Custom visual and filtering?

[MartijnBre]

I am trying to apply a filter from my custom visual to the whole report. For some reason it gives me the refresh (so it looks like it is filtering), but actually it is not filtering.

The capabilities.json look like this:

{

    "dataRoles": [

        {

            "name": "Index",

            "kind": "Grouping",

            "displayName": "Index"

        },

        {

            "displayName": "Text",

            "name": "text",

            "kind": "Grouping"

        }

    ],

    "dataViewMappings": [

        {

            "table": {

                "rows": {

                    "select": [

                        {

                            "for": { "in": "Index" }

                        },

                        {

                            "for": { "in": "text" }

                        }

                    ]

                }

            }

        }

    ],

     "objects": {

        "general": {

            "displayName": "General",

            "properties": {

                "formatString": {

                    "displayName": "Format String",

                    "type": { "text": true }

                }

            }

        }

    }

}

The way I am trying to filter (now it is hard coded):

const filter: IBasicFilter = {

            $schema: "http://powerbi.com/product/schema#basic",

            target: {

                table: "Reviews",

                column: "Index"

            },

            operator: "In",

            values: [1, 2, 3],

            filterType: 1

        };

        document.getElementById('search').onclick = (event) => {

            if (this.host) {

                console.log("apply")

                this.host.applyJsonFilter(

                    filter,

                    "Reviews",

                    "Index",

                    powerbi.FilterAction.merge

                );

            } else {

                console.error("Host not available.");

            }

        }

Does anyone know if I am doing something obviously wrong?

[dm-p · Accepted solution]

Hi @MartijnBre,

With the detail provided, things almost look OK but your capabilities aren't set up for filtering. You have the dynamic format string functionality available, but you should have your general object at least set up as follows to tell Power BI that your visual is permitted to filter the data model:

{
    ...
    "objects": {
        "general": {
            "displayName": "General",
            "properties": {
                "filter": {
                    "type": {
                        "filter": true
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        ...
    }
    ...
}

Regarding your code, consider the table name, column name and values are present in your model. If not, then Power BI may not apply the filter, as it will determine it not to be a valid query and will save resources.

One final tweak: your applyJsonFilter call should be as follows, based on the above capabilites configuration:

    this.host.applyJsonFilter(
      filter,
      "general",
      "filter",
      powerbi.FilterAction.merge
    );

Note parameters 2 and 3 refer to object name and property name (which is where Power BI should persist the filter in your visual capabilities), not table and column name (these are already in the filter criteria).

I made these changes in a brand new visual and the filter worked as expected. Hopefully, this is all you need to get moving again.

Good luck!

Daniel

[MartijnBre]

Amazing, thanks a lot for the help! Works like a charm now.