JSON, or JavaScript Object Notation, is a popular data format used for exchanging data between different platforms and applications. Power BI, Microsoft’s business analytics service, provides native support for parsing JSON data, allowing users to easily import and transform JSON data into visualizations and reports. In this blog post, we will discuss how to parse JSON in Power BI.
What is JSON?
JSON is a lightweight data format that is easy for humans to read and write and easy for machines to parse and generate. It is based on a collection of key-value pairs and supports arrays and nested structures. JSON is widely used for exchanging data between web services, web applications, and mobile applications.
JSON has become increasingly popular in recent years due to its simplicity and flexibility. It is supported by most programming languages and web frameworks, making it an ideal format for data exchange.
JSON in Power BI
Power BI provides native support for parsing JSON data, allowing users to easily import and transform JSON data into visualizations and reports. Power BI supports both JSON files and JSON web services, allowing users to connect to a wide range of data sources.
To parse JSON data in Power BI, you need to follow a few simple steps:
Step 1: Connect to the JSON data source
To import JSON data into Power BI, you need to first connect to the JSON data source. Power BI supports a wide range of data sources, including files, databases, and web services.
To connect to a JSON file, click on the “Get Data” button on the Home tab in the Power BI Desktop application. In the “Get Data” window, select “JSON” and click “Connect.”
To connect to a JSON web service, click on the “Get Data” button on the Home tab in the Power BI Desktop application. In the “Get Data” window, select “Web” and enter the URL of the JSON web service.
Step 2: Transform the JSON data
Once you have connected to the JSON data source, you need to transform the data into a format that can be used in Power BI. This involves parsing the JSON data and converting it into a table or other data structure.
Power BI provides a range of data transformation tools that can be used to parse and transform JSON data. These include the Query Editor, which allows you to visually transform data using a range of tools and functions.
To transform JSON data using the Query Editor, select the JSON data source in the Power BI Desktop application and click on the “Edit Queries” button. This will open the Query Editor, where you can visually transform the JSON data using a range of tools and functions.
Step 3: Parse the JSON data
To parse JSON data in Power BI, you need to use the “JSON” function, which is part of the Power Query M language. The “JSON” function allows you to parse a JSON string and convert it into a table or other data structure.
To use the “JSON” function, you need to select the column that contains the JSON data and apply the “JSON” function. This will parse the JSON data and convert it into a table.
For example, if you have a column called “JSONData” that contains JSON data, you can parse the data using the following formula:
= Json.Document([JSONData])
This will parse the JSON data and convert it into a table that can be used in Power BI.
Step 4: Create visualizations and reports
Once you have parsed the JSON data and transformed it into a table, you can create visualizations and reports using the Power BI Desktop application. Power BI provides a range of visualization tools that allow you to create charts, tables, and other visualizations.
To create a visualization, simply drag and drop the fields from the table onto the visualization canvas. You can then customize the visualization
