Using R to transform data from an azure live connection

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I'm aware of the functionality to run R script in the query editor, however I can't find any documentation about using it in conjunction with a live connection. I'm not sure it's even possible to do so.

For example in situations where I need a measure as a column in a matrix or I want to filter based on a measure.

[TomMartens · Accepted solution]

Hey @Anonymous ,

that you do not find any documentation on using R the way you want, is due to the fact that it's simply not possible.

There are just these two inception points for R (this is also valid for python):

• R and Power Query
  Here it's possible to use R scripts as a data source or during data transformation. Either the input/output must be a table (an R data.frame type)
• R script visual
  Here are scripts can be used to visualize data, e.g., using the package ggplot2 

Using R inside Power Query means that the R script will only be executed during data refresh.

Using R for data visualization means that there are more script executions, but this can only be leveraged for data visualization, as the filtered table (by all the other user interactions) will feed the R script.

It's not possible to use R (or python) for anything between the above-mentioned scenarios, like using R inside a DAX statement creating a measure, or even a calculated column.

Hopefully, this provides some additional insights, even if it's not a solution for your task.

Regards,

Tom

[Anonymous]

I assumed this to be the case, I just couldn't find anywhere that definitively gave the answer. Thanks!