"Show Items with no data" option not working in Online Power BI Service with visual filters applied.

[dev_Varun]

Hi Power BI Team, We're facing an awkward issue which seems to be working fine in the Power BI desktop version but doesn't work the same way in the Online Power BI version.

Below is the sample file attached.
Power BI Sample

Power BI Desktop version is showing rows with the option “Show Items with no data” selected. With the same file being published to the power bi service, The same set of rows are not being shown.

Any solution?

[v-qiuyu-msft]

Hi @dev_Varun,

I can reproduce the issue. And have reported this issue internally: CRI 58650675. Will update here once I get any information. 

Best Regards,
Qiuyun Yu

[v-qiuyu-msft]

Hi @dev_Varun,

I got below information internally: 

This is an intentional behavior change in order to fix a bug we've had in our Show Items With No Data code. This change will also ship with PBI Desktop February and there will be a blog mentioning it when we release it. We chose to release it earlier in the service because it fixes an outstanding issue with bidirectional crossfiltering. I've attached a PBIX with examples and explanations ( https://www.dropbox.com/s/cb5fo0fo6f5ae5b/Test%20_outer%20join_items%20with%20no%20related%20data-Ex... ).

Let me explain what was happening before.

Table Priority has a one to many relationship with Objective. In modeling terms, they are directly related. This is important because filters flow from the one to the many table when we evaluate the queries. So a filter on any column from the Priority table will impact all columns of the Objective table. For example, if we were to build a table with Status and Objective and have a filter on Priority = A, we can only see Statuses and Objectives that match to Priority A. Enabling Show Items with No Data does not make a difference. This means Show Items with No Data respects the filters.
Due to the direct relationship between Priority and Objective tables, any filter set on a column from Priority will impact any column selected from Objective table. It can be a Page filter, visual filter, slicer or drill through filter. They will all have the same impact.
We are only seeing Statuses and Objectives for Priority 'A'. Show Items With No Data respects Priority 'A' filter.

Now if we look at the situation in reverse, and group on Priority but filter on Status.
Due to the direct relationship between Priority and Objective tables, any filter set on a column from Objective will NOT impact any column selected from Priority table, because Objective is at the end of a Many relationship and filters flow from the one to the many.
However, we have enabled Cross Filter Direction - BOTH on the relationship.
This essentially means filters can flow from Objective to Priority. Just like on the previous example we saw Priority 'A' affecting the Statuses, here we see the Status affecting Priorities. This is due to the bidirectional crossfiltering and it is the intended behavior.
If this behavior is not wanted, bidirectional cross filtering should be turned off. This means switch Cross Filtering to Single.

Best Regards,
Qiuyun Yu