Use Power Automate HTTP Connector to Publish .pbix File Using the Power BI API

This will describe how to Publish a file from SharePoint to PowerBI.com using Power Automate HTTP Connector to call the API.

You might end up on this blog after looking at Microsoft’s article on this function here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/power-bi/imports/post-import-in-group

Prerequisite Knowledge

• You know the basics of the Power BI API, including how to setup the Service Principal (App Registration, PowerBI.com Access, etc).
• You know the basics of using the Power Automate HTTP connector.
• You can already do *something* successfully with the Power BI API. This blog won’t explain how to authenticate the HTTP connector.

JSON Format for HTTP Body

Here’s the correct JSON for the Body of the HTTP Request

{
  "$content-type": "multipart/form-data",
  "$multipart": [
    {
      "headers": {
        "Content-Disposition": "form-data; name=\"TestAPI\"; filename=\"TestAPI.pbix\""
      },
      "body": SharePoint File Content
    }
  ]
}

As you can see in the first screenshot, the text in red can be replaced with Power Automate Variables. I’m using the SharePoint Get File Properties (Name, File Name With Extension) and SharePoint Get File Content (.pbix File) connectors to get these values.

URL and Parameters

Here’s a sample URL. Replace red text with variables or hard code your values.

https://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/groups/12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789abc/imports?datasetDisplayName=TestAPI&skipReport=true&nameConflict=CreateOrOverwrite

skipReport=true means you can publish a Dataset only without publishing the Report!

Open-Source Power BI Publish App

The whole point of me researching this was to create a simpler way to publish Power BI files and manage pipelines. That app is available on GitHub:

https://github.com/cooptimize/Power-BI-Check-In-App

The App uses the Power Apps visual so it can sit inside of Power BI Desktop and provide a much more comprehensive publish experience. The initial one-time setup is a pain in the ass. But once you get it working you will wonder how you survived without it – saves me probably one minute per publish and is a repeatable process.

If nothing else, you can install the Power App Solution and see how the flows work!

Hat Tip

THANK YOU blogger/MVP Mohamed Ashiq Faleel for writing the post below. There were some pieces to put together, but without this blog I would not have solved this.

https://ashiqf.com/2021/07/25/how-to-use-form-data-and-form-urlencoded-content-type-in-power-automate-or-logic-apps-http-action