Using new CustomData() with PBI RLS

[arpost]

I saw this blog post on the PBI blog about the CustomData functionality and was curious how this works. I have a report in which we are passing a user email as an identity via the traditional RLS route, but I was wondering if CustomData can simultaneously be used to pass a filter criteria (e.g., useremail: jschmoe@company.com, CustomData: Category A).

If yes, can more than one thing be passed via CustomData?

I had hoped the Embedded doc on this would address the new capabilities with CustomData, but this doc is outdated and hasn't been updated since 12/9.

[Garrysfarrell]

Hi I know this is a little late for you, however I thought this may help others. The answer to the first question is yes. Passing the username (this can be text like a userID for app owned data embedding or an email) and CustomData simultaneously is valid. I used them in different roles, remember the embedded code will send the role name.

The answer to the second question is yes. The text string is limited to 256 chars at the moment and only one string. So when using the ContainsString function you can parse it for serval values. This code goes in the role code Country Role: ContainsString(CustomData(),[Country])

The string passed could be a country or a list eg USA,FRA,ENG,AUS

The string passed could be a country list and the user's age eg USA,FRA,ENG,AUS,40

Age Role: ContainsString(CustomData(),[Age]) (the [Age] column will need to be a text data type)

Note: ContainsString() can be a performance issue, so test and use it to filter smaller tables.

[v-yanjiang-msft]

Hi @arpost ,

This feature has been announced for a relatively short period of time, and there is still relatively little description about it. Maybe for some of its unknown functions, you can also test it or vote this idea in Power BI ideas Forum and add your comments there to improve Power BI. 

Best Regards,
Community Support Team _ kalyj

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