Top N Filter in Power BI Service

[murpoj]

I have a problem with Top N Ffilter in Power BI Service. I have a table with a datetime column, and I'm tying to get only the last 10 rows. I choose Top N as filter, enter the value 10, and select latest from "By Value" dropdown. Then nothing is shown. When I do the same thing in Power BI Desktop, it works.

Is there an issue with Top N filter in Power BI Service?

[v-jiascu-msft]

Hi @murpoj,

According to my test, Top N filter works fine. There isn't a dropdown of "By Value" in my test. Could you please post some snapshot of this issue?

Best Regards!

Dale

[murpoj]

This is the unfiltered version:

And this isthe filtered version:

I guess "by value" part only becomes dropdown with datetime columns. The same filter works on Power BI Desktop, but not on Service.

[v-jiascu-msft]

Hi @murpoj,

I reproduce it in this scenario. If the top 50 timestamp don't have a value, the visual would be blank. So try 500, 5000 or bigger instead of 50. If the visual shows data, this would be the cause. Please try it first. 

Best Regards!

Dale

[murpoj]

I tried larger values, but still didn't work. I published a desktop report with similar data to Power BI service, and Top N Filter with timestamp worked for that report. The problem report uses streaming dataset, maybe it has something to do with it.

[v-jiascu-msft]

Hi @murpoj

Thank you for the information. I think type of the dataset is the cause. Please reference this documentation: powerbi-service-real-time-streaming. And the bold words would be the reason.

>>>With a streaming dataset, data is also pushed into the Power BI service, with an important difference: Power BI only stores the data into a temporary cache, which quickly expires. The temporary cache is only used to display visuals which have some transient sense of history, such as a line chart that has a time window of one hour.
With a streaming dataset, there is no underlying database, so you cannot build report visuals using the data that flows in from the stream. As such, you cannot make use of report functionality such as filtering, custom visuals, and other report functions.

Best Regards!

Dale

[murpoj]

Hi,

Sorry, I misnamed the type of data I'm using. It is a push dataset. I designed it to show realtime data from stream analytics. I can create report using this dataset, but this particular filter doesn't work.

[v-jiascu-msft]

Hi @murpoj,

That's weird. I tested it successfully. Please check the dataset by creating a table visual. I noticed the axis is time. Are there any dates?

Best Regards!

Dale

[murpoj · Accepted solution]

Yes there are dates. I found a workaround,, by converting the dates into strings. I noticed that other types of values like numbers and strings work with Top N filter. It's not ideal but it's sufficient for now.

Thanks.