Error loading model: The connection string is not valid.

[fritz3000g]

I've been trying to build a tabular model ".bim" file from a folder-based tabular model (.pbip) on Azure DevOps for several days now without success. The outputI continually get is this:

    Tabular Editor 2.27.2 (build 2.27.9403.24625)
    --------------------------------
    Loading model...
    Error loading model: The connection string is not valid.
    Destination: "D:\a\1\self\Data Model - Sales.bim" - False

According to the documentation (https://docs.tabulareditor.com/te2/Command-line-Options.html) this error indicates that it's unable to connect with the server.

But I'm not trying to connect with the server. I'm just trying to build locally.

The core powershell script I've been trying to run in DevOps (which runs fine on my local machine) is this:

    $path = "$(Build.SourcesDirectory)"
    $pbiPath = $path + '\Semantic Models\Data Model - Sales\Data Model - Sales.SemanticModel\definition\'
    $destinationPath = $path + '\Data Model - Sales.bim'

    $p = Start-Process -Wait -NoNewWindow -PassThru -FilePath $path\TabularEditor\TabularEditor.exe `
        -ArgumentList """$pbiPath"" -VSTS -BUILD ""$destinationPath"""
    exit $p.ExitCode 

ado.ps1.txt

Here are the details for my pool:

     pool:
      name: Azure Pipelines    # your job runs on an agent in this pool
      demands: agent.os -equals Windows_NT
      vmImage: windows-latest

The full script is attached. I've been able to validate that the script is opening and closing tabular editor, but that it is not building a .bim file.

I'm quite confused. Any help would be most appreciated!

[fritz3000g]

I just realized that this site is for Tabular Editor 3. I've been using Tabular Editor 2. If this isn't the place to talk about that I apologize.

[otykier]

I suspect there's an issue with which arguments actually get passed to TabularEditor.exe. Specifically, since the $pbiPath contains spaces, if it's not quoted properly, it may be treated as two or more separate arguments, which would cause Tabular Editor to interpret it as a connection string + database name, which explains why Tabular Editor is attempting to connect to a server.

Could you test if hardcoding everything like below (try to run it locally also), produces the .bim file as expected?

"C:\agent\_work\1\s\TabularEditor\TabularEditor.exe" "C:\agent\_work\1\s\Semantic Models\Data Model - Sales\Data Model - Sales.SemanticModel\definition\" -VSTS -BUILD "C:\agent\_work\1\s\Data Model - Sales.bim"

[fritz3000g]

Thanks @otykier!

That makes a lot of sense. I just tried the following statement:

        $validate = Test-Path $path\TabularEditor.exe -PathType Any
        Write-Host "Tabular editor path: $path\TabularEditor.exe - $validate"

        $validatePbiPath = Test-Path $pbiPath -PathType Any
        Write-Host "pbiPath: `"$pbiPath`" - $validatePbiPath"

        $validateDestPath = Test-Path $destinationPath -PathType Any
        Write-Host "Destination: `"$destinationPath`" - $validateDestPath"

        $p = Start-Process -Wait -NoNewWindow -PassThru `
          -FilePath "D:\a\1\self\TabularEditor.exe" `
          -ArgumentList "`"D:\a\1\self\Semantic Models\Data Model - Sales\Data Model - Sales.SemanticModel\definition\`" `
          -VSTS `
          -BUILD `"D:\a\1\self\Data Model - Sales.bim`"" `

        $validateDestPath = Test-Path $destinationPath -PathType Any
        Write-Host "Destination: `"$destinationPath`" - $validateDestPath"
        
        exit $p.ExitCode          
        Write-Host "##[endgroup]"        

And this was the resulting console log. It just stalled at this point and didn't do anything further.

Tabular editor path: D:\a\1\self\TabularEditor.exe - True
pbiPath: "D:\a\1\self\Semantic Models\Data Model - Sales\Data Model - Sales.SemanticModel\definition\" - True
Destination: "D:\a\1\self\Data Model - Sales.bim" - False

Tabular Editor 2.27.2 (build 2.27.9403.24625)
--------------------------------

[otykier]

Sorry for the late reply.

Could you try to run the following command through the Windows Command Prompt (not PowerShell) on a local machine, and let me know what the output of that is?

Note, this assumes that you have a folder structure locally that's similar to the folder structure on the Azure DevOps build agent. I.e. Tabular Editor 2 located in the C:\agent\_work\1\s\TabularEditor folder, and the semantic model metadata in C:\agent\_work\1\s\Semantic Models:

"C:\agent\_work\1\s\TabularEditor\TabularEditor.exe" "C:\agent\_work\1\s\Semantic Models\Data Model - Sales\Data Model - Sales.SemanticModel\definition\" -VSTS -BUILD "C:\agent\_work\1\s\Data Model - Sales.bim"

[fritz3000g]

Hi Daniel, no worries.

That command runs fine locally, as does the PowerShell.

However, both cause the agent to stall out, requiring me to cancel the job.

The agent is “windows-latest”. My computer is Windows 11. I've also tried using a path without any spaces in it. Same result.

Jeremiah

[otykier]

I’m not sure why it won’t work, as other users have managed to get TabularEditor.exe running fine as part of a hosted build agent. Unfortunately, PowerShell is not my strong suit so I can’t rule out that subtle differences between PS versions may cause Start-Process to behave differently. Check out this thread for some alternative options and potential things to try.