Forum Discussion
Power BI Desktop Automation
I would suggest Microsoft Power Automate Desktop - Power Automate Desktop offers a range of actions to automate UI interactions with desktop applications, including those based on CEF. Power Automate and enable you to automate all repetitive desktop processes and It's a low-code solution, tightly integrated with the Microsoft ecosystem, and supports drag-and-drop actions .
Automating Power BI Desktop (PBD) itself — as opposed to automating reports or data refreshes in the Power BI Service — is a bit more complex, especially because Power BI Desktop is a CEF (Chromium Embedded Framework)-based application. Many traditional desktop automation tools struggle with applications built on Chromium (or similar web technologies), as they rely on browser-like rendering.
However, there are still several potential ways to automate Power BI Desktop through a combination of automation tools, scripting languages, and external APIs. Below are some options for automating tasks such as uploading data files, creating charts, applying filters, and interacting with the Power BI Desktop interface.
- PowerShell with Power BI Cmdlets
PowerShell is one of the most powerful and flexible tools for automating tasks related to Power BI. You can automate tasks like data refresh, publishing reports to the Power BI Service, and even manipulating data sources in Power BI models.
While PowerShell can be great for automating data loads and interacting with the Power BI Service, direct automation of Power BI Desktop interface actions (like drag-and-drop or applying filters) is not supported directly through PowerShell.
Pros:
Ideal for automating Power BI Service tasks (e.g., uploading files, refreshing datasets, etc.).
Well-documented cmdlets for Power BI automation (e.g., Get-PowerBIDataset, Set-PowerBIDataset, etc.).
Flexible for working with datasets, reports, and refreshes.
Cons:
Does not support direct UI-based automation in Power BI Desktop.
If your focus is on automation of report publishing, data refresh, or interaction with the Power BI Service, PowerShell is a good choice.
- UI Automation Tools (e.g., AutoIt, Selenium, or WinAppDriver)
For desktop-based UI automation (such as simulating clicks, drag-and-drop, applying filters, creating charts, etc.), tools like AutoIt, SikuliX, WinAppDriver, and Selenium (WebDriver) can be used.
AutoIt (for UI Automation on Windows)
AutoIt is a powerful scripting language designed for automating Windows GUI (Graphical User Interface) tasks. It is widely used for automating desktop applications.
Pros:
Can simulate mouse clicks, keyboard inputs, window management (minimizing, resizing, etc.), and drag-and-drop actions.
Can interact with the UI elements in Power BI Desktop by identifying window controls (buttons, sliders, etc.).
Supports creating scripts to automate complex workflows within Power BI Desktop (e.g., file uploads, filter applications, chart creation, etc.).
Cons:
UI element-based automation can be fragile if the application’s UI changes or updates (e.g., new versions of Power BI Desktop might break the scripts).
Not as flexible or robust as browser-based automation tools.