Power BI Embedded questions

[InsulaBIDev]

Hi,

We are working on a proof of concept with Power BI Embedded preview and we came across few questions. I have done research on internet regarding these questions but couldnt find much information.

1. Doest Power BI Embedded API Nuget Packages support MVC4 or is there a way to work with Power BI Embedded API in an MVC4 application because the provided GitHub sample and NuGet Packages target MVC5 but our applications are currently running on MVC4?

2. I want to pass a runtime parameter to the report developed by Power BI Desktop via my application. I want to pass a user Id GUID dynamically so that report is based on that user Id.

I have looked into filters but filters can be cleared by the end user. End user shouldn't be able to clear the filter/parameter.

I have looked into Parameters and I was able to add a parameter, set the value and get the results based on the parameter but the problem is how to pass that parameter through my MVC application. Is it using the querystring? Will the end user be able to clear this in his report?

3. In terms of accessing stored procs via advanced connectivity option under get data. It only supports Import option but no DirectQuery. My question is again passing parameter dynamically via application to this stored proc query, is there a way to do that?

Regards,

Adeel

[simagandhi12345]

Hello,

I have one power Bi report which i have loaded in my .net web application using embed-a-report-into-an-app.

In this report i have used web api to get data. I have to pass LOGIN USER ID AND COMPANY ID from web application to power bi for create dynamic web api url.

Any body have idea on that?

Thanks in Advance.

[Kraaitje]

As Microsoft describes, there are some limitations regarding the number of rows:

• 10,000 max rows per single POST rows request
• 1,000,000 rows added per hour per dataset

Link

Let's for example say I have some tables with 1.500.000 or more rows inside. I am creating a dashboard on these tables (facts/dimensions) with some nice graphs using DirectQuery on an (azure) database (or can we use an on premise datasource with enterprise gateway??). I upload the pibx file to Power BI Service and integrate the dashboard into my cloud application (Power BI Embedded). Customers are checking the dashboards daily. How many rows are used within this queries when you show graphs with SUM functions? How can we check this? Maybe 70 customers with 10 users are going to use these dashboards in the future. This can be an issue when there are more then 1 million rows processed per hour.

[Sunkari]

@InsulaBIDev: Is Azure subscription mandantory for Power BI Embedded?

I don't have Azure subcription. Can i implement a poc like you with out the subcriptiion?

[Brian_M]

Yes @Sunkari I believe you need an Azure subscription as you need to set up a Power BI Workspace Collection, and either a Azure SQL database or Azure SQL Datawarehouse (or HDInsights) - all done through the Azure Portal or using the API (which requires Azure credentials).  I think you get one month of free credits when you sign up to Azure?

It is worth setting up a poc so that you understand the current limitations of of the Embedded beta offering so that you can track if and when these limitations are overcome and you can provide feedback to the team.  My experience with the Power BI team so far is that they will move quickly to fill in the gaps.

I followed the steps here:

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/power-bi-embedded-get-started/

[Sunkari]

Few more additions to above questions:

1) Can we create a workspace inside workspacecollection in Azure portal?

2) What level security is implemented?It seems it is implemented at Workspace level, is it correct? If no, we can implement at report level?

3) How can i implement row level security in this approach?

[InsulaBIDev]

Hi @Sunkari,

My response to your questions below:

1) Creating workspace is currently not available in Azure from the front end interface, it can be done through code. We are also waiting for this feature to be available on Azure so that we can manage workspaces from Azure.

2) I think you can implement report level security via ReportEmbedTokens. Following URLs can be helpful.

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/power-bi-embedded-what-is-power-bi-embedded...

https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/mt710366.aspx

3) You can implement a RLS as well. Please have a look at the below URL:

https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/powerbi-admin-rls/

Regards,

Adeel

[sadiqkhoja]

Hi @InsulaBIDev

By setting value of parameter, we want to change the data of report based on user role and region. So option of ReportEmbedToken is not relevant because it will force us to create different report for different users.

Second RLS is still not available in PowerBI Embedded.

[InsulaBIDev]

Hi @sadiqkhoja,

Currently you can send a querystring parameter (indicating the dataset name and column name) at run time by which you can filter the records by user role or region but end user will be able to clear that filter from the report so you cant actually restrict the user not to clear the filter (as per my understanding). As this is still in preview, we might expect more enhancements in this regard.

However we have done a work around and it was fitting our needs, we have created separate workspaces for each customer/organization (not user). A customer may have many users accessing the reports. So by forcefully applying the customer Id at design time (under Edit Queries/Parameter) to view their organization related data, we have controlled this.

Every organization will be accessing their own workspace and report which has its own data in it.

May be you can think of a work around like that?

[Sunkari]

@InsulaBIDev: Did power BI has done any enhancements to this feature.

1) I have requirement of changing the background image of report based on client. Can i achieve this using parameters.

2) How much money microsoft collecting for AzureActiveDirectory authenication

[InsulaBIDev]

@Sunkari sorry for late reply, I forgot to check this page 🙂

Regarding your questions, 

1. I dont think so currently, there is no such functionality, I found another relevant post here.

2. I am not aware of the billing and charges info as this is being handled by some other person.

Regards,

Adeel

[wabreza]

Row level security is now available for Power BI Embedded.

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/power-bi-embedded-rls/

[InsulaBIDev]

@Sunkari yes, Azure subscription is required. As nicely explained by @Brian_M.

You can get free Azure credit for 3 months. Please have a look at the URL. 

[AliSharifi]

Below link is a MVC sample foe embding Power BI:

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/power-bi-embedded-get-started-sample/

for passing filter from app you need to add the filter to the URL in format of {tableName/fieldName}:

https://app.powerbi.com/reportEmbed
?reportId=d2a0ea38-0694-4c70-9673-ee9655d54a4a&$filter={tableName/fieldName} eq '{fieldValue}'

[InsulaBIDev]

Hi AliSharifi,

Thank you for the reply.

I have already tried that sample and it works fine but the question is related to the NuGet packages for Power BI Embedded which are currently not supported with MVC4 applications. Do we have to upgrade our applications to MVC5?

Regarding the parameter questions, I have read it on StackOverflow that end user would be able to clear that filter. We dont want end user to clear that filter, we are looking for some programatic parameter approach, is there any option available?

Regards,

Adeel