Semantic Model Export¶

Export any Spindle domain schema as a Power BI / Fabric semantic model in .bim format (Tabular Model Definition Language). The generated file can be opened directly in Tabular Editor or deployed via XMLA.

Quick Start¶

spindle export-model retail --output retail_model.bim --source-type lakehouse

from sqllocks_spindle.fabric.semantic_model_writer import SemanticModelExporter
from sqllocks_spindle import RetailDomain

exporter = SemanticModelExporter()
path = exporter.export_bim(
    schema=RetailDomain().schema(),
    source_type="lakehouse",
    source_name="RetailLakehouse",
    output_path="retail_model.bim",
    include_measures=True,
)
print(f"Exported to {path}")

Source Types¶

The M expression (Power Query) in the generated model adapts to the data source:

Source Type	M Expression Target	Typical Use
`lakehouse`	Lakehouse SQL endpoint	Default for Fabric Lakehouse
`warehouse`	Fabric Warehouse / Synapse	Dedicated SQL compute
`sql_database`	Fabric SQL Database	OLTP workloads

Auto-Generated DAX Measures¶

When include_measures=True (default), Spindle generates starter DAX measures for each table:

Measure Pattern	Example
Row count	`Customer Count = COUNTROWS('customer')`
SUM for numeric columns	`Total Order Amount = SUM('order'[order_total])`
AVERAGE for numeric columns	`Avg Order Amount = AVERAGE('order'[order_total])`

Type Mapping¶

Spindle Type	TOM Type
`integer`	`int64`
`string`	`string`
`decimal`, `float`	`decimal`, `double`
`timestamp`, `date`	`dateTime`
`boolean`	`boolean`
`uuid`	`string`

CLI Reference¶

spindle export-model DOMAIN_NAME [OPTIONS]

Option	Default	Description
`DOMAIN_NAME`	—	Domain to export (required)
`--output, -o`	`model.bim`	Output file path
`--source-type`	`lakehouse`	`lakehouse`, `warehouse`, or `sql_database`
`--source-name`	—	Data source name in the M expression
`--include-measures`	`True`	Generate starter DAX measures
`--schema-name`	`dbo`	SQL schema name

Workflow: Generate + Model¶

# 1. Generate data to Lakehouse
spindle publish retail --target lakehouse --base-path "abfss://..." --scale small

# 2. Export semantic model
spindle export-model retail --output retail.bim --source-type lakehouse \
  --source-name "RetailLakehouse"

# 3. Open retail.bim in Tabular Editor or deploy via XMLA