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
    2018-07-24T08:16:21+00:00

    Hi Louise

    Have you had a chance to give it a go?

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-07-24T10:58:53+00:00

    Hi,

    Sorry, no I've only had a cursory glance.  I'll have a better look on my lunch break.

    thanks

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-07-25T12:41:01+00:00

    Hello,

    I've had a look at this and hit a problem.  I added some new rows to the table and extended the 'table' dimensions fine, however, got the following error in the second file.

    I presume this is VB but the only script I can find is error handling, nothing that looks like I would expect for this process.  

    1. Should the existing output data be removed from the QUERY_OUTPUT file before rerunning the macro, ie. rows 4 down?
    2. I will need to add additional columns as well as rows.  Without seeing the script I can't see how to do that.

    thanks for all your help.

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  4. Lz365 38,201 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2018-07-25T13:10:35+00:00

    Hi Louise

    Re. Should the existing output data be removed from the QUERY_OUTPUT file before rerunning the macro, ie. rows 4 down? Answer is NO

    Could you upload to OneDrive and share (see How To here) the file you "extended" and caused you problem as something seems weird.

    BTW VBA has nothing to do with the Query. The few line of codes just refresh the query and then copy/paste the query Output in a new workbook. I'll explain later how to access the query code/script. In the meantime upload and share the file please

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