Converting JSON into Table (PowerQuery)

Question

What would be a correct PowerQuery syntax to extract the information from this Web JSON into a table: I'm not very familiar with PowerQuery, and this is probably the only time I'll need this, so I'd be grateful if someone would help me out without refering me to documentation. Thanks

[{"time_entry_group": {"minutes": 301,"time_entries_params": {"locked": "0","from": "2021-02-01","to": "2021-02-28","customer_id": "11223344","project_id": "223388","service_id": "435248"},"revenue": 57691.6666666667,"project_id": 223388,"project_name": "Scrb","service_id": 435248,"service_name": "Meetings","month": "202102"}}
, {"time_entry_group": {"minutes": 1175,"time_entries_params": {"locked": "1","from": "2021-01-01","to": "2021-01-31","customer_id": "11223344","project_id": "223388","service_id": "421393"},"revenue": 225208.333333333,"project_id": 223388,"project_name": "Scrb","service_id": 421393,"service_name": "Design","month": "202101"}}
, {"time_entry_group": {"minutes": 24,"time_entries_params": {"locked": "1","from": "2021-01-01","to": "2021-01-31","customer_id": "11223344","project_id": "3168911","service_id": "95033"},"revenue": 4600.0,"project_id": 3168911,"project_name": "youkn Dev","service_id": 95033,"service_name": "Reviews","month": "202101"}}]

chillin chillin · Accepted Answer · 2021-02-16T12:42:51

For future reference, if you have a column that you need to expand, you can instead click this arrow icon to the right of the column name. Clicking it should display a menu that should then allow you to specify which nested columns you want to get expand or get at. To be clear, it will expand that column for all rows in that table, not just one.

The JSON you've included is basically an array of objects, so maybe use:

Json.Document to parse the JSON, which should give you a list of records
Table.FromRecords to turn the list of records into a table.
Table.ExpandRecordColumn to expand a nested record columns.

Example implementation:

let
    json = "[{""time_entry_group"":{""minutes"":301,""time_entries_params"":{""locked"":""0"",""from"":""2021-02-01"",""to"":""2021-02-28"",""customer_id"":""11223344"",""project_id"":""223388"",""service_id"":""435248""},""revenue"":57691.6666666667,""project_id"":223388,""project_name"":""Scrb"",""service_id"":435248,""service_name"":""Meetings"",""month"":""202102""}},{""time_entry_group"":{""minutes"":1175,""time_entries_params"":{""locked"":""1"",""from"":""2021-01-01"",""to"":""2021-01-31"",""customer_id"":""11223344"",""project_id"":""223388"",""service_id"":""421393""},""revenue"":225208.333333333,""project_id"":223388,""project_name"":""Scrb"",""service_id"":421393,""service_name"":""Design"",""month"":""202101""}},{""time_entry_group"":{""minutes"":24,""time_entries_params"":{""locked"":""1"",""from"":""2021-01-01"",""to"":""2021-01-31"",""customer_id"":""11223344"",""project_id"":""3168911"",""service_id"":""95033""},""revenue"":4600,""project_id"":3168911,""project_name"":""youkn Dev"",""service_id"":95033,""service_name"":""Reviews"",""month"":""202101""}}]",
    parsed = Json.Document(json),
    initialTable = Table.FromRecords(List.Transform(parsed, each [time_entry_group])),
    expanded = Table.ExpandRecordColumn(initialTable, "time_entries_params", {"locked", "from", "to", "customer_id"})
in
    expanded

One thing about the code above is that it doesn't expand nested fields project_id and service_id (present within time_entries_params). This is because these columns already exist in the table (and having duplicate column names would cause an error). I've assumed this isn't a problem, as the nested values aren't different.

Converting JSON into Table (PowerQuery)

1 Answers