Knowledge base for built in BPA rules

content/kb/bpa-avoid-invalid-characters-descriptions.md

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+---
+uid: kb.bpa-avoid-invalid-characters-descriptions
+title: Avoid Invalid Characters in Descriptions
+author: Morten Lønskov
+updated: 2026-01-09
+description: Best practice rule preventing display and deployment issues by identifying control characters in object descriptions.
+---
+
+# Avoid Invalid Characters in Descriptions
+
+## Overview
+
+This best practice rule identifies objects whose descriptions contain invalid control characters (non-printable characters excluding standard whitespace). These characters can cause display problems, metadata corruption, and deployment failures.
+
+- Category: Error Prevention
+- Severity: High (3)
+
+## Applies To
+
+- Tables
+- Measures
+- Hierarchies
+- Levels
+- Perspectives
+- Partitions
+- Data Columns
+- Calculated Columns
+- Calculated Table Columns
+- KPIs
+- Model Roles
+- Calculation Groups
+- Calculation Items
+
+## Why This Matters
+
+Control characters in descriptions cause various issues:
+
+- **Display corruption**: Tooltips and documentation panels may show garbled text
+- **Metadata problems**: TMSL/XMLA export may produce invalid XML
+- **Deployment failures**: Power BI Service or Analysis Services may reject the model
+- **Documentation issues**: Generated documentation may break formatting
+- **Encoding errors**: Cross-platform synchronization problems
+- **User confusion**: Invisible characters create confusing or corrupted descriptions
+
+Standard whitespace (spaces, newlines, tabs) is acceptable, but non-printable control characters should be removed.
+
+## When This Rule Triggers
+
+The rule triggers when an object's description contains control characters that are not standard whitespace:
+
+```csharp
+Description.ToCharArray().Any(char.IsControl(it) and !char.IsWhiteSpace(it))
+```
+
+This detects problematic characters while allowing legitimate whitespace formatting.
+
+## How to Fix
+
+### Automatic Fix
+
+This rule includes an automatic fix that replaces invalid characters with spaces:
+
+```csharp
+Description = string.Concat(
+    it.Description.ToCharArray().Select(
+        c => (char.IsControl(c) && !char.IsWhiteSpace(c)) ? ' ' : c
+    )
+)
+```
+
+To apply:
+1. In the **Best Practice Analyzer** select flagged objects
+3. Click **Apply Fix**
+
+### Manual Fix
+
+1. In **TOM Explorer**, select the object
+2. In **Properties** pane, locate the **Description** field
+3. Edit the description to remove invalid characters
+4. Save changes
+
+## Common Causes
+
+### Cause 1: Copy/Paste from Rich Text
+
+Copying descriptions from Word documents, web pages, or emails can introduce hidden formatting characters.
+
+### Cause 2: Automated Documentation Generation
+
+Scripts generating descriptions may include control characters from source systems.
+
+### Cause 3: Data Import from External Sources
+
+Importing metadata that contains encoding artifacts or control codes.
+
+## Example
+
+### Before Fix
+
+```
+Measure: [Total Revenue]
+Description: "Calculates\x00total\x0Brevenue"  (contains NULL and vertical tab)
+```
+
+Tooltip displays: "Calculates□total□revenue" (with visible corruption)
+
+### After Fix
+
+```
+Measure: [Total Revenue]
+Description: "Calculates total revenue"  (control characters replaced with spaces)
+```
+
+Tooltip displays correctly: "Calculates total revenue"
+
+## Compatibility Level
+
+This rule applies to models with compatibility level **1200** and higher.
+
+## Related Rules
+
+- [Avoid Invalid Characters in Names](xref:kb.bpa-avoid-invalid-characters-names) - Similar validation for object names
+- [Visible Objects Should Have Descriptions](xref:kb.bpa-visible-objects-no-description) - Ensuring descriptions exist

content/kb/bpa-avoid-invalid-characters-names.md

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+---
+uid: kb.bpa-avoid-invalid-characters-names
+title: Avoid Invalid Characters in Object Names
+author: Morten Lønskov
+updated: 2026-01-09
+description: Best practice rule preventing deployment errors by identifying control characters in object names.
+---
+
+# Avoid Invalid Characters in Object Names
+
+## Overview
+
+This best practice rule identifies objects whose names contain invalid control characters (non-printable characters excluding standard whitespace). These characters can cause deployment failures, rendering issues, and data corruption.
+
+- Category: Error Prevention
+- Severity: High (3)
+
+## Applies To
+
+- Tables
+- Measures
+- Hierarchies
+- Levels
+- Perspectives
+- Partitions
+- Data Columns
+- Calculated Columns
+- Calculated Table Columns
+- KPIs
+- Model Roles
+- Calculation Groups
+- Calculation Items
+
+## Why This Matters
+
+Control characters in object names cause serious issues:
+
+- **Deployment failures**: Power BI Service and Analysis Services may reject models with invalid characters
+- **Rendering problems**: Client tools may display garbled or invisible names
+- **DAX parsing errors**: Invalid characters can break DAX expressions referencing the object
+- **XML corruption**: Model metadata (TMSL/XMLA) may become malformed
+- **Copy/paste issues**: Names may not transfer correctly between applications
+- **Encoding problems**: Cross-platform compatibility issues
+
+Standard whitespace (spaces, newlines, carriage returns) is allowed, but control characters should be removed.
+
+## When This Rule Triggers
+
+The rule triggers when an object's name contains control characters that are not standard whitespace:
+
+```csharp
+Name.ToCharArray().Any(char.IsControl(it) and !char.IsWhiteSpace(it))
+```
+
+This detects problematic characters while allowing legitimate whitespace formatting.
+
+## How to Fix
+
+### Automatic Fix
+
+This rule includes an automatic fix that replaces invalid characters with spaces:
+
+```csharp
+Name = string.Concat(
+    it.Name.ToCharArray().Select(
+        c => (char.IsControl(c) && !char.IsWhiteSpace(c)) ? ' ' : c
+    )
+)
+```
+
+To apply:
+1. In the **Best Practice Analyzer** select flagged objects
+2. Click **Apply Fix**
+
+### Manual Fix
+
+1. In **TOM Explorer**, select the object
+2. In **Properties** pane, locate the **Name** field
+3. Edit the name to remove invalid characters
+4. Save changes
+
+## Common Causes
+
+### Cause 1: Copy/Paste from Rich Text
+
+Copying names from Word documents, web pages, or emails can introduce hidden formatting characters.
+
+### Cause 2: Automated Name Generation
+
+Scripts generating names may include control characters from source systems.
+
+### Cause 3: Data Import from External Sources
+
+Importing metadata that contains encoding artifacts or control codes.
+
+## Example
+
+### Before Fix
+
+```
+Measure Name: "Total\x00Sales"  (contains NULL character)
+```
+
+Deployment fails with "Invalid character in object name"
+
+### After Fix
+
+```
+Measure Name: "Total Sales"  (NULL replaced with space)
+```
+
+Deploys successfully and displays correctly in all tools.
+
+## Compatibility Level
+
+This rule applies to models with compatibility level **1200** and higher.
+
+## Related Rules
+
+- [Avoid Invalid Characters in Descriptions](xref:kb.bpa-avoid-invalid-characters-descriptions) - Similar validation for description properties
+- [Trim Object Names](xref:kb.bpa-trim-object-names) - Removing leading/trailing spaces
+
+## Learn More
+
+- [DAX Naming Rules](https://learn.microsoft.com/dax/dax-syntax-reference)

content/kb/bpa-avoid-provider-partitions-structured.md

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+---
+uid: kb.bpa-avoid-provider-partitions-structured
+title: Avoid Provider Partitions with Structured Data Sources
+author: Morten Lønskov
+updated: 2026-01-09
+description: Best practice rule preventing deployment errors by identifying legacy provider partitions used with structured data sources in Power BI.
+---
+
+# Avoid Provider Partitions with Structured Data Sources
+
+## Overview
+
+This best practice rule identifies partitions that use legacy provider-based queries (SourceType = Query) with structured data sources in Power BI models. This combination is not supported in Power BI Service and will cause deployment failures.
+
+- Category: Error Prevention
+
+- Severity: Medium (2)
+
+## Applies To
+
+- Partitions
+
+## Why This Matters
+
+Power BI Service requires structured data sources to use Power Query (M) partitions rather than legacy provider partitions. Using provider partitions with structured data sources causes:
+
+- **Deployment failures**: Models fail to publish to Power BI Service
+- **Refresh errors**: Scheduled refresh operations fail in the service
+- **Compatibility issues**: The model cannot be shared or deployed properly
+- **Migration blockers**: Prevents moving from Analysis Services to Power BI
+
+## When This Rule Triggers
+
+The rule triggers when a partition meets all these conditions:
+
+1. `SourceType = "Query"` (legacy provider partition)
+2. `DataSource.Type = "Structured"` (Power Query/M data source)
+3. `Model.Database.CompatibilityMode != "AnalysisServices"` (Power BI or Azure AS)
+
+This combination indicates a structural mismatch that Power BI cannot process.
+
+## How to Fix
+
+### Manual Fix
+
+1. In **TOM Explorer**, select the affected partition
+2. In **Properties** pane, note the existing query
+3. Create a new **Power Query** partition with M expression
+4. Delete the old provider partition after verifying the new one works
+
+## Common Causes
+
+### Cause 1: Migration from Analysis Services
+
+Models migrated from SQL Server Analysis Services retain legacy provider partitions.
+
+### Cause 2: Mixed Partition Types
+
+Mixing partition types during model development creates incompatible configurations.
+
+## Example
+
+### Before Fix
+
+```
+Partition: Sales_Partition
+  SourceType: Query
+  Query: SELECT * FROM Sales
+  DataSource: PowerQuerySource (Type: Structured)
+```
+
+**Error**: Deployment fails to Power BI Service
+
+### After Fix
+
+```
+Partition: Sales_Partition
+  SourceType: M
+  Expression: 
+    let
+        Source = Sql.Database("server", "database"),
+        Sales = Source{[Schema="dbo",Item="Sales"]}[Data]
+    in
+        Sales
+  DataSource: PowerQuerySource (Type: Structured)
+```
+
+**Result**: Deploys successfully to Power BI Service
+
+## Compatibility Level
+
+This rule applies to models with compatibility level **1200** and higher when deployed to Power BI or Azure Analysis Services.
+
+## Related Rules
+
+- [Data Column Must Have Source](xref:kb.bpa-data-column-source) - Ensuring column source mappings