How To Automate Power Bi Refresh

To automate the refresh process in Power BI, you can use Power BI REST APIs, Power BI PowerShell cmdlets, or command-line tools like Tabular Editor or BISM Normalizer. Let’s go through these options in detail:

1. Power BI REST APIs:

Power BI provides several REST APIs that you can use to automate the refresh process. One of the key APIs is the Dataset Refresh API, which allows you to trigger a refresh for a specific dataset in Power BI. Here’s an example of how you can use this API:

    
      POST https://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/groups/{groupId}/datasets/{datasetId}/refreshes
      Content-Type: application/json
      
      {
        "notifyOption": "NoNotification"
      }
    
  

In this example, you need to replace `{groupId}` with the ID of your workspace group and `{datasetId}` with the ID of the dataset you want to refresh. The `notifyOption` property is optional and specifies whether to notify users after the refresh process completes.

2. Power BI PowerShell cmdlets:

If you prefer using PowerShell, you can leverage the Power BI Management module to automate the refresh process. Here’s an example of how you can use the `Invoke-PowerBIRestMethod` cmdlet to trigger a refresh:

    
      $datasetId = "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx"
      $refreshBody = @{
        "notifyOption" = "NoNotification"
      } | ConvertTo-Json
      
      Invoke-PowerBIRestMethod -Url "https://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/datasets/$datasetId/refreshes" -Method POST -Body $refreshBody
    
  

In this example, you need to replace `$datasetId` with the actual ID of your dataset. The `notifyOption` property has the same purpose as mentioned in the REST API example.

3. Tabular Editor or BISM Normalizer:

Tabular Editor and BISM Normalizer are third-party tools that allow you to script the refresh process and automate it using command-line tools or scheduled tasks. You can use these tools to open and refresh Power BI datasets programmatically.

These are some examples of how you can automate the refresh process in Power BI. Choose the method that best fits your requirement and infrastructure. Keep in mind that certain methods may require additional setup or permissions to access Power BI resources.