MySql Import Issues with Tabular and OldGuids

In my last post, I looked at a MySql connection property that causes loads to fail in Power BI and how you can work around that issue (see here).  In this post, I’ll look at those implications in SSAS Tabular.  In this example, I’ve downloaded the MySql ODBC drivers (both x32 and x64) from here and created ODBC connections (x32 and x64 with the same name) to my MySQL database.

Data is initially imported through the Table Wizard where I have to choose the relational source Others ( OLEDB/ODBC).  This brings me to the Table Import Wizard window (below) where I can choose my ODBC Connection.  Testing the connection proves successful.  So you navigate next a few times until you can chose to import from a list of tables or write a query.

If you choose to select tables (and any) of the tables have Guids in them, the entire load will fail and you are presented with the following errors. 

Here the error is raised by the SQL generated because it is not compliant with MySQL (that is the SQL generated is “Select [calls].* from [calls]” and MySql does not like square brackets).

Far enough, so you continue.  Now that the connection has been created in the model all you need to do to import data is Open the existing connection (existing connections in the model can be viewed by clicking the Connections button in the ribbon () or by selecting “Existing Connections..” from the Model Menu group).  You can then open that connection (either Double Click it or highlight it and press the Open button) and you are presented with the select from tables or write a query).  This time you specify the query (Select * From Calls).  The query validates however, a new error is presented when you try to load data.  Although not specified, it does relate to the OldGuids property.

Now we have to manually edit the connection to specify its properties.  When we do so, we are presented with the following window.  Now I want to build the connection string so specify connection string and select the build option.  Then I can choose the machine data source (btw I set up my ODBC connections as machine sources).

Now I am taken to the drivers creation window (as below).  I don’t need to change anything here (since the connection works anyway), so I will accept the defaults and hit OK.  (Note that the OldGuids property is not an option in the details section of the drivers configuration)

My Connection String has now been specified (note the additional properties in the window and snippet below) and I can add other properties as I need.

Before:

DSN=dsnname;SERVER=server;UID=username;PWD=password;DATABASE=databasename;PORT=3306

After:

DSN=dsnname;SERVER=server;UID=username;PWD=password;DATABASE=databasename;PORT=3306;OldGuids=true;

Then I simply specify my impersonation and I am right to go (noting that I must write a query).

Creating Tables in Excel with VBA and External Data – Part II

In Part I, we looked at adding a data table to a Workbook which uses an external data source (we used OLAP but the process can be applied to any source). This post looks at manipulating an existing table.

Without VBA, we can manually manage the table – both the its properties and the underlying query. Simply right click on the table and select the Edit Query.. or External Data Properties from the popup menu. Changes are made to the table data are made automatically.

If we chose to edit the query, we can simply overwrite the Command Text (as seen in the image below). These changes well be automatically applied (including resizing the table by rows or columns for a different sized data set) once the OK button is clicked.

For External Data Properties, we can configure how the table reacts with new data. For example, you may notice that, the table accommodates additional rows and columns however, when the query returns a table with fewer rows and columns, the table retains its old sizing (number of columns) and includes a blank columns (for data that previously existed). You can manually resize this (dragging the bounds of the tables border) or set the properties of the table to overwrite existing data. If you want to ensure that this option exists and that new sizes are automatically incorporated into the table – make sure that the check box for Overwrite is marked in External Data Properties.

VBA

Now to the VBA – As commandant Lassard would say “There are many, many, many, many fine reasons to use VBA”. We have so much flexibility but let’s keep it simple, here’s what we I’ve set up.

Cell B1 is data validated based on the cell range D1:D2 – nice and simple. When we change that cell, the table updates for the new country.

In order to determine if the there is a change in or data (the Country selected) we have to create a worksheet event to capture and test the change. I have gone into this in some detail here and the code is below. Note that this needs to be added to the sheet code (not in a separate bas module). All we do is check that our only B1 is updated and then call the refresh subroutine.

Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)

  ‘ update table if cell 1,B is changed
If Target.Cells.Count = 1 And Target.Cells.Row = 1 And Target.Cells.Column = 2 Then UpdateMyTable

End Sub

Now for the updating component – the bit that’s called when cell(B1) is changed. I think this is pretty straight forward but I’ll walk through it anyway. First, the code;

Public Sub UpdateMyTable()

  ‘ ensure that any new changes are reflected in the table dimensions
Sheet1.ListObjects(“Table_abax_sql3”).QueryTable.RefreshStyle = xlOverwriteCells

  ‘ set the comand text
Sheet1.ListObjects(“Table_abax_sql3”).QueryTable.CommandText = NewQuery(Sheet1.Cells(1, 2))
Sheet1.ListObjects(“Table_abax_sql3”).Refresh

End Sub

Private Function NewQuery(Country As String) As String

NewQuery = “select {[Measures].[Reseller Sales Amount] } on 0, ” & _
“[Product].[Category].[Category] on 1 ” & _
“from [Adventure Works] ” & _
“where [Geography].[Geography].[Country].&[” & Country & “]”

End Function

I’ve kept the same format as in the original post. The function NewQuery determines what the MDX should be – based on the provided country. All we is set the tables command to the new mdx (in (QueryTable.CommandText)) and refresh it.

I’ve also set the refresh style so that any changes in the command (grid size) are automatically reflected in the worksheet table.

That’s about the size of it! – I hope you find it useful.

Creating Tables in Excel with VBA and External Data – Part I

This post looks at how we can add a table to an Excel sheet which uses a MDX query as its source. This is a very handy feature to use for a couple reasons;

1. The table retains the connection OLAP source (hence can be updated by a user at will)
2. We can use it to extract data from MOLAP or tabular sources (i.e. run MDX or DAX)
3. We can define complex queries to return a result set that cannot be obtained with a pivot table

Note that most workarounds for creating a table from OLAP sources rely on the creation of the pivot table, its formatting is a tabular source and a copy and paste the values. Hardly an attractive option!

1. We can use the table!! – (This is really important for certain activities like data mining table analysis)

How to Do It

We’ll look at a simple query from adventure works;

select [Measures].[Reseller Sales Amount] on 0,
[Product].[Category].[Category] on 1
from [Adventure Works]
where [Geography].[Geography].[Country].&[Australia]

and an OLEDB connection string (note the OLEDB specification at the start of the string)

OLEDB;Provider=MSOLAP;Data Source=@server;Initial Catalog=Adventure Works DW 2008R2;

I have incorporated those to strings into 2 functions (MyQuery and MyConnectionString) – this just removes some of the clutter from the code.

Now we just need to use the ListObjects.Add method. The code (now in with all Sub’s and Functions) is pretty much the bare bones you need to add the table. In other posts, I’ll look into higher level of control for the output.

The CODE

The complete code is shown below. Ive included everything so it can simply be pasted into a new VB module

Sub CreateTable()

  With Sheet1.ListObjects.Add(SourceType:=0 _
, Source:=MyConnectionString() _
, Destination:=Range(“$A$1”) _
                            ).QueryTable
.CommandType = xlCmdDefault
.CommandText = MyQuery()
.ListObject.DisplayName = “MyMDXQueryTable”
.Refresh BackgroundQuery:=False
.PreserveColumnInfo = False

  End With

End Sub

Private Function MyQuery() As String

     MyQuery = “select [Measures].[Reseller Sales Amount] on 0, ” & _
“[Product].[Category].[Category] on 1 ” & _
“from [Adventure Works] ” & _
“where [Geography].[Geography].[Country].&[Australia]”

End Function

Private Function MyConnectionString() As String

     MyConnectionString = “OLEDB;Provider=MSOLAP;Data Source=@server;Initial Catalog=Adventure Works DW 2008R2;”

End Function

Walk through

This is pretty much the bare bones approach. As code walk through (see Sub CreateTable), we add the list object specifying its connection string and destination, set the command and refresh info. The only statement that is not entirely necessary is naming the table (see .ListObject.DisplayName) but I tend to think is a good idea because we will want to refer to it by name at a later stage.

Out Come

The code will add a table like the one in the following image. The field names are fully qualified which is not that nice and we will look at how this can be changed in another post. For now, our purpose is to get a table is in the workbook (the purpose of this post) so that it can be used as a table and refreshed.

PS – the code above adds the listobject by reference to the sheet within VBA (see Sheet1.ListObjects). Its probably worthwhile to point out that this is the sheet reference (ie the number of the sheet in the book) and not the name of the sheet.

One more thing – when the query uses refers to a attributes in a hierarchy the OLEDB result set (table) will include parent attributes of the hierarchy as a column. This is nothing to worry about for the moment!

Next – changing the tables query.