Skip to main content
cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

The Power BI Data Visualization World Championships is back! Get ahead of the game and start preparing now! Learn more

Reply
jeffrey_b_reed
New Member

Dynamic runtime query support

Does Power BI support dynamic runtime queries of REST APIs?

 

Some data sources are too large to download and embed into the dashboard.  I'm looking for way to do a dynamic lookup based on user feedback at runtime.

 

Examples:

1.  Lookup specific store details by zip code (inventory look up like Amazon/Yelp)

2.  Look up individual user or account details (common customer support scenario)

3.  Look up purchase history for individual user (Amazon or customer support type scenario)

 

SSRS and other tools support this by allowing SQL queries or REST APIs to be called with dynamic parameters at runtime.

 

2 REPLIES 2
Eric_Zhang
Microsoft Employee
Microsoft Employee

@jeffrey_b_reed

 

The slicer in DirectQuery mode in Power BI desktop works somewhat like the parameters in SSRS connecting to a database.
Regarding calling APIs with dynamic parameters, AFAIK, it is not supported so far.

ankitpatira
Community Champion
Community Champion

@jeffrey_b_reed I don't think power bi supports that yet. It would be awesome for it to do that. Submit that as an idea and ill vote for it as well. All the data needs to be pre-populated before adding it to the visuals. Having said that I can think of something where you can implement that at data source level for example sql server. In power bi connect to your data source via directquery (connected live). As you interact with visuals in power bi queries are sent to be executed to data source and in there you can have lookups to APIs. I guess it is somewhat closer to what you want but exactly not. What do you think ?

Helpful resources

Announcements
Power BI DataViz World Championships

Power BI Dataviz World Championships

The Power BI Data Visualization World Championships is back! Get ahead of the game and start preparing now!

December 2025 Power BI Update Carousel

Power BI Monthly Update - December 2025

Check out the December 2025 Power BI Holiday Recap!

FabCon Atlanta 2026 carousel

FabCon Atlanta 2026

Join us at FabCon Atlanta, March 16-20, for the ultimate Fabric, Power BI, AI and SQL community-led event. Save $200 with code FABCOMM.