Forum Discussion
Power ParticipantPower BI Service, Paginated Report Builder - why some unicode glyphs not displaying
14-12-2022 caveat, RB: both Print Layout and Default View have issues, Service: Print Layout has issues but Default View works fine displaying all my selected Geographic shapes unicode glyphs. See screenshots added to today's reply.
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Have selected unicode characters from the Geometric Shapes subset from the unicode universe. In Report Builder the unicode glyph 9670 Black Diamond is not displaying. Only a square bracket symbol comes up. The Black Diamond glyph does display for the query in dax studio.
Screenshot of report builder run
Screenshot of dax studio run for the query
Screenshot of my unicode table as displayed via query in dax studio
Another mystery, Unicode Number column is declared as Text
Create a Report Builder test report to display this table.
This is the query and dax studio output.
Unicode Number column fails to display and most of the unicode unichar conversions fail.
The difference between the default view and the print preview from app.powerbi.com is almost certainly a difference in the available fonts. When you view the default web page Power BI will send html to the client browser and that will have access to local fonts on your PC. When you do a print preview the service will generate a PDF on the server side using the fonts available on the Power BI rendering nodes. If the exact font is not available the operating system then has rules it uses to find the closest similar font. And unfortunately not all fonts have the full unicode character set.
I did some tests using a number of different fonts and found that Segoe UI Symbol seemed to have the best support for extended Unicode characters. If you are putting your indicators in their own column this might work for you.
8 Replies
- garythomannCoGC
Created a test report called Glyph Test. Dax Studio ...
Report Builder ...
Power BI Service - Default view (see my next reply for Page View screenshot 20220728 gt)
So our Service has a more complete unicode set than Report Builder. So at this stage it looks like making a request to our IT department to add the missing unicode set to Report Builder. I do not have admin rights so its a long process of 'paperwork'.
Hi garythomannCoGC ,
Please refer to these two posts, starting with regional and system versions, I hope it will help.
Solved: Unicode arrows problem
Solved: UNICHAR characters not displaying correctly for so...
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Best Regards,
Gao
Community Support TeamIf there is any post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly. If I misunderstand your needs or you still have problems on it, please feel free to let us know. Thanks a lot!
How to get your questions answered quickly -- How to provide sample data
- garythomannCoGC
Thanks for your reply. Your post came through at the same time as my last one. Will have look. Thanks
- d_gosbell
Super User
The difference between the default view and the print preview from app.powerbi.com is almost certainly a difference in the available fonts. When you view the default web page Power BI will send html to the client browser and that will have access to local fonts on your PC. When you do a print preview the service will generate a PDF on the server side using the fonts available on the Power BI rendering nodes. If the exact font is not available the operating system then has rules it uses to find the closest similar font. And unfortunately not all fonts have the full unicode character set.
I did some tests using a number of different fonts and found that Segoe UI Symbol seemed to have the best support for extended Unicode characters. If you are putting your indicators in their own column this might work for you.
- garythomannCoGC
Still an issue, my mistake. Page View on the service emulates PDF printing. Export to Word is working but not PDF.
Adding this link and it and associated sublinks is relevant.
SSRS Custom Font errors during the PDF processing export
Next is IT department involvement. for admin installs.
- garythomannCoGC
Power BI Paginated Report Builder - Unicode Symbols - toggle the Print Layout button
Cross post as this is the main thread ...
- garythomannCoGC
14-12-2022 caveat, screenshots for Glyph Test.rdl
Unichar Glyph's that do not render are displayed as square box.
Here is the link to the rdl report builder report that I created.
And associated csv dump from dax studio of the input table being queried.
CPP Traffic Light Short Status.xlsx
Power BI Paginated Report Builder (RB)
Default View
Print Layout View
Power BI Service
Default Web Layout View
Print Layout View
