topic Re: Custom Slicer example in Custom Visuals Development Discussion

Custom Slicer example

EMtx — Tue, 27 Feb 2024 17:06:18 GMT

Hello,

I would like to create a custom slicer for a project. I'm a beginner in developping custom visuals and I can't find a basic example of a custom slicer that works. I've looked at the Microsoft Github but they seems outdated as I can't package them without error. The command pbiviz new -t slicer doesn't produce a slicer but the default visual without specifying a template.
I didn't find any tutorials or minimal working example, can somebody indicate any useful ressource to get started ?

Thanks in advance.

Re: Custom Slicer example

dm-p — Tue, 27 Feb 2024 21:36:27 GMT

Hi @EMtx,

I've built slicers previously, but only from the existing documentation as a reference. Unfortunately, I can't share these as they were developed privately for clients. ultimately, you need to think about:

Constructing a valid filter based on your visual's UI.
Applying this filter to the main window via the filter API.
Restoring your visual's UI state from the jsonFilters array that Power BI returns in the visual's update method. Bear in mind that Power BI may not apply a filter you request due to considerations it makes to reduce computation effort (such as other visuals on the page not necessarily needing the filter or your filter containing criteria that are invalid for your data model), so you may need to look at this during the lifecycle of your visual, as well as when it is restored on the canvas.

If you want some recent examples to refer to and possibly clone and build, you can look at the Text Search Slicer by databrothers (who open-source their code) or MS's Text Filter (which has received some recent-ish updates). These will hopefully give you an idea of how to start working with the filter APIs and how you might think about designing your visual.

Good luck!

Daniel

Re: Custom Slicer example

ElliotMtx — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 07:35:10 GMT

Hi @dm-p,
Thanks a lot for your guidance, It will help me to get started !
Have a nice rest of your day.