“🚀 Mastering Power BI Custom Visuals: A Step-by-Step Guide with TypeScript & PBIViz”

Power BI is a powerful business intelligence tool that enables users to visualize and analyze data. While Power BI offers a wide range of built-in visuals, sometimes custom visuals are needed to meet specific business requirements. This article will guide you through creating Power BI custom visuals using TypeScript and PBIViz. 🖥️📊

I Will Create A Power bi Custom Visual With Typescript And Pbiviz

🔍 Understanding Power BI Custom Visuals

Custom visuals in Power BI are developed using the Power BI Custom Visuals (PBIViz) API. These visuals allow developers to extend Power BI’s functionality beyond its built-in chart options. By using TypeScript, we can create robust and maintainable visuals that integrate seamlessly with Power BI. 🎨✨

🛠️ Prerequisites

To develop custom visuals, you need the following tools installed:

1. Node.js (LTS version recommended) 🌐
2. Power BI Visuals Tools (PBIViz CLI) 🏗️
3. Visual Studio Code (or any preferred code editor) 💻
4. Git (optional, for version control) 🔄
5. Power BI Desktop (for testing) 📊

🏗️ Setting Up the Development Environment

Step 1: Install PBIViz CLI 🏆

PBIViz CLI is required to create and manage custom visuals. Install it globally using the following command:

npm install -g powerbi-visuals-tools

Step 2: Create a New Custom Visual 📦

Once the CLI is installed, create a new custom visual by running:

pbiviz new myCustomVisual

Navigate to the newly created folder:

cd myCustomVisual

Step 3: Install Dependencies 📥

Run the following command to install necessary dependencies:

npm install

I Will Create A Power bi Custom Visual With Typescript And Pbiviz

🖌️ Developing the Custom Visual with TypeScript

The src/visual.ts file contains the main logic for your custom visual. Modify it to create a simple bar chart.

📝 Sample Code for a Basic Bar Chart

import * as d3 from "d3";
import powerbi from "powerbi-visuals-api";
import IVisual = powerbi.extensibility.visual.IVisual;

export class Visual implements IVisual {
    private target: HTMLElement;
    
    constructor(options: powerbi.extensibility.visual.VisualConstructorOptions) {
        this.target = options.element;
    }
    
    public update(options: powerbi.extensibility.visual.VisualUpdateOptions) {
        this.target.innerHTML = "<svg width='400' height='300'></svg>";
        let svg = d3.select(this.target).select("svg");
        svg.append("rect").attr("width", 100).attr("height", 100).attr("fill", "blue");
    }
}

This simple example uses D3.js to create a blue rectangle inside an SVG container. 🟦

I Will Create A Power bi Custom Visual With Typescript And Pbiviz

🧐 Testing and Debugging

To test the custom visual, run the following command in the project directory:

pbiviz start

This will launch a local server and allow you to test the visual in Power BI Service by loading it as a developer visual. 🔧

📦 Packaging the Custom Visual

Once development is complete, package the custom visual for deployment using:

pbiviz package

This will generate a .pbiviz file, which can be imported into Power BI Desktop. 📂

🌍 Deploying the Custom Visual

To use the custom visual in Power BI:

1. Open Power BI Desktop 💼
2. Go to Visualizations > Import a visual from a file 📂
3. Select the generated .pbiviz file 🖥️
4. Use the visual in your reports 📊

I Will Create A Power bi Custom Visual With Typescript And Pbiviz

🎯 Conclusion

Creating custom visuals in Power BI using TypeScript and PBIViz allows for greater flexibility and enhanced data visualization. By following these steps, you can build and deploy custom visuals tailored to specific business needs. 🔥

With continuous improvements in Power BI’s APIs and TypeScript’s strong typing system, custom visuals can be both powerful and easy to maintain. Experiment with different visual types and explore D3.js to create more advanced data representations. 🚀