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ruthpozuelo
Kudo Kingpin
‎11-14-2017 09:20 AM

Help creating your JSON file template for themes using a Power BI file

Have you tried to create a JSON file to manage the theme on your Power BI report? Not an easy task, right? I tried to do this last week, and I found it hard and confusing. Hours went by, and I was almost in the same place as when I started. My method was obviously not working, and the available documentation was not clear for me. I needed to do something else if I was going to produce a JSON file theme for my customer.  So, what to do? I use Power BI for everything, ok not everything, but almost everything. So, I used Power BI to create a documentation that I could understand, and finally my JSON file was done (or at least I did all that could be done, more on that on the later).

 

What is this JSON file thing?

You can customize the look and feel of the Power BI reports using the formatting pane for each specific visual, or you can speed up the process by using a JSON file.

 

This feature (the JSON file) has been available for quite a while, but on the September 2017 update of Power BI Desktop, they allow us to define even more elements, and that is great, but the documentation is poor (sorry Microsoft, it is) and unfortunately, a lot of the elements won't work even when you add them correctly to the file.

 

To be able to manage this, I have created my own guide for the JSON file.  I am sharing it with all of you so you don't have to waste a lot of time finding out how to build it.

 

My Power BI solution to create a JSON file

This is an iterative process, and I am still working with the file.  It is useful, even if it has a few bugs and some missing fields. Continue reading to get a link to a video tutorial and a sample JSON file to get you started.  Below I have embedded the Power BI file. 

 

 

Video tutorial on how to use the file

Watch this video if you need help getting started with the file. I will do a tutorial on the JSON file in a later video.

 

 

 

Link to JSON file

As this is a work-in-progress, I will send you to my website to get the link so you can always get the latest version here.  Hopefully you will find this template as useful as I have and start creating Power BI templates in no time 🙂

 

/Ruth

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