PowerBI output on Server 2022.3

Question

Hi All,

I thought I would give myself a little challenge on a Wednesday afternoon and take data from our on-prem time recording system and publish it to PowerBI.

I've done both of these before using Desktop but I wanted to up my game and have server take care of it for me using a schedule.

I have 2 tools.

The first is a standard Input Data tool which I've configured to connect to the SQL database.

The second is the PowerBI output tool which is configured using the Client ID and secret credentials, not quite what I've done in the past but thought I would do it this way to make it more stable on the server instead of using browser authentication.

I'm running Desktop and Server 2022.3, PowerBI Output version v3.2.0.

I know there's a newer version of the PowerBI output, but I have problems with single user with v3.3.1 and a desktop app, fixed with downgrading to v3.2.0 so decided to stay on this for now.

I've installed PowerBI on the server as an administrator and I get no errors when I save my workflow to the server.

I've added the certificate into the cacert.pem file (something I usually forget)

If I run the workflow in Desktop I get no errors and it will create my database as expected and upload the data.

However, if I run the workflow on Server I get an error 'str' object has no attribute 'get' on the PowerBI tool.

Anyone got any ideas?

MikeBird · Answer

Hi jrgo,

Thank you for the information.

I was a hesitant installing v3.3.1 because I had an issue on one user machine but it looks like I will need to do it sooner or later for the functionality.

I've installed v3.3.1 on my local machine and the server. Removed the Azure AP and recreated it (I forgot to make a note of the Client Secret)

Recreated and rerun the workflow on my desktop which works as I would expect.

I'm still getting the same issue on the server though.

I would expect some sort of button on the tool to 'connect via DCM'

I've set up my credentials on DCM using Advanced OAuth with the ClientID etc in...

Many thanks

Mike

jrgo · Answer

Likely issue is that the credentials you entered into the tools (client id/secret) are encrypted to you only, which is not a setting you can adjust. So when you publish it to Gallery and if your Gallery uses a default "Run as" account to run jobs with, the engine won't be able to decrypt the credentials because - again - they're encrypted to you. This was a growing problem with the new Python based connector tools Alteryx started releasing.

That's one of the reasons for why they added the new data connection manager (DCM). The version of the tool you have didn't support DCM, but version after does.

You may also try publishing your workflow and set the workflow options to use your credentials when running the workflow. If that doesn't work, there is a workaround that would allow you to publish and allow your password to be decrypted. However, the workaround requires edits to the system registry on both the server and your machine so you'll likely need to coordinate something your your IT team and Alteryx Support to explore/implement.

Hope this info helps!