Auto Update PowerBI View

[aruntd77]

Hi,

I have developed the Report and pinned it to Dashboard.

I would like to project this on Big Screens. How can I auto refresh the view or Dashboard without clicking on Refresh icon?

Can I set the same auto refresh option for Report if I have projected the report on screen?

Thanks

Arun

[aruntd77]

Dear friends,

I finally used Power BI Javascript library and embedded the report in SPA Web App and I could call refresh function using Javascript Timer. This is working as expected.

Thanks

Arun

[scottbell]

Is there still no solution for import dashboards?

E.g. I fullscreen my dashboard in the web or the windows app and it auto refreshes with my scheduled data refreshes?

Regards,

Scott

[elliotdixon]

Hi @scottbell I have kind of managed to solve this.

I have a powershell script (that a kind developer in my office helped find and created) that opens internet explorer and then cycles through the different power bi websites - refreshing them as needed.

Is working quite well on a few different computers we have around the country.

Starts when the computer starts and cycles through different dashboards every 10 minutes. 

Instructions

Open Internet Explorer and go to the BI site and log in. 
Save the username and password in internet explorer
1.	place the .ps1 file on the Desktop
2.	place the .cmd file in the startup folder (win + r and type shell:startup to open startup folder)
This script will open an ie window cycling through PowerBI dashboards

Create a .cmd file that runs (batch file)

PowerShell -Command "Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted" >> "%TEMP%\StartupLog.txt" 2>&1
PowerShell -WindowStyle Hidden C:\Users\%USERNAME%\Desktop\BiScreenCycle.ps1 >> "%TEMP%\StartupLog.txt" 2>&1

Create a Powersheel .ps1 file called BiScreenCycle.ps1

$errorActionPreference = "stop"

$urls = @(

# enter your url here and delete this line	
# add a new line for each url you want to cycle through 

)

$sleepSec = 600
$urlIndex = 0

$ie = new-object -comObject "InternetExplorer.Application"
$ie.silent = $true
$ie.visible = $true
$ie.theatermode = $true

while($true)
{
	$ie.navigate($urls[$urlIndex])
	start-sleep -s $sleepSec

	$urlIndex = ($urlIndex + 1) % $urls.length
}

(sorry - cant work out how to upload the actual files)

good luck

[PowerUser77]

Is there still no native way to auto refresh a report and/or dashboard using direct query or import from SQL?  SSRS has an auto fresh setting for their reports I'm looking for something like that.  I know in direct query the data updates every 15 minutes and the "REFRESHED" time updates on the dashboard, but the actual data does not update.

Thank you.

[elliotdixon]

Hi @PowerUser77 - any direct query report will refresh every 15mins or whenever you interact with the dashboard / reports. The data should be updating then as well.

[samdthompson]

Assuming they are informational only then via browser in full screen mode with onprem direct data connection and also a scheduled refresh as the direct connection only updates on demand ie when interacted with. We have ones working with Explorer, Chrome and Safari. All good solutions.

[aruntd77]

Thanks for the update.

Let me try your suggestion for call center dashboards. I will update you.

We have another situation:

Since we are using Large Screens with Touch enabled for CXO level and Sr Management, they will interact with dashboard. I was planning to use Windows 10 App for projecting the reports. The data source is SQL Server.

They wont be interacting with dashboard always, however we want the view refreshed every hour at least,

Could you please suggest best way forward for this scenario?

Thanks

Arun

[Eric_Zhang · Accepted solution]

@aruntd77

I doubt there would be a built-in way to automatically refresh the dashboard view. However, to reload the dashboard web page in a certain interval, I think you can try Tab Auto Reload for FireFox.

1. Install that Add-on and restart FF.
2. Open one tab in FF, navigate to the dashboard.
3. Schedule a reload interval
   
4. Press F11 to switch to Full screen mode.
   
   If you're not using FF, I think there're similar add-ons for other popular browsers.

[felyoubi]

Auto refresh seems to be logical in case of a Direct Query and NOT in Import mode. How frequent your data gets refreshed?

-Fahd

[aruntd77]

Some Dashboards are for every minute. Some will have refresh rate of every hour.

[gheesalias]

Hi,

I feel you can make use of Data streaming options for this, especially when your update interval is in minutes.

The link below.

https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/real-time-in-no-time-with-power-bi/

The minimum refresh interval for Scheduled refresh in Power BI Pro is hourly, so I guess you will have to go for straeaming options in case of such frequsent data updates.

[elliotdixon]

Cheers @gheesalias it turns out the dashboard will automatically update when using the Win10 app and a direct query report.

As direct query updates in real time pretty much.

The scheduled refresh you are referring to only applies to Import mode and you can actually change it to update every 30 mins. Although you only get 8 updates a day.

Rgds

ED

[gheesalias]

Hi @elliotdixon,

Many Thanks for that thought, but I tried giving a Direct Query using my IP address to a Power BI report and published to power bi web, but the report will reflect the change in data only after I do 'Refresh Now' manually. There aint any option to schedule refresh also, as in the below screenshots.

[elliotdixon]

Hi @gheesalias Don't worry about that error stating "we dont support settings for this dataset" I get that error as well on some direct query reports but the reports still work fine. I think its just some sort of bug in the BI platform.

If you click on the refresh history link it will show you the refresh done by the direct query report. You should see quite a few entries.

 With direct query there is no ability to scheudle a refresh.

When looking at a dashboard you can

If using the Windows 10 app the report will refresh through the day. IT seems to be about every 15 mins. Any any data changes during that time will be updated.

When looking at the BI website the dashboard will only refresh if you click refrehsh manually or refresh the browser.

On the report pages the data will refresh whenever you interact with a tile (clicking a bar graph or filtering a table) or when you click refresh

[elliotdixon]

Anyone know if / or how often the Windows 10 app updates when looking at the dashboard of a direct query source?