What is the new preview function "Web page connector infrastructure update" doing?

[mh-gd]

Since last PBI update, there is a new option "web page connector infrastructure update" available. Not to be confused with the "Power BI Desktop infrastructure update". Per default it is deselected.

Has anyone found out what it is doing? I only found a twitter post on that without any further help: Melissa Coates auf Twitter: "Hey sys admins - Are you ready for the WebView2 requirement that's goin...

[mh-gd]

@jeroenterheerdt stated as an answer on the twitter post I linked that the link in PBI Desktop at the PBI preview feature is wrong. But so far I have neither found a correct link nor an explanation of the feature.

[lbendlin]

They are replacing the IE based browser engine with the Chromium/Edge based browser engine. Not only for Power BI - across the whole PC.

[mh-gd]

Yes, I am aware of that. But I do not get the intention of that specific preview feature, and it is nowhere documented.

The replacement/introduction of WebView2 had been announced and explained in several blog entries (e.g. here: Power BI Desktop Installer Changes & WebView2 | Microsoft Power BI Blog | Microsoft Power BI) but for the feature I mentioned I have found nothing so far.

[Anonymous]

Hi @mh-gd ,

The Microsoft Edge WebView2 control allows you to embed web technologies (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) in your native apps. The WebView2 control uses Microsoft Edge as the rendering engine to display the web content in native apps.

With WebView2, you can embed web code in different parts of your native app, or build all of the native app within a single WebView instance.

Introduction to Microsoft Edge WebView2 - Microsoft Edge Development | Microsoft Docs

Best Regards,

Stephen Tao

If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[mh-gd]

This still does not answer my question: what is this (preview) feature doing? What changes if I activate it?

I e.g. tried to connect to a wikipedia page after having activated the "web page connector" feature (PBI infrastructure update being active as well), but still get this message:

[lbendlin]

Did you restart Power Bi Desktop after making the change?

Check in Task Manager - it will list all the active renderers.

[mh-gd]

Yes I did. Is it showing up any differences on your installation when connecting to a website (e.g. List of ISO 3166 country codes - Wikipedia) when you activate/deactivate the preview feature?

[lbendlin]

I should have read the warning message more clearly.  It only says IE compatibility mode, it says nothing about the renderer.  

My Task Manager shows lots of WebView2 containers

What are you trying to achieve? Is the "Web View"  tab relevant for that?  Wouldn't this code be sufficient?

let
    Source = Web.BrowserContents("https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ISO_3166_country_codes"),
    #"Extracted Table From Html" = Html.Table(Source, {{"Column1", "TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TH[colspan=""1""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(5), TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(8), TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(8), TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TD[colspan=""8""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(1)"}, {"Column2", "TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TH[colspan=""1""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(5) + TH[colspan=""2""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(2):nth-last-child(4), TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(8) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(2):nth-last-child(7), TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(8) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(2):nth-last-child(7), TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TD[colspan=""8""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(1)"}, {"Column3", "TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TH[colspan=""1""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(5) + TH[colspan=""2""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(2):nth-last-child(4), TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(8) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(2):nth-last-child(7) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(3):nth-last-child(6), TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(8) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(2):nth-last-child(7) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(3):nth-last-child(6), TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TD[colspan=""8""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(1)"}, {"Column4", "TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TH[colspan=""1""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(5) + TH[colspan=""2""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(2):nth-last-child(4) + TH[colspan=""3""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(3):nth-last-child(3), TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(8) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(2):nth-last-child(7) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(3):nth-last-child(6) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(4):nth-last-child(5), TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(8) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(2):nth-last-child(7) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(3):nth-last-child(6) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(4):nth-last-child(5), TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TD[colspan=""8""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(1)"}, {"Column5", "TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TH[colspan=""1""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(5) + TH[colspan=""2""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(2):nth-last-child(4) + TH[colspan=""3""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(3):nth-last-child(3), TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(8) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(2):nth-last-child(7) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(3):nth-last-child(6) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(4):nth-last-child(5) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(5):nth-last-child(4), TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(8) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(2):nth-last-child(7) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(3):nth-last-child(6) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(4):nth-last-child(5) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(5):nth-last-child(4), TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TD[colspan=""8""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(1)"}, {"Column6", "TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TH[colspan=""1""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(5) + TH[colspan=""2""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(2):nth-last-child(4) + TH[colspan=""3""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(3):nth-last-child(3), TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(8) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(2):nth-last-child(7) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(3):nth-last-child(6) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(4):nth-last-child(5) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(5):nth-last-child(4) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(6):nth-last-child(3), TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(8) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(2):nth-last-child(7) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(3):nth-last-child(6) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(4):nth-last-child(5) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(5):nth-last-child(4) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(6):nth-last-child(3), TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TD[colspan=""8""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(1)"}, {"Column7", "TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TH[colspan=""1""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(5) + TH[colspan=""2""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(2):nth-last-child(4) + TH[colspan=""3""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(3):nth-last-child(3) + TH[colspan=""1""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(4):nth-last-child(2), TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(8) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(2):nth-last-child(7) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(3):nth-last-child(6) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(4):nth-last-child(5) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(5):nth-last-child(4) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(6):nth-last-child(3) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(7):nth-last-child(2), TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(8) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(2):nth-last-child(7) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(3):nth-last-child(6) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(4):nth-last-child(5) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(5):nth-last-child(4) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(6):nth-last-child(3) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(7):nth-last-child(2), TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TD[colspan=""8""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(1)"}, {"Column8", "TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TH[colspan=""1""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(5) + TH[colspan=""2""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(2):nth-last-child(4) + TH[colspan=""3""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(3):nth-last-child(3) + TH[colspan=""1""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(4):nth-last-child(2) + TH[colspan=""1""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(5):nth-last-child(1), TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(8) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(2):nth-last-child(7) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(3):nth-last-child(6) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(4):nth-last-child(5) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(5):nth-last-child(4) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(6):nth-last-child(3) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(7):nth-last-child(2) + TH:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(8):nth-last-child(1), TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(8) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(2):nth-last-child(7) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(3):nth-last-child(6) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(4):nth-last-child(5) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(5):nth-last-child(4) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(6):nth-last-child(3) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(7):nth-last-child(2) + TD:not([colspan]):not([rowspan]):nth-child(8):nth-last-child(1), TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR > TD[colspan=""8""]:not([rowspan]):nth-child(1):nth-last-child(1)"}}, [RowSelector="TABLE.wikitable.sortable > * > TR"]),
    #"Removed Top Rows" = Table.Skip(#"Extracted Table From Html",1),
    #"Promoted Headers" = Table.PromoteHeaders(#"Removed Top Rows", [PromoteAllScalars=true])
in
    #"Promoted Headers"

[mh-gd]

---

@lbendlin wrote:

I should have read the warning message more clearly.  It only says IE compatibility mode, it says nothing about the renderer.  

My Task Manager shows lots of WebView2 containers

What are you trying to achieve? Is the "Web View"  tab relevant for that?  Wouldn't this code be sufficient?

I am trying to find out what the new "web connector" preview feature is doing. Only that. And so far it seems that no one really knows that.