Use the Marketplace Play Axis to show line graph data over time dynamically

[Anonymous]

Hi there

I have a financial value plotted on a line graph over time from 2015 to 2019. The Date column is the First of the Month. 

I want to use the play axis to do something a bit sexy to show this data dynamically, but is it possible to only have the data appear as the play axis runs through the months?

Jemma

[Icey · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous ,

Try this:

1. Create a separate table. No relationship between the two tables.

Table = DISTINCT('financials'[Date])

2. Create a measure.

Measure = IF ( SELECTEDVALUE ( 'financials'[Date] ) < MIN ( 'Table'[Date] ), 1, -1 )

3. Put the measure above in "Filters on this visual" of line chart and filter it by "Measure is 1".

4. Put "Date" column from "Table" in Play Axis.

Best Regards,

Icey

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[bbqq021]

Hello

This solution is great, thank you everyone. One upgrade I am trying to make is to have a heatmap and horizontal bar chart on the same page which changes based on the play axis (in addition to the dynamic line chart). These other 2 charts are timeseries however because I have created table with no connections I cannot get the play axis to drive all 3 charts. I know this is the principle this dynamic chart is based on but is there a workaround to get timeseries for all 3 connected but still maintain the dynamic building on the line chart? 

[Icey · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous ,

Try this:

1. Create a separate table. No relationship between the two tables.

Table = DISTINCT('financials'[Date])

2. Create a measure.

Measure = IF ( SELECTEDVALUE ( 'financials'[Date] ) < MIN ( 'Table'[Date] ), 1, -1 )

3. Put the measure above in "Filters on this visual" of line chart and filter it by "Measure is 1".

4. Put "Date" column from "Table" in Play Axis.

Best Regards,

Icey

If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[Anonymous]

@Icey this works! So simple! Thank you so much massive kudos to you our Client will love this 🙂 

[Anonymous]

@Icey 

Hi there me again, our Data Scientist loves this graph but wants the months to be visible already, so the axis doesn't move as much (it starts at 500k but goes up to 1.4m by the end. So he wants the data line to appear gradually once they press play. So the line appears on an already existing axis.

Is this at all possible????

[Icey · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous ,

You can try to set the Start and End of X axis.

For details, please check the attached PBIX file.

Best Regards,

Icey

If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[Anonymous]

Hi @Icey yep this worked, I had to press play on the Play Axis and then pause, in order to get the x axis to turn into a date/time field because otherwise, it did not allow me to enter dates.

It defaulted to 1970 for some reason so I changed the default dates and now the axis appears straight away when you press play, and the line appears for each month which looks really effective. 

This pitch is for a very big player so if we get their business you will have contributed!

[Anonymous]

@Icey 

Hi there me again, our Data Scientist loves this graph but wants the months to be visible already, so the axis doesn't move as much (it starts at 500k but goes up to 1.4m by the end. So he wants the data line to appear gradually once they press play. So the line appears on an already existing axis.

Is this at all possible????

[parry2k]

@Anonymous it all depends what visual you are using, play axis is just a slicer which will scroll thru the values of the column you provide it to run on.

[Anonymous]

Hi @parry2k yeah Play Axis might not be the solution, I was using a line graph, but when you press play it just shows a single dot per month thus breaking the line graph entirely. 

What I want to see, is a line which magically appears chronologically until all the months are displayed. It's for a client pitch and i'm just trying to show off Power BI and make some sexy visuals.

[parry2k]

@Anonymous gotcha what you are trying to do, so do you have cummulative total on the line?? I guess it show one point at a time even if it is cummulative total and you want line to grow from base to whatever period you are in. correct?

[Anonymous]

@parry2k  you are right on - except it's not cumulative, but essentially I want it to plot a new point at a time, growing from the first month, but keeping the previous points there. 

If this isn't possible, a cumulative graph is another option...

Jemma

[parry2k]

@Anonymous I guess you want something like this??

[Anonymous]

@parry2k  HELL YES!!!

[parry2k]

@Anonymous sorry have to go for a meeting. If possible, send me pbix file with sample data (remove sensitive information before sharing) and I will get you the solution.