REST API doesn't return reports to new PowerBI users

[Anonymous]

Hi,

 I'm developing a mobile app (Xamarin iOS and Android) with a read-only access to PowerBI reports. I'm facing a strange issue with PowerBI REST API. Every new user, who has never logged in PowerBI before, can't get any reports from the REST API until he opens a MS PowerBI mobile app.

Use case:

1. User authenticates in our app using MSAL
2. Authentication is ok, app gets access token for PowerBI scopes:
   • https://analysis.windows.net/powerbi/api/App.Read.All
   • https://analysis.windows.net/powerbi/api/Report.Read.All
   • https://analysis.windows.net/powerbi/api/Workspace.Read.All
3. Send PowerBI REST API request to get reports:
   • Request using Microsoft.PowerBI.Api NuGet package (ApiClient.Reports.GetReportsAsync()) - succeeds, but returns 0 reports.
   • GET request using Postman to https://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/reports - returns status 200, but with 0 reports
4. User opens MS PowerBI app on the same mobile device - after authentication, user can see all his reports.
5. Send PowerBI REST API request again to get reports:
   • Using the same methods and the same access token as before.
   • Both Microsoft.PowerBI.Api NuGet package and direct API call from Postman succeeds, and returns reports from "My Workspace".

The last report of this issue was even less user-friendly. PowerBI REST API returned only reports, that have been opened in the MS PowerBI app by the user.

This issue has been reported by all testers. It's hard to replicate, because since the user opens PowerBI app, this issue never happens again. Unfortunately, most of our users in production will be new PowerBI users, so I need to find a solution bfore going to production.

Is there some step I'm missing? Some permission check, subscription or account activation?

Best regards,
Petr Hoffman

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Finally I have an explanation for this issue. Microsoft premium support confirmed it's expected behavior of the REST API:

REST API returns only directly shared reports with the current user and reports from installed PowerBI applications.

All the missing reports were from PowerBI applications that were not insatlled on the user account. PowerBI app installation is almost hidden feature, because all PowerBI clients from Microsoft install Power BI applications automatically when user opens a report. Unfortunately, there is no public API to install Power BI appliction. So this issue has no solution for third party apps. Workaround is only to navigate user to any Microsfot PowerBI client and install PowerBI applications by opening reports or instal them manually from marketplace.

[AmosHersch]

Hi @Anonymous ,

I believe you should call refresh user permissions API for new users who've never logged in to Power BI. Please note:

1. It's best to wait a few seconds after calling the API to make sure the user's permissions were propogated successfully

2. For each user you can call the API once per hour. There's no need to call more then once per user, but if you do call more than once in an hour you might get 429 error response.

[Himal]

Hi @AmosHersch ,

Can you please confirm this this issue still exists or it is fixed ? and if it is fixed, what are the steps to resolve the issue ?

Regards,

Himal

[Anonymous]

Hi @AmosHersch ,

 thank you for your advice. It took me some time to find another tester who hasn't used PowerBI before. Unfortunately, calling refresh user permissions didn't help.

Here's what happened:

1. User installed and launched our app on iPad.
2. Successful MSAL authentication
   • brokered authentication using MS Authenticator
   • user confirmed consent for PowerBI as a first-time user
3. Refresh user permissions - success
4. Get PowerBI reports - success, but response contained 0 reports.
5. Get PowerBI reports again after 5 minutes - success, but response still contained 0 reports.
6. Refresh user permissions again - status 429 (just to check that previous call was really accepted by the server)
7. Get PowerBI reports - success, but response still contained 0 reports.
8. User installed and launched PowerBI iOS app on the same iPad.
9. PowerBI app showed several PowerBI reports.
10. Switched back to our app - get PowerBI reports - success, but response still contained 0 reports.
11. Switched to PowerBI app and opened one of the reports
12. Switched back to our app - get PowerBI reports - success, response contained 1 report (the one opened in PowerBI app)

This was exactly the behavior reported by the previous tester, before implementing user permission refresh.

By the way - is there a way how to "reset" user account to behave just like a first-time user? It's not possible for us to set-up temp accounts just for testing and I'm running out of a possible testers.

Best regards,

Petr Hoffman

[Himal]

Hi Petr,

This is the same exact issue I'm facing as well. Have you found any other way around ? 

Regarding the "reset" user account, I used new workspace instead of creating the new user. Unless user explictly open the new workspace, API doesn't return the report associated with that workspace. 

Regards,

Himal