Problem with updating an existing visual

[Anonymous]

We are developing a custom visual and are having problems with deploying new versions. Here's what we are doing:

1. We have an existing visual, let's say that the version is 1.0.0.

2. We add some new functionality to it.

3. We increase the version number, let's say to 1.0.1.

4. We package the visual using pbiviz package.

5. We deliver the visual to a end user who imports the visual to the Power BI online.

Until now everything works just fine and the visual on the report, where he imported the visual, work fine. That is: the new version of the visual is shown. However, if the end user now saves the report and reloads the page (or comes back to it later), the report is using the old visual again. Sometimes this reverts not only to the previous version but even to a much older version of the visual.

It seems that this is the same issue as this one for the Desktop version of Power BI:

http://community.powerbi.com/t5/Developer/Problems-updating-Custom-Visuals-in-Power-BI-Desktop/m-p/3...

Increasing the GUID is not really an option since it would mean that the end user now has to redo all the reports that were done with the previous version of the visual.

Isn't there a way to offer a smooth upgrade process for custom visuals?

[jppp]

The uploaded code of all custom visuals are saved with the report and used by the report: so uploading a new version of your visual will overwrite the old version and a save will persist this version with the report.

This works for all custom visuals, but a little bit different for the official published custom visuals in the Office Store: those are downloaded from the Power BI CDN (Content Delivery Network) and used in the report. For speed and reliability these visuals are also cached locally, so it will take some time before a new version of a visual is being used by everyone.

So as long as you are not altering a published custom visual (or reuse the GUID), you could easily update a new version of a visual by uploading the pbiviz package and save the report. Reopening should use the new visual. There could be the case that the report is using the cached version and not the 'embedded' version. Clearing the browser/desktop cache will solve the problem directly.

And as best practise: keep the visual GUID always the same and make sure that your new visual can handle the change in functionality.

[Anonymous]

We upload the new visual, save the report then reload the page.  After the reload the report uses the old visual again.

Clearing the cache does not help. It seems like the problem is server side - maybe the visual is not correctly updated on the server since other reports still use the old visual? Or something along those lines.

We do keep the GUID the same. I just mentioned changing the GUID because in some other topics (especially for the Desktop version of Power BI), users mentioned that changing the GUID does seem to solve the problem. We did try that and it indeed does solve the problem, but this is not really the solution since our end users would need to update the existing reports to use the new visual.

[jppp]

Strange that it is not working for you; I haven't seen that behavior.

Looks to me like the save operation of the report is not finished correctly.

Is it happening to all users? Maybe the javascript console provides some additional information.

[Anonymous]

We found out a bit more about this problem. Here are the steps to reproduce:

1. Create a new visual that just displays the version number. So at the start our visual just displayed 1.0.0.

2. Create a report, import the visual and add it to the report.

3. Pin this visual to a dashboard. It seems that this is the step that causes the problems with updating. As long as the custom visual is pinned to any dashboards it cannot be updated.

4. Create a new version of the visual displaying 1.0.1.

5. Import the visual to the report and save it.

6. Refresh and you will see the old 1.0.0 visual.

It seems that the pinned visual somehow prevents the updating.

You can now go to dashboards and delete the dashboard that has the visual and the visual on the report will now update and correctly show 1.0.1.

[jppp]

Oke, I know that visuals on dashboards are being cached and maybe that is causing this behavior.

Is the report also using the old visual when you hit the data refresh icon after you reload the report after step 6?

[Anonymous]

Yes, the report also shows the old visual.

[jppp]

Hmmm, too bad. Probably only time will make the new version appear, but who will tell...

Probably it is better to raise this issue with the Power BI team. Maybe send a frown?

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I just created an issue. Let's hope this can be solved in one of the future versions.

[v-viig]

Hello @Anonymous

I'm wondering if you have already sent the frown in Power BI Desktop?

Ignat Vilesov,

Software Engineer

Microsoft Power BI Custom Visuals

pbicvsupport@microsoft.com

[Anonymous]

The frown redirected me to the issues page so I created an issue here:

http://community.powerbi.com/t5/Issues/Custom-visuals-can-not-be-updated-if-they-are-pinned-to-a/idi...

Not sure if this is what you meant?

[v-viig]

Thank you for sharing the link.

Ignat Vilesov,

Software Engineer

Microsoft Power BI Custom Visuals

pbicvsupport@microsoft.com