Loading Power Query M Code From Text Files

One of the things that has intrigued me in the Power Query docs for a while now is the Expression.Evaluate() function, which takes some text and evaluates it as a Power Query expression (rather like good old StrToSet() in MDX). I can think of lots of fun things you can do with this, but here’s one very cool example: it allows you to store the M code for your Power Query query in a text file outside your Excel workbook.

Here’s an example. Consider the following Excel workbook, which has a table named FruitSales in it:

I can use this table as a source for the following simple Power Query query as follows:

let

    Source = Excel.CurrentWorkbook(){[Name="FruitSales"]}[Content],

    GroupedRows = Table.Group(Source, {}, {{"Sum of Sales", each List.Sum([Sales]), type number}})

in

    GroupedRows

Here’s the output:

No surprises so far. Next, I copy the code for the Power Query query above and paste it into a text file; in my case I’ve saved my file at C:\PowerQueryQueries\DynamicQuery.txt

Back in Excel, I can now load the code stored in this text file in a new query using the following code:

let

    //Load M code from text file

    Source = Text.FromBinary(File.Contents("C:\PowerQueryQueries\DynamicQuery.txt")),

    //Evaluate the code from the file as an M expression

    EvaluatedExpression = Expression.Evaluate(Source, #shared)    

in

    EvaluatedExpression 

The end result is exactly the same as in the previous example, except that in this case the code to read the data from the table and to aggregate it is loaded from the text file and is not stored inside the workbook.

The Source step here is fairly straightforward – it just loads text from a file into Power Query. It’s the next step where the magic takes place: as I said, Expression.Evaluate() takes the text and evaluates it as an expression, but it’s the second parameter which defines the environment that the expression evaluates in that seems to be the key to making this work. The chapter on “Sections” in the Power Query Formula Language specification document has a little bit more explanation of what environments are but I have to admit I’m not 100% clear on how all this ties in to M as it is implemented in Power Query today.

For those of you who can’t afford a Power BI subscription, this technique allows you to share queries between multiple workbooks without a Power BI site. In fact it has some advantages over sharing a query in Power BI because it always reads the definition of the query from the file, and so it will always use the latest version of your query – in Power BI, when you use a shared query you take a copy of the query and it is not updated even if the original author shares a newer version.