Issue: Blank R-powered interactive plots when using powerbi-visuals-tools v4.0.6+

[j-murray]

I recently discovered an issue where custom visuals created with the pbiviz rhtml template simply don't work if you are using version 4.0.6 or 4.0.7 of pbiviz. You are able to create the template and successfully package the custom visual. However, when you import it into PBI Desktop it doesn't render anything; the 'thinking' dot wheel spins in the upper left corner for a moment when you add values and then the visual goes blank. After exhaustive troubleshooting, I looked into pbiviz version. I rolled back my version of powerbi-visuals-tools and created/packaged the rhtml template for pbiviz versions 4.0.2 to 4.0.7. Here are the results:

As we can see, the visual fails to render for versions 4.0.6+. Additionally, this issue exists without even changing the rhtml template R code. Notably, this issue appears to be isolated to some interaction between pbiviz/PBI and the R plotly package because custom visuals I created using the 'ggiraph' and 'networkD3' appear to work properly in the later versions of pbiviz. However, 'ggiraph' is not currently supported on PowerBI Service, so it is not a feasible alternative for users looking to publish reports that include interactive R plots. The only solution I've found is to use an earlier version of pbiviz.

I wanted to bring this to your attention as it took me several weeks to discover all this and reach a point where I could make working custom visuals (using pbiviz v4.0.5). Part of the problem is all the documentation suggests to users that the latest version of pbiviz should work, like this article on MS learn which specifically tells users to install the latest version of pbiviz: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/developer/visuals/environment-setup?tabs=windows

[v-xiaoyan-msft]

Hi @j-murray ,

Thank you for sharing, but it's more of a product design issue than a bug.

If you would like to suggest some feature or product improvements, you may vote the idea and comment here  to improve this feature. It is a place for customers provide feedback about Microsoft Office products . What’s more, if a feedback is high voted there by other customers, it will be promising that Microsoft Product Team will take it into consideration when designing the next version in the future.

Best Regards,
Community Support Team _ Caitlyn

[whultzapple]

Will this issue be resloved with a future update? I am having the same issue.

[j-murray]

@whultzapple 

I've tried my best to relay this issue to the correct PBI staff, but it's not clear if or when this will be resolved. In the interim, you can successfully package R-powered custom visuals by installing powerbi-visuals-tools version 4.0.5 via the following command: npm i -g  powerbi-visuals-tools@4.0.5. The rhtml template folder created under this version of pbiviz correctly packages R visuals such that they will render when imported into PBI desktop.

Hope this helps!

[whultzapple]

Worked like a charm. Thanks!

[mahenkj2]

Hi @j-murray 

I was also struggling with ploly/custom visual not working in PowerBI and finally with your reply, it worked well.

Thanks for researching and sharing. Looks like Power BI team have not yet provided any official remedy/help on this.

[MissilentTech]

Hi @j-murray 

Absolutely magic....you are awesome....

wonder if it will be fixed in teh newer versions ???

Thanks Fiona