all Table(s)

    TablesToAppend = List.Generate(

         ()=> [i = -1, j = 0, OutputTable = #table({"Col","Index","Index2"},{})],

            each [i] < NbGroups,

                each

                    [

                        j = [j] +1,

                        ...,              // step1 to build the OutputTable

                        ...,              // step2 to build the OutputTable

                        TableIdx = ...,   // step3 to build the OutputTable

                        OutputTable = Table.AddIndexColumn(TableIdx, "Index2", j, 1),

                        i = [i] +1

                    ],

                each [OutputTable]

                                  ),

    // Append all tables from above List

    TablesAppended = Table.Combine(List.Transform(TablesToAppend, each (_))),

    ...

in

    ...

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  1. Lz365 38,201 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2018-07-26T16:28:39+00:00

    Louise

    (appreciate you understand how time consuming this issue is. It looks like a never ending story...). Thanks for the detailed report, it really helped. The highly probable reason of the issue is:

    VBA and some other features are not supported in Excel Online. Consequently when you open a workbook containing those unsupported features, as indicated above, they are removed from the file that will be downloaded.

    Here is Zip folder that contains the same file as the last one share. It won't open in Excel Online...

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-07-26T14:03:21+00:00

    Yes the link worked but I still have a problem.  I've done a screen by screen grab of what I've done to show you.

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/riqrocby1i03oo3/Error%20on%20joint%20doc.docx?dl=0

    BTW I'm conscious of how much time this is taking, so don't feel bad if you want to chuck the towel in and mark it down as unsolvable.  :0)  It might be something on my set up that I can't change due to the company's set up that's interferring.  If you're still determined to crack it, thank you again.

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  3. Lz365 38,201 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2018-07-26T11:53:05+00:00

    File was still on my OneDrive so ??? Anyway, does that link work better?

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-07-26T11:48:19+00:00

    This item might not exist or is no longer available

    This item might have been deleted, expired or you might not have permission to view it. Contact the owner of this item for more information.

    Ooh, can you check you link please as I got the above message.

    thanks

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