Cannot Open PBIX When SSAS Server Live Connection Is Offline

[captainlaw]

Hello,

I have a ton of SSAS live connection PBIX files that I would like to open while offline.  Is it possible to open the dashboard just to look at the last saved data visualizaitons while I'm offline?  The scenario is I look at them frequenty on the bus or on the plane, and at the moment, Desktop will forcefully shutdown without opening up the file when I'm offlne or corpnet access is unavailable.

Any help to simply open the visualization even just the skeleton is better than shutdown.

Thank you!

[captainlaw]

BTW, there's the error details.

Error Message:

The Analysis Services database is not yet initialized.

Stack Trace:

System.InvalidOperationException: The Analysis Services database is not yet

initialized.
at Microsoft.PowerBI.Client.Windows.ReportUpgrader.Upgrade(Report report)
at Microsoft.PowerBI.Client.Windows.Report.Upgrade()
at Microsoft.PowerBI.Client.Windows.Services.FileManager.OpenFile(String

filePathToOpen, IWin32Window ownerWindow, ReportUpgradeResult& upgradeResult)
at Microsoft.PowerBI.Client.Program.TryOpenOrCreateReport(WindowsHost

windowsHost, ISplashScreen splashScreen, IFileManager fileManager,

FileHistoryManager fileHistoryManager, IPowerBIStringProvider stringProvider,

String filePath, PBIWinLoadPBIAppAction loadEvent, Report& report, String&

importFromExcelFilePath, String& templateFilePath, ReportUpgradeResult&

upgradeResult)
at Microsoft.PowerBI.Client.Program.<>c__DisplayClassc.<Main>b__0()
at Microsoft.Mashup.Host.Document.ExceptionHandlerExtensions.HandleExceptions

(IExceptionHandler exceptionHandler, Action action)

Invocation Stack Trace:

at

Microsoft.Mashup.Host.Document.ExceptionExtensions.GetCurrentInvocationStackTrace

()
at Microsoft.Mashup.Client.ClientShared.StackTraceInfo..ctor(String

exceptionStackTrace, String invocationStackTrace)
at

Microsoft.Mashup.Client.ClientShared.UnexpectedExceptionHandler.<>c__DisplayClass1

.<HandleException>b__0()
at

Microsoft.Mashup.Host.Document.SynchronizationContextExtensions.<>c__DisplayClass3

.<SendAndMarshalExceptions>b__0(Object null)
at System.RuntimeMethodHandle.InvokeMethod(Object target, Object[] arguments,

Signature sig, Boolean constructor)
at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.UnsafeInvokeInternal(Object obj, Object

[] parameters, Object[] arguments)
at System.Delegate.DynamicInvokeImpl(Object[] args)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.InvokeMarshaledCallbackDo(ThreadMethodEntry

tme)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.InvokeMarshaledCallbackHelper(Object obj)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.InvokeMarshaledCallback(ThreadMethodEntry tme)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.InvokeMarshaledCallbacks()
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.MarshaledInvoke(Control caller, Delegate

method, Object[] args, Boolean synchronous)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.Invoke(Delegate method, Object[] args)
at

Microsoft.Mashup.Client.ClientShared.UnexpectedExceptionHandler.HandleException

(Exception e)
at Microsoft.Mashup.Host.Document.ExceptionHandlerExtensions.HandleExceptions

(IExceptionHandler exceptionHandler, Action action)
at Microsoft.PowerBI.Client.Program.Main(String[] args)

[v-micsh-msft]

Hi captainlaw,

I am afraid opening live connection PBIX to check Reports when SSAS server is offline is not possible.

The error message told that “The Analysis Services database is not yet initialized.” So the issue here is PBIX currently has no data. The data used to build the reports and the dashboards are based on the data from the Data source side, without data to show I don’t think it would work to display the visuals successfully.

We may consider take use of Import instead of Live connection when connecting to SSAS data source. And make those Imported PBIX as a backup. when data is imported, no live connection between Power BI Desktop and the Tabular model is maintained. We can then explore Power BI Desktop model offline.

More information, please see:

Analysis Services Tabular data in Power BI Desktop

Regards

[captainlaw]

That mean live connection PBIX file should be "significantly" smaller than imported PBIX file?

The fact that snapshot data for the charts cannot even be shown when internet is offline is troubling.  Most tools allow both live and offline when internet is available, but not Power BI, so it makes it less user friendly compared with Tableau or Qlik.

[v-micsh-msft]

Well I agree that is a good idea.

Check to see if the following one would be the same that you would like Power BI to achieve, if yes, vote for it, otherwise, post your idea.

caching data in power BI service connected through Power Query

Regards