Table with more information depending on slicer

[sknudson]

Hello,

New to Power BI here, but was hoping to get some ideas or help.

I have a table in a report that is acting as a resource library. I'm using slicers to help filter down the resource library by category and content. What I was hoping to do is that when a slicer value is selected for "study" because the resource is information about an ongoing or completed study rather than say a news article, more information from my original data source would show up (including study type, study phase, enrollment, status, etc.). I didn't want these extra columns to be displayed for other values selected, because they are irrelevant for a news article (as an example).

Is it possible to have a table add columns when a filter is selected through a slicer? Or any other work-arounds folks suggest?

Thanks!

[lbendlin]

Usually this is done via custom tooltip pages.

[sknudson]

Thanks @lbendlin. Unfortunately there is too much information in the table to fit inside a tooltip window. Any other suggestions?

Would it also be possible to have the tooltip (or other method) only show up when my slicer is selected AND when the resource name matches the row they're hovering on?

[lbendlin]

"Unfortunately there is too much information in the table to fit inside a tooltip window"

If that is the case then there is likely also too much information to fit into a regular window  (note that you can specify the size of the tooltip window too).  Think about it from a UX perspective and the condense and aggregate your data to make it useful.

You cannot suppress the tooltip appearing.  You can impact the contents, but that will likely again lead to bad UX.

[sknudson]

Thanks for the insight. I don't think it is too much information to share in one regular window, in fact I was able to do it elsewhere. I'm just new to PowerBI and not sure how these functions work on this tool.

What I'm trying to show is very specific study information about a singular resource when it is hovered. That information all fits in a tooltip window, but I don't know how to make the tooltip only show information when it matches the resource name in the original table.

Example:

Resource A is being hovered on, should only show the enrollment, study status, study phase, and study type for Resource A. 

Right now, when I create the tooltip, it is showing that information for Resource A, Resource B, etc. that are all studies.

Any tips for how to make that work?

[lbendlin]

it all depends what you are hovering above.  If the visual has a clear separate area for resource A then the tooltip will be for A only  (like a bar chart).  But if you show resources simultaneously (like a line chart that shows both A and B) then the tooltip will also include both. 

[sknudson]

I see, so hovering over a row or cell in a table wouldn't provide a different tooltip because it will read it as hovering over the entire table.

I'm wondering if this might be possible using drill down and clicking into a row of a table, but I haven't been able to do it on my own yet. Or perhaps a matrix? Any thoughts if these could work?

[lbendlin]

yes, there is a drillthrough concept that is similar to the tooltips but gives you more control as to which filters to transport through (unfortunately it also involves more clicks).  Maybe work through one of the tutorials to see if drillthrough is for you.

[sknudson]

I've tried using the tutorials but haven't had luck using it on a table. Do you (or anyone) know if drill down is available for Table formats, where you would select a row in the table to drill down and get more info?

[lbendlin]

Yes - as long as you drill through based on a unique row identifier.  Keep in mind that a table visual is not the same thing as a data table.  All sorts of aggregation and joins may be happening. These will influence the DrillThrough filters.