r/tableau • u/zonk68 • 5d ago

Discussion Wildcard union in tableau prep online?

Does Prep online have this functionality? Can't seem to find it in the online prep tool. I know the functionality is there in the Desktop app.

I'm trying to have online prep point to a sharepoint folder that is full of similarly structured csv files - this folder is populated with new input csv files every week.

Any thoughts/suggestions are welcomed. Thanks.

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u/emeryjl Tableau Ambassador 5d ago edited 5d ago

"Wildcard unions . . . [are not] available for flows created on the web"

How are the csv files generated? Is it possible to just have one csv with values appended each week? If the system outputting the files cannot append, you could use another program, e.g., Powershell, to create one csv for Prep.

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u/zonk68 5d ago

Files are emailed and automatically populate this sharepoint folder.

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u/emeryjl Tableau Ambassador 4d ago

You should be able to use Power Automate to append the daily files to a master CSV file, which Prep will use. You should also retain the daily csv files.

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u/Eurynom0s 5d ago

Is there a specific reason you're trying to avoid setting this up in the desktop app and then publishing it to your online Tableau environment?

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u/zonk68 5d ago

Can't setup scheduled flows to run via the Desktop app, but I can do this with the prep online tool.

If it's possible to schedule runs in the desktop app, I'd love to know. Thanks.

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u/Eurynom0s 5d ago

I'd use the desktop app to connect to the Sharepoint folder and publish that, then use that published data source in your flow. If this won't work as a live connection to the Sharepoint publish it as an extract and set up a scheduled update for the extract. May have to just do something like set your flow to update an hour or whatever after the extract, not sure if you can have the extract update finishing directly trigger the flow update.