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Power BI

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Create Report with No Data

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Shawn Eary's profile image

Shawn Eary on 12 Mar 2020 21:43:04

I want to write a custom visual in ECMAScript (aka: JavaScript) that: displays HTML controls; passes the user input from those controls into a REST service; displays the output from the REST services via SVG.

The custom visual will handle all of the logic via JavaScript or the REST backend. There really isn't any need for a data source.

For this reason, I may desire the ability to create a Power BI report that has no data source. As it stands right now, I may have to create a "dummy" data source for this to work. I've been fighting with Power Apps and Power BI now for a few days trying to do the "no code" approach. Now I've almost "had it" and I'm willing to embrace the Custom Visual SDK where I can "do whatever I want" assuming I can get around the CORS and potential security issues...

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Shawn Eary on 06 Jul 2020 00:11:36

RE: Create Report with No Data

I just noticed there is an option in the Desktop Client to GetData from a BlankQuery. It seems you can specify the BlankQuery as the data source and then hit Close and Apply and then you can work on your custom visual without having to have a data source. That might be one way to easily create custom visuals without having to go through Power BI to get the data.

I still think obtaining user's input might be tricky going this way, but at least I can maybe create a custom visual now without having to define a data source.