PowerRefresher

Automate manual updating and publishing of your Power BI Desktop files!
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Contents

1. About The Project
   • Built With
2. Usage
   • GUI
   • Command Line Arguments
3. Roadmap
4. License
5. Contact

About The Project

Power Refresher was developed to automate the manual updating and publishing process of Power BI Desktop files. But, how does the application achieve it? Making use of the UI Automation library to catch and manipulate the Power BI Application UI controls to do the desired task.

Built With

• UI Automation
• .NET Framework 4.8

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Usage

There are two ways to use this tool, directly from its GUI or by passing command line arguments to the executable. Anyway, if you want a full automated process, I recommend using the second option (command line args).

GUI

Simply, you have to execute the program and set all the options shown in the user interface as you wish, then just press the refresh button to begin the process.

• Input
  • Browse/Set: Press to browse and select the target *.pbix file
  • Timeout: Set the waiting timeout, in seconds, for file to be opened (max: 600)
  • Language: Choose your Power BI Desktop application language
    
    
• Options
  • Refresh all: Check to refresh all the queries/tables/fields present on the model. If uncheck this option, you have to select which fields want to be updated from the below list.
  • Script Visuals
    • Enable: Check to allow the application to enable script visuals automatically, if they exist in the file. Only enable script visuals if you trust the author and source.
    • Continue refresh: Continues with refresh process even if script visuals were disabled. Otherwise, the process will be aborted.
  • Publish: Check to publish your file into a workspace after it has been updated. You must put the target workspace name in the box next to the checkbox control.
  • Close file on finish: Check to close *.pbix file on process finish
  • Close application on finish: Check to close PowerRefresher on process finish. If this option is enabled, when the application is closed, a log file will be created and shown with all the update details
    
    
• Output
  • Just a simple log console that will show you useful information about the process like information messages, errors, and more
    
    
• Buttons
  • Generate Script: Through this button, you could generate the string to execute the app with command line args, based in your current configuration. Plus, you could generate and save a batch file and just execute it to run the app in a scheduled task, for example
  • Refresh: Start the refresh process
    
    

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Command Line Arguments

Run the PowerRefresher application by passing the following arguments:

-target=path -timeout=180 -refresh_mode=all/fields -fields="[field1,fieldN]" -publish=bool -workspace=name -enable_script_visuals=bool -sv_force_refresh=bool -closefile=bool -closeapp=bool -pbi_lang=en/es

Command	Description
target	Full pbix file path
timeout	Waiting timeout in seconds (max. 600)
refresh_mode	Refresh mode, all or selected fields
fields	Fields to update
publish	True if you want to publish file
workspace	Target workspace name (to publish into)
enable_script_visuals	Allow the app to enable script visuals automatically
sv_force_refresh	Forces refresh process when script visuals are disabled
closefile	True if you want to close file on finish
closeapp	True if you want to close app on finish
pbi_lang	For English use en, for Spanish use es

Example

-target="C:\Users\MyUser\Desktop\My File.pbix" -timeout=180 -refresh_mode=fields -fields="[Table1,Table2]" -publish=true -workspace="My workspace" -enable_script_visuals=false -sv_force_refresh=true -closefile=true -closeapp=true -pbi_lang=en

Note: Remember that you can generate the script from the Generate Script button.

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Roadmap

• Multi-language Support
  • Spanish
• Migration to WinUI 3

Check the open issues section for a full list of proposed features (and known issues).

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License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE.txt for more information.

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Contact

contacto@alejandrofranzoni.com.ar

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Donate

You can support me through Cafecito (🇦🇷) or PayPal (Worldwide). Thank you ❤️

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