Tag: Power BI

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Using Power BI to replace a legacy desktop application

GrainSelectorTool

Over a decade ago I had the pleasure to create a small desktop application for Chammas Cutters, this was the Grain Selector tool pictured above, and it helped their clients quickly determine how much gas-generating grain to use in the application of their chemical cutter tool.

While pretty basic (and written in it) the desktop application served a good purpose for the past 10 or so years. Prior to the desktop application, clients would have to resort to a rather bulky and complicated spreadsheet-type catalog tables, which can be more time confusing and can lead to human error.

Now that it needed to be improved or rewritten, I decided to replace it with a Power BI report that took just a few hours to create. Here’s why I chose that path:

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Power BI Line Chart with interactive log & linear scales

As an end-user of a Power BI report, a chart that looked great at first might look not so great once you start applying filters or using slicers. Very large values in the data might throw off the scales and now your line chart might be suddenly all squeezed at the top or the bottom. Does any of the above sound familiar?

EDIT: There is a newer version of this custom visual chart, which is now called CHARTURO and is published to the Power BI AppSource Marketplace, you can read about it here and get it from the Marketplace here

Usually it’s the report designer who has all the power, this article is about giving more power to Power BI end users…

End users’ ability to change the scale, appearance or formatting of that chart is limited. That’s why I started creating the Mi4 Line Chart Power BI custom visual that lets you switch scales on the fly, and eventually have more overall control of the visual without having to edit the report.

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Power BI Switching between Logarithmic and Linear Scales

Welcome to the second post in our miniseries: “Are You Developing Power BI Reports the Right Way?” In the two-part series we are designing a sample Power BI report visualizing the weather on Mars and using some real world techniques.

The highlights of our first post were:

    • Getting data from Mars
    • Using a JSON file as a data source
    • Performing operations in the “Get Data” phase using M
    • Implementing a Dynamic Slicer
    • Using Chiclet Slicer and Dummyimage to create a Legend Slicer
    • Making design decisions

Note: Due to the popularity of this article, we have developed a custom Power BI line chart visual that is published to the Power BI AppSource Marketplace and has built-in support for allowing the end users to switch the axis scales, read about it in @Talal’s post. and viewing them in Power BI Desktop.

This post will focus on:

    • Switching an Axis Between Logarithmic and Linear Scales via a Slicer
    • Adding a Date Slicer
    • Using a Dark Theme

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Power BI Legend Slicer from a JSON File with M and DAX

Data is king, or queen depending on your household dynamics. How you communicate that data and its impact to your clients can help or hurt your business. Both your short and long term relationships can hang in the balance, which is why the quality and delivery of your Power BI reports are everything.

Case Study: Power BI Report Development

In this blog post mini-series, we will be taking you through the process of creating a Power BI report. The demo report draws from one we created for a client as part of a larger dashboard project. It implements a line chart to visualize the weather on Mars.

The actual report we developed had nothing to do with Mars, space, or weather, but you should find it useful to understand how real-life issues can be resolved and optimizations can be employed. The first post in the series focuses on data-prep and implementation of a legend slicer.

Continue reading “Power BI Legend Slicer from a JSON File with M and DAX”

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