How to support direct navigation to a page within a multi-page report

[altorreno]

We have a multi-page Power BI report, that was previously published to Power BI service, and embedded in our web application. We are using the Power BI javascript api to directly navigate to a page based on config options in our web app.

We are trying to move that report to Power BI Report Server, but RS doesn't suppor this direct navigation. What alternatives exist to work around this limitation?

We are thinking of splitting the existing report into multiple reports, with one page each. This will create new problems with having multiple identical models, all competing for resources during scheduled refresh. I can't find a way to share a Report Server data source with multiple Power BI reports. Is it possible?

[hackcrr · Accepted solution]

Hi, @altorreno 

The Report server doesn't have the ability to navigate directly to a page via a URL, but you can write your own JavaScript script to switch between HTML tags to switch Power BI report pages.

If the reports are better suited for paginated layouts, consider migrating to Paginated Reports in PBIRS. Paginated Reports support parameters and dynamic navigation more effectively.

Paginated Reports allow navigation to specific sections or views using URL parameters.

You can design paginated reports to mimic the navigation experience of a multi-page report.

In Power BI, Bookmarks can be used to simulate navigation between pages.

All in all, Power BI Report
Server is a slashed version of Power BI Service, and you can't expect much from that. Use bookmarks for page switching. For shared datasets, you should use paginated reports.