Apr 25

Apr 25 How to unlock new features in Power BI datasets managed with Tabular Editor

Kurt Buhler

Data Modelling

UPDATE THE COMPATIBILITY LEVEL

*…to*
*unlock new features*
*like*
*measure dynamic format strings*
*when*
*managing models by using Tabular Editor*
*.*
RELEASE-SPECIFIC BEHAVIORS OF POWER BI DATASETS

Preview features may present opportunities to benefit from them if you already have a use-case.

Or, you may just want to test them out to learn them before they become generally available (go GA).

In the monthly updates for Power BI, there may be new features that appear for preview.
For example, in the April 2023 update, dynamic format strings for measures released into preview. This feature allows you to specify a DAX format string expression for measures, like you already could do with calculation groups.

In Power BI, these features become readily available once enabled from the ‘Preview features’ section of the 'Options’ menu. However, when you are connected to a dataset or metadata with Tabular Editor, the properties will not be visible.




That’s because behind-the-scenes, Power BI upgrades the model
*compatibility level*
when using a preview feature for the first time.
The compatibility level refers to the release of the analysis services engine, and features specific to that release. The best documentation for the tabular object model (TOM) compatibility levels can be found by Mathias Thierbach, here.

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01:19

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When you use a preview feature in Power BI, it updates the compatibility level (CL), automatically.

In the video, the CL is
1550
in the new data model, created in Power BI Desktop.

Once measure dynamic format strings are used for the first time, the CL is upgraded to
1601
.

In this short article, I will show you how to upgrade the compatibility level of your data model in Tabular Editor in order to access new features like dynamic format strings.
Note That Upgrading The Compatibility Level Is An Irreversible C

📌 How to unlock new features in Power BI datasets managed with Tabular Editor (Cundinamarca)
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