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Adding Power BI Report Parts to Pages (legacy)

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APPLIES TO: Business Central 2022 release wave 1 (v20) and earlier. For later versions, see Adding Power BI Report Parts to Pages.

Business Central integrates with Microsoft Power BI, enabling users to create Power BI reports based on Business Central data. Users can view the reports from their Power BI workspaces, but also from the Business Central client. For an overview about Power BI integration, see Business Central and Power BI.

Displaying a Power BI report in a Business Central page requires the page includes a Power BI Report part. This part makes the connection to the Power BI Service, and lets users choose which report to display. Business Central comes equipped with several pages that already include the Power BI Report part. For a list of these pages, see Power BI FAQ.

Power BI Report part framework

The Business Central base application has many objects that provide the framework for Power BI integration. You'll find these objects in the Applications\BaseApp\Source\Base Application.Source.zip\Power BI framework folder of the installation media (DVD). But specifically, there are three page objects that you use to display the Power BI Report part on other pages:

Page Usage
6306 "Power BI Report FactBox" This page is designed for use in FactBoxes. You typically use it on list type pages to show reports related to selected records.
6303 "Power BI Report Spinner Part" This page is designed for use in role centers, to display reports related to the user's role and daily activities.

These objects expose methods for controlling when the Power BI Report part appears and the data it contains. The next sections include code examples of how to extend pages with the Power BI Report part.

Add the Power BI Report part to a FactBox

The Power BI Report part in a FactBox is intended for list pages to display reports that are related to records. You then design reports so that data updates as users select different records in the list. The Business Central base application comes ready with a Power BI Report part on many key list pages.

You add a Power BI Report part to a page's FactBox area like other parts, either in a page object or page extension object. Except you set the part control to page 6306 "Power BI Report FactBox". After you've added the part, you add code to control the behavior using the available methods. Page 6306 "Power BI Report FactBox" includes two main methods for setting up a Power BI Report part in a FactBox: InitFactBox and SetCurrentListSelection.

Note

For information about how to create reports that display data for records in a list, see Creating Power BI Reports for Displaying List Data.

InitFactBox method

InitFactBox initializes and loads the part in the FactBox, making it visible only if the user has a valid Power BI license. The method has the following signature:

Page."Power BI Report FactBox Part".PAGE.InitFactBox(PageId: Text[30], PageCaption: Text, var PowerBIVisible: Boolean)
Parameter Description
PageId Specifies a context identifier for the part in the FactBox. This parameter is primarily used for displaying multiple Power BI Report parts in the same page. Or to display the same set of Power BI Report reports on different pages. In other cases, like when there's only one part, the PageId isn't so important. In these cases, it's common to set the PageId to the ID of the page that displays the FactBox, for example, by using CurrPage.ObjectId(false).

For more information, see the examples in this article.
PageCaption Specifies the value of the text filter that's applied to the Power BI Report Selection page of the Power BI Report part. This parameter is typically set to the caption of list page that contains the FactBox, for example, by setting the parameter to CurrPage.Caption. By default, users can only select from reports whose name includes the PageCaption; unless they clear the filter on Power BI Report Selection page.
PowerBIVisible Specifies whether the Power BI Report part should be shown.

SetCurrentListSelection method

The SetCurrentListSelection method updates the report to display data for the record that's selected in the main page, based on the source table's primary key. The method has the following signature:

Page."Power BI Report FactBox Part".PAGE.SetCurrentListSelection(CurrentSelection: Text, IsValueIntInput: Boolean, PowerBIVisible: Boolean)
Parameter Description
CurrentSelection Specifies the table field that uniquely identifies records in the list page. This field is the primary key of the source table, like No.. The parameter is used to update the Power BI report with the data that pertains to the record selected in the list page.
IsValueIntInput Specifies whether the value in CurrentSelection is an integer type. The CurrentSelection value will be used to filter the Power BI report, and integer filters need special handling.
PowerBIVisible Specifies whether the Power BI Report part should be shown.

Example - Add Power BI part to a FactBox

The following example adds the Power BI Report part to the Sales Invoice List page using a page extension object.

The Power BI Report FactBox page applies a filter on the Power BI Report Selection page to list only reports that contain the caption of the page. In this case, the caption is Sales Invoices. If users want to, they can clear this filter, so they can select from all reports in their Power BI workspace.

The SetCurrentListSelection method updates the report to display data for the record that's selected in the Sales Invoice List page, based on the primary key No..

pageextension 50100 SalesInvoicesListPwrBiExt extends "Sales Invoice List"
{
    layout
    {
        addfirst(factboxes)
        {
            // Add the Power BI Report FactBox page as the first part in the FactBox area on the Sales Invoice List page                  
            part("Power BI Report FactBox"; "Power BI Report FactBox")
            {
                ApplicationArea = Basic, Suite;
                Caption = 'Power BI Reports';
            }
        }
    }

    trigger OnOpenPage()
    begin
        // Initializes the part and make it visible only if the user has a Power BI license
        // Applies a filter on the part to display reports that include the caption of the page, in this case "sales invoices".
        CurrPage."Power BI Report FactBox".PAGE.InitFactBox(CurrPage.ObjectId(false), CurrPage.Caption, PowerBIVisible);
    end;

    trigger OnAfterGetCurrRecord()
    begin
        PowerBIVisible := true;
        // Gets data from Power BI to display data for the selected record in the list based on the primary key, in this case the "No." field.
        CurrPage."Power BI Report FactBox".PAGE.SetCurrentListSelection("No.", false, PowerBIVisible);
    end;

    var
        PowerBIVisible: Boolean;
}

Example - Add multiple Power BI Report parts to same FactBox

This example shows how to add two Power BI Report parts to a FactBox, so users can show different Power BI reports simultaneously. The example modifies the code in the previous example for the Sales Invoice List page. It adds the two Power BI Report parts by calling the InitFactBox method with the PageId parameter set to different values for each part, like:

CurrPage."Power BI Report FactBox 1".PAGE.InitFactBox('First', CurrPage.Caption, PowerBIVisible); 
CurrPage.""Power BI Report FactBox 2".PAGE.InitFactBox('Second', CurrPage.Caption, PowerBIVisible);

Here's the full example:

pageextension 50100 SalesInvoicesListPwrBiExt extends "Sales Invoice List"
{
    layout
    {
        addfirst(factboxes)
        {   
            part("Power BI Report FactBox - First"; "Power BI Report FactBox")
            {
                ApplicationArea = Basic, Suite;
                Caption = 'Power BI Reports';
            }
            part("Power BI Report FactBox - Second"; "Power BI Report FactBox")
            {
                ApplicationArea = Basic, Suite;
                Caption = 'Power BI Reports';
            }
        }
    }

    trigger OnOpenPage()
    begin
        CurrPage."Power BI Report FactBox".PAGE.InitFactBox('First', CurrPage.Caption, PowerBIVisible);
        CurrPage."Power BI Report FactBox".PAGE.InitFactBox('Second', CurrPage.Caption, PowerBIVisible);
    end;

    trigger OnAfterGetCurrRecord()
    begin
        PowerBIVisible := true;
        CurrPage."Power BI Report FactBox - First".PAGE.SetCurrentListSelection("No.", false, PowerBIVisible);
        CurrPage."Power BI Report FactBox - Second".PAGE.SetCurrentListSelection("No.", false, PowerBIVisible);
    end;

    var
        PowerBIVisible: Boolean;
}

Example - Display same set of Power BI reports on different pages

This example explains how to set up Power BI Report parts on different pages, where the parts have the following behavior:

  • They show the same reports for selection by the user.
  • When a report is enabled or disabled in the Power BI Report part on one page, it's also enabled or disabled in the parts on other pages.

To configure this functionality, you give each Power BI Report part on the different pages the same context identifier. In other words, use the same PageId in the InitFactBox method calls that add the Power BI Report parts. For example, suppose you want to display the same reports on the Sales Invoices page and Sales Orders page. In this case, you could use the following line of code in both the Sales Invoices and Sales Orders pages, where Sales is the common context identifier:

CurrPage."Power BI Report FactBox".PAGE.InitFactBox('Sales', CurrPage.Caption, PowerBIVisible);

Here's the full example:

pageextension 50100 SalesInvoicesListPwrBiExt extends "Sales Invoice List"
{
    layout
    {
        addfirst(factboxes)
        {         
            part("Power BI Report FactBox"; "Power BI Report FactBox")
            {
                ApplicationArea = Basic, Suite;
                Caption = 'Power BI Reports';
            }
        }
    }

    trigger OnOpenPage()
    begin
        CurrPage."Power BI Report FactBox".PAGE.InitFactBox('Sales', CurrPage.Caption, PowerBIVisible);
    end;

    trigger OnAfterGetCurrRecord()
    begin
        PowerBIVisible := true;
        CurrPage."Power BI Report FactBox".PAGE.SetCurrentListSelection("No.", false, PowerBIVisible);
    end;

    var
        PowerBIVisible: Boolean;
}

pageextension 50102 SalesOrdersPwrBiExt extends "Sales Orders"
{
    layout
    {
        addfirst(factboxes)
        {         
            part("Power BI Report FactBox"; "Power BI Report FactBox")
            {
                ApplicationArea = Basic, Suite;
                Caption = 'Power BI Reports';
            }
        }
    }

    trigger OnOpenPage()
    begin
        CurrPage."Power BI Report FactBox".PAGE.InitFactBox('Sales', CurrPage.Caption, PowerBIVisible);
    end;

    trigger OnAfterGetCurrRecord()
    begin
        PowerBIVisible := true;
        CurrPage."Power BI Report FactBox".PAGE.SetCurrentListSelection("No.", false, PowerBIVisible);
    end;

    var
        PowerBIVisible: Boolean;
}

Add the Power BI Report part to a role center

The following example adds a Power BI Report part to the Team Member Role Center:

pageextension 50101 TeamMemberRCPwrBiExt extends "Team Member Role Center"
{
    layout
    {
        addfirst(rolecenter)
        {
            // Add the Power BI Report part on the role center page   
            part(PowerBIReportPart1"; "Power BI Embedded Report Part")
            {
                ApplicationArea = Basic, Suite;
                Caption = 'Power BI Reports';
            }
        }
    }
}

Get Started with AL
Adding a FactBox to a Page
Pages Overview
Publishing and Installing an Extension
Extract data from Business Central