TMDL Tool

The TMDL Tool is a .NET Core console application that automates the process of deploying a Tabular Model to a Power BI workspace. The tool supports both pulling a Tabular Model from a workspace and deploying a Tabular Model to a workspace. The tool is designed to be used from CLI. TMDL uses Azure Service Principal app authentication to authenticate with the Power BI API.

About TMDL

TMDL is Tabular Model Definition Language (TMDL) is an object model definition syntax for tabular data models at compatibility level 1200 or higher.

Key elements of TMDL include:

• Full compatibility with the entire Tabular Object Model (TOM).
• Text-based and optimized for human interaction and readability. TMDL uses a grammar syntax similar to YAML. Each TMDL object is represented in text with minimal delimiters and uses indentation to demark parent-child relationships.
• Better editing experience, especially on properties with embed expressions from different content-types, like Data Analysis Expression (DAX) and M.
• Better for collaboration because of its folder representation where each model object has an individual file representation, making it more source control friendly.

Installation

To install tmdl_tool, simply clone the repository and build the solution using Visual Studio. Once the solution has been built, you can find the tmdl_tool executable in the bin folder. You can also download the latest release from the release section of this repository.

Usage

To use tmdl_tool, simply run the executable from the command line and provide the required arguments. The following arguments are available:

• WorkspaceXMLA: The URL of the Power BI workspace.
• DatasetName: The name of the Power BI dataset.
• TmdlFolderPath: The path to the TMDL folder.
• Action: The action to perform (pull or deploy).
• AppId: The Application ID of the Azure AD Application.
• AppSecret: The Application Secret of the Azure AD Application.
• TenantId: The Tenant ID of the Azure AD Application.
• AccessToken: Externally aquired Oauth2/OpenId access token.
• Verbose: (default = true) Enable verbose output of the tool.

In this repository you can also find example_settings.json fill it in with your own settings and rename it to settings.json to use it with the tool.

{
    "WorkspaceXMLA": "powerbi://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/MyWorkSpace",
    "DatasetName": "MyDatasetName",
    "TmdlFolderPath": "tmdl\\MyDatasetName",
    "Action": "pull",
    "AppId": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx",
    "AppSecret": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
    "TenantId": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx",
    "AccessToken": "zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...",
    "Verbose": true
}

tmdl_tool pull -s settings.json

Output of tmdl_tool -h

Usage: tmdl_tool [arguments]

Arguments:
  -w    The URL of the Power BI workspace
        --workspacexmla "<url>"
  -d    The name of the Power BI dataset
        --datasetname "<name>"
  -t    The path to the TMDL folder
        --tmdlfolderpath "<path>"
  -a    The action to perform (pull or deploy)
        --action "<pull|deploy>"
  -s    The path to the settings file (default: settings.json)
        --settingsfilepath "<path>"
  -ai   The application ID of the Azure AD app
        --appid "<id>"
  -as   The application secret of the Azure AD app
        --appsecret "<secret>"
  -ti   The tenant ID of the Azure AD app
        --tenantid "<id>"
  -at   Externally aquired Access Token for Azure AD app
        --accessToken "<BearerTypeAccessToken>"
  -v    Show progress on STDOUT
        --verbose "<true|false>" (default: true)

  -h    Show this help message
        --help


Environment:
  Use an Environment Variable `tmdl_accessToken` to pass a Bearer Access Token to the PowerBI Server

Examples:
  tmdl_tool --workspacexmla "powerbi://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/MyWorkspace" --datasetname "MyDataset" --tmdlfolderpath "C:\TMDL" --action "pull"
  tmdl_tool -w "powerbi://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/MyWorkspace" -d "MyDataset" -t "C:\TMDL" -a "pull"
  tmdl_tool -s "C:\settings.json" -a "deploy"
  tmdl_tool -ai "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx" -as "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" -ti "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx" -a "deploy"
  tmdl_tool deploy
  tmdl_tool pull

Example verbose output of the tool:

1971-01-01 14:51:15.642 [tmdl_tool v.1.0.3.0, Microsoft.AnalysisServices.Tabular: 19.82.0.0]: Starting with options:
{
  "WorkspaceXMLA": "powerbi://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/myWorkspace",
  "DatasetName": "myDataset",
  "TmdlFolderPath": "../myDataset_pull",
  "Action": "pull",
  "AppId": "",
  "AppSecret": "",
  "TenantId": "",
  "AccessToken": "********",
  "Verbose": true,
  "SettingsFilePath": "settings.json"
}
1971-01-01 14:51:15.693 [tmdl_tool v.1.0.3.0, Microsoft.AnalysisServices.Tabular: 19.82.0.0]: Using Access Token from Settings / Command Line
1971-01-01 14:51:15.694 [tmdl_tool v.1.0.3.0, Microsoft.AnalysisServices.Tabular: 19.82.0.0]: Connecting to powerbi://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/myWorkspace
1971-01-01 14:51:19.195 [tmdl_tool v.1.0.3.0, Microsoft.AnalysisServices.Tabular: 19.82.0.0]: Getting Databases for myDataset
1971-01-01 14:51:19.196 [tmdl_tool v.1.0.3.0, Microsoft.AnalysisServices.Tabular: 19.82.0.0]: Serializing model from myDataset to ../myDataset_pull
1971-01-01 14:51:21.518 [tmdl_tool v.1.0.3.0, Microsoft.AnalysisServices.Tabular: 19.82.0.0]: Model pulled successfully to ../myDataset_pull

Contributing

Pull requests are welcome. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT license.