M Query Guide

Data Sources

M Web Source

Loading Web Data

M web source uses Web.Contents for API or HTML data.

Introduction to M Web Source

The M Web Source is a powerful feature in Power Query that allows you to fetch data from web APIs and web pages. By using the Web.Contents function, you can integrate various online data sources into your data analysis workflows.

Understanding Web.Contents Function

The Web.Contents function is the backbone of accessing web data in Power Query. It retrieves content from a specified URL, allowing you to work with both API responses and HTML content.

Here is a basic example of using Web.Contents to fetch data:

Fetching API Data with Web.Contents

To fetch API data, you typically need to pass additional headers or parameters. This can be done by providing an optional record parameter to Web.Contents:

Extracting HTML Data

When working with HTML content, Web.Contents can fetch the raw HTML, which you can then process using Power Query's HTML parsing functions:

Handling Errors and Timeouts

It is important to handle potential errors and timeouts when using Web.Contents. You can specify timeout settings and manage errors using try expressions:

Conclusion

By mastering the Web.Contents function in Power Query, you can effectively pull in data from a variety of web sources, enhancing your data analysis capabilities. Whether you're working with APIs or extracting data from HTML, understanding how to use this function is a crucial skill for modern data professionals.

Data Sources

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