Category: Formatting

What Not To Do: When Letting Your Code Breathe Goes Bad

Post author By Jake Bolton
Post date 2024-06-04
No Comments on What Not To Do: When Letting Your Code Breathe Goes Bad

White Space before a function call is allowed

Whitespace between function calls and the name are allowed. Including newlines
These are equivalent statements:

= DoStuff( args )

// and
= DoStuff

                                ( 
args )

Record lookups also allow whitespace.
This is totally valid syntax wise. Not necessarily morally though.

let
    Func = () => [ 
        user = [ Name = "bob" ] 
    ]
in 
    Func  


(

              )
                            
                                             [    
     user  



]

Misleading Comments inside Lists, Records, and Function Calls are allowed

Comments do not affect parsing or execution.
Without syntax highlighting it looks like 4 is the final item in the list

let
    num = List.Count( { 0
                     ..
       5 } & { 3, 4                                                  /*
    }) /* fake ending here  here * /
                
    without syntax highlighting, it looks like the func call ended
    
    later, secretly do more
*/                                                  ,99 } )

in num

Now it’s slightly easier

let
    num = List.Count( { 0
                     ..
       5 } & { 3, 4                                                  /*
    }) /* fake ending here  here * /
                
    without syntax highlighting, it looks like the func call ended
    
    later, secretly do more
*/                                                  ,99 } )

in num

The list operator `..` allows a lot of expressions

See: powerquery-m/m-spec-consolidated-grammar#list-expression

You can use inline comments, resuming the list expression later

let
    num = List.Count( { 0
..
           5 } & { 3, 4 /*
    now do more */ } )
in num

You don’t have to wrap the try-catch expressions in parenthesis.

let l = { 
          try "foo" + 99 catch (e) => 3           ..
          try File.Contents( "invalid" ) catch () => 7 } 
in 
    l = { 3..7 } // is true

This version gave an interesting error. I thought perhaps try-catch expressions doesn’t work for inline list indices ?

let g = { 
          try 10 catch (e) => 3           ..
          try 27 / 0 catch () => 53 }

in g

Expression.Error: The number is out of range of a 32 bit integer value.
Details:
    Infinity

But then realized division by 0 in power query does not throw an error record. It has the type number.

Tags Monkey Business, Parsing, Power Query, What Not to Do

Command Line Experiment Formatting

Experiments of 2022-09

Power BI / Power Query

Things to note

options is an record, when used this way it’s similar to Python’s kwargs
Merging two records with update the existing fields, adding new fields, if they do not yet exist
(in PowerQuery) the order of steps don’t change the final result (order of execution is the same) That’s why defaults after config works
Sometimes readability improves when placing large “blocks” like values_list out of order so the logic is on top
I replaced values *before* converting them to text so you have more control (before coercion )

Text.JoinSpecialValues_impl = (source as list, optional options as nullable record) as text =>
    let
            config = Record.Combine({defaults, options ?? []}),
            defaults = [
                Separator = "|",
                UseSpecialSymbols = true
            ],
            text_list = List.Transform( values_list, Text.From),
            joined_string =  Text.Combine( text_list, config[Separator] ),
            values_list  = if not config[UseSpecialSymbols] then source else
                List.ReplaceMatchingItems( source,
                    {
                        // replace true null, and true empty strings (vs whitespace)
                        { null, "␀"},
                        { "#(cr,lf)", "#(240d)␤" }, // is #(2424)" }
                        { "#(lf)", "␤" }, // is #(2424)" }
                        {"", "␠"}
                    } ) 

        in
            joined_string,

Power Query and Report.pbix (permalink) at github://ninmonkey

Powershell

Goto Everything

Goto /c/foo/bar

# go back
> Goto -Back
> Goto '-'    # normal cd history works too
> Goto '+'

# Goto the world
$Profile            | goto  # go to string's path
Get-Item $PROFILE   | goto  # cd to the FileItem's path
gcm EditFunc        | goto  # jump to function declaration
gmo NameIt          | Goto  # go to module's folder
[CompletionResult]  | goto  # to docs for
# <https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/System.Management.Automation.CompletionResult>

# Open git repos in browser
goto git microsoft/powerquery-parser | goto
goto git@github.com:microsoft/powerquery-parser.git | goto 

# goto the newest log
Get-ChildItem 'c:\root\manyLogs' -Recurse
| Sort LastWriteTime -desc -top 1 | goto

Pwsh Cli

Display all parameters
My favorite hotkey, ctrl+spacebar

Breaking Formatting

2, 40, 100, 200, 400, <#700, 2000,#> 20000 | %{ $i=$_;
  0..10 | %{ $j = $_;
    0..3000 | Get-Random -Count 300 | %{ $k = $_
      [pscustomobject]@{ DisplayString = [string]$_ }} | fw -Column $i }
        "Was: $i"
        sleep -sec 0.7 }

Is it a bug, or, is the extra y-axis padding working as intended in a situation where intended is not intended ( ie: column count orders of magnitude larger than the terminal’s column count )

Excel functions: What’s New

https://insider.office.com/en-us/blog/text-and-array-manipulation-functions-in-excel

[ ] new array ops, make a query like
= a1: e1 , except new functions could dynamically change the selection based on variable

Tags Experiment, Power BI, Power Query, Powershell, What Not to Do

Experiment Formatting

Experiments of 2022-08

Query to Summarize All Queries

Summarize.Query.pq

Using Inline Images and SVG in a Power BI Table

With the column set to Image Url, you’re able to

use an external image like https://www.fakeurl.com/image.png
or output a svg image programmatically, by placing logic in a measure
or embedded a raw a .png image into the model/report itself
- First encode the image Base64
- Save that text in a table
- Finally create a measure that prefixes the text with

[Inline Png ] := 
      "data:image/png;base64, " & SelectedValue( [ColumnWithText] )

Recent Discord Api

/*
note: make sure your GUIDs are strings, why?
because javascript does not have an integer type, so it has to squeeze
inside a floating point, see: <https://discord.com/developers/docs/reference#snowflakes>
*/
const cfg = {
    "GuildId": "180528040881815552",
    "Channel": "490008213056389120",
}

const apiUri = {
    "prefix": "https://discord.com/api/v9/",
    "activeThreads": `guilds/${ cfg.GuildId }/threads/active`, // bot only endpoint
    "channelMessage50": `channels/${ cfg.Channel }/messages?limit=50`
}

// apiUri.curUri = apiUri.channels
apiUri.curUri = apiUri["channelMessage50"]

console.log(`Cur uri: "${ apiUri.curUri }"`)
curUri = `${ apiUri.prefix }${ apiUri.curUri }`

await fetch(
    curUri, lastOpt
).then((r) => r.json()
).then((x) => console.log(JSON.stringify(x)))

run Discord in the browser
open web dev console
take an existing request -> copy as Fetch() or curl
saved those headers as lastOpt

Tags Experiment, Power BI, Powershell, Pwsh

Command Line Experiment Formatting Power BI Power Query VS Code

Experiments of 2021-10

Pwsh: Fuzzy Select Colors With Preview

PS> Get-ChildItem fg: | Where Name -match ‘red’

queries the color provider with partial matches
pipes to Out-Fzf or fzf for the preview and selection

Bitwise operators

Generated using a Pwsh script

`ShouldProcess` formatting

More Fzf

PSReadline: Auto-expand Aliases in the CLI

alt+shift+( surrounds selection, or the entire command in parenthesis
alt+shift+% runs Invoke-Formatter to format the code, including alias replacement

Pester5 `ForEach` | `code` snippet

Using Notebooks: for Github issue queries

Created a list of queries for the release of https://vscode.dev
ninmonkey/VS Code on the Web – Cheat Sheet – Custom urls.md

Power Query `Web.Contents` wrapper for Web API / REST calls

WebRequest_Simple.pq
enables ManualStatusHandling for better errors ( This is important for any REST APIs)
detects whether it’s Json or html, and returns a json record if existing
Always displays the response as plain-text as response_text
Lets you inspect request info, like headers used.

Power Query: Import from an external file

Experimenting with console formatting

Jumps to the error’s location, ex: line 163

Select a ton of properties, saving names as an array

Hashtables: Command line formatting

DAX: Syntax highlight bracket pairs

syntax highlighting is from the addon: DAX Languge Support



    "[dax-language]": {
        "editor.bracketPairColorization.enabled": true, //colorize the pairs
        "editor.guides.bracketPairs": true, // colorize vertical lines
        "editor.matchBrackets": "always",
        "editor.minimap.enabled": false,
        "editor.lineNumbers": "off",
    },
},

Pwsh: Prompt that summarizes recent errors

Pwsh: Colorized Directory Listing

Using terminal wt, Pwsh as the shell, and module: pansies for color
The current directory is a gradient, the boldest part is the most important part of the path.
cd-ing to a directory will summarize the new directory, without “spamming” the user when there’s a lot of items
- Folders first, sorted by most recently modified
- Files second, sorted most recently
- Icon shows filetype

DAX: Conditionally Toggle Button using Measure

WordPress Image scaling

Tags Commandline, Customization, DAX, Experiment, VS Code

Formatting PowerShell Snippets

Reusable Calculated Properties in PowerShell

Post author By Jake Bolton
Post date 2020-12-17
No Comments on Reusable Calculated Properties in PowerShell

The function Label is from the module: github.com/Ninmonkey.Console

$basePath = 'C:\Program Files'
$calcProp = @{}
$calcProp.FileSize = @{
    n         = 'Size'
    e         = { $_.Length | Format-FileSize }
    Alignment = 'right'
}
# relative path defaults to relative your current location, so I override it
$calcProp.RelativePath = @{
    n = 'RelativePath'
    e = {
        Push-Location $baseBath
        $_.FullName | Resolve-Path -Relative
        Pop-Location
    }
}
$calcProp.ColorizedName = @{
    n = 'ColorName'
    e = {
        $Color = ($_ | Test-IsDirectory) ? 'blue' : 'green'
        Label $_.Name -fg $Color -Separator ''
    }
}

$DefaultPropList = 'Name', $calcProp.ColorizedName, $calcProp.RelativePath

Label 'basePath' $basePath

$files = Get-ChildItem $basePath -Depth 2
$files | Format-Table Name, Length, $calcProp.FileSize, $calcProp.RelativePath

$files | Format-Table  $calcProp.FileSize, $calcProp.ColorizedName

# Using pre-declared property lists, which may include scriptblocks like $calcProp.FileSize
$files | Format-Table -Property $DefaultPropList

Tags Color, Command Line, Customization, Powershell, tip