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A guide to Fabric dataflows for Azure Data Factory Mapping Data Flow users
Microsoft Fabric’s Data Factory experience provides an intuitive and user-friendly interface using Power Query Online that can help you streamline your data transformation workflows when authoring Dataflow Gen2. If you’re a developer with a background in Azure Data Factory's Mapping Data Flows, you find this guide helpful in mapping your existing Mapping Data Flow transformations to the Dataflow Gen2 Power Query user interface.
Global search box
When first starting to author dataflows, you can also use the Global search box (shortcut: Alt + Q) found in the middle of the editor to search for connectors, transformations (actions), queries, and more while you learn your way around the Power Query Online interface.
👁 Screenshot of the Global search box feature.
Note
Learn more about Global search box.
Transformations
When authoring Dataflow Gen2 using the Power Query Online interface, you can use the following table to understand how the current Mapping Data Flows capabilities translate and their equivalent toolbar navigation location in Dataflow Gen2 where applicable.
Multiple inputs/outputs
| Mapping Data Flow | Dataflow Gen2 |
|---|---|
| New branch | Reference |
|
👁 Screenshot of the New branch transformation icon. |
👁 Screenshot of the Reference transformation icon in Power Query. Important: Right select a query and select Reference. |
| Join | Merge queries |
|
👁 Screenshot of the Join transformation icon. |
👁 Screenshot of the Merge queries transformation icon. Navigation: Home > Merge queries Important: Merge queries – Merge this query into another query in this project. Merge queries as new – Merge this query into another query in this project to create a new query. |
| Conditional Split | Reference |
|
👁 Screenshot of the Conditional Split transformation icon. |
👁 Screenshot of the Reference transformation icon. Important: Right select a query and select Reference, you can then apply extra transformation logic to limit specific rows manually. |
| Union | Append queries |
|
👁 Screenshot of the Union transformation icon. |
👁 Screenshot of the Append queries transformation icon. Navigation: Home > Append queries Important: Append queries – Append this query into another query in this project. Append queries as new – Append this query into another query in this project to create a new query. |
| Lookup | Merge queries |
|
👁 Screenshot of the Lookup transformation icon. |
👁 Screenshot of the Merge queries transformation icon. 👁 Screenshot of the Join kinds. Navigation: Home > Merge queries Important: Select Left outer from the Join kind options. |
Schema modifier
| Mapping Data Flow | Dataflow Gen2 |
|---|---|
| Derived Column | Custom column |
|
👁 Screenshot of the Derived Column transformation icon. |
👁 Screenshot of the Custom Column options transformation icons. Navigation: Add column > Custom column Important: Column from examples - Use examples to create a new column in this table. (Ctrl + E) Custom column - Create a new column based on other columns, or a custom expression. Invoke custom function - Invoke a custom function for each row of this table. Conditional column - Create a new column that conditionally adds the values in the currently selected column. |
| Replace values | |
|
👁 Screenshot of the Replace values transformation icon. Navigation: Transform > Replace values |
|
| Select | Choose columns |
|
👁 Screenshot of the Select transformation icon. Note: Includes the ability to select, drop, and rename (Name as) columns and whether to drop or pass on duplicate columns |
👁 Screenshot of the Choose columns transformation icon. Navigation: Home > Choose columns |
| (Remove Mapping) | Remove columns |
|
👁 Screenshot of the Remove columns transformation icon. |
|
| Navigation: Home > Remove columns |
|
| (Name as) | Rename |
|
👁 Screenshot of the Rename columns transformation icon. |
|
| Navigation: Transform > Rename |
|
| Aggregate | Group by |
|
👁 Screenshot of the Aggregate transformation icon. |
👁 Screenshot of the Group by transformation icon. |
| Navigation: Transform > Group by |
|
| Surrogate Key | Index column |
|
👁 Screenshot of the Surrogate Key transformation icon. |
👁 Screenshot of the Index column transformation icon. |
| Navigation: Add column > Index column Important: From 0 - Create a new column with an index starting at 0. From 1 - Create a new column with an index starting at 1. Custom... - Create a new column with an index starting at a specified value and a specified increment. |
|
| Pivot | Pivot column |
|
👁 Screenshot of the Pivot transformation icon. |
👁 Screenshot of the Pivot column transformation icon. |
| Navigation: Transform > Pivot column |
|
| Unpivot | Unpivot columns |
|
👁 Screenshot of the Unpivot transformation icon. |
👁 Screenshot of the Unpivot columns transformation icon. |
| Navigation: Transform > Unpivot columns Important: Unpivot columns - Translate all but the currently unselected columns into attribute-value pairs. Unpivot other columns - Select all but the currently selected columns into attribute-value pairs. Unpivot only selected columns - Translate only the currently selected columns into attribute-value pairs. |
|
| Rank | Rank column |
|
👁 Screenshot of the Rank transformation icon. |
👁 Screenshot of the Rank column transformation icon. |
| Navigation: Add column > Rank column |
|
| External Call | Custom column |
|
👁 Screenshot of the External Call transformation icon. |
👁 Screenshot of the Custom column transformation icon. Navigation: Add column > Custom column Expression: Web.Contents |
| Cast | Data type |
|
👁 Screenshot of the Cast transformation icon. |
👁 Screenshot of the Data type transformation icon. Navigation: Transform > Data type |
Formatters
| Mapping Data Flow | Dataflow Gen2 |
|---|---|
| Flatten | (Expand column) |
|
👁 Screenshot of the Flatten transformation icon. |
👁 Screenshot of the Expand column icon. |
| Important: The expand option is available when structured data types exist in your column. |
|
| Parse | Parse |
|
👁 Screenshot of the Parse transformation icon. |
👁 Screenshot of the various File connector icons. Navigation: Transform > Text column > Parse |
Row modifier
| Mapping Data Flow | Dataflow Gen2 |
|---|---|
| Filter | Filter rows |
|
👁 Screenshot of the Filter transformation icon. |
👁 Screenshot of the Filter rows transformation icon. Navigation: Home > Filter rows |
| Sort | Sort |
|
👁 Screenshot of the Sort transformation icon. |
👁 Screenshot of the Power Query Sort transformation icon. Navigation: Home > Sort |
Flowlets
| Mapping Data Flow | Dataflow Gen2 |
|---|---|
| Flowlet | (Custom functions) |
|
👁 Screenshot of the Flowlet transformation icon. |
Learn more about how to Create a custom function |
Destination
| Mapping Data Flow | Dataflow Gen2 |
|---|---|
| Sink | Add data destination |
|
👁 Screenshot of the Sink transformation icon. |
👁 Screenshot of the Add data destination icon. Navigation: Home > Add data destination |
Considerations and limitations
The following mapping data flow transformations aren't supported in Dataflow Gen2. To vote for support of these operations, visit Fabric ideas.
- Assert
- Alter Row
- Stringify
- Window
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