What is a difference between appsource apps and online services and how to build both of them

[Mateusz]

Hi All,

In my organisation we are considering exposing our data via Power BI app / online service. Not even sure if these two are different but whenever I work with Desktop Power BI under Get Data -> Online Services I see way less options than in Web Power BI. So me questions are:

* are AppSource apps the same as Online Services? If not what are the differences? How do you build and publish both of them?

* what is the technical challenge to actually build an app / online service? Is there any documentation regarding this process? Is it a web app implementing couple of contracts defined by Microsoft?

Thanks in advance for making it clear

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Mateusz

[Eric_Zhang · Accepted solution]

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@Mateusz wrote:

Hi All,

In my organisation we are considering exposing our data via Power BI app / online service. Not even sure if these two are different but whenever I work with Desktop Power BI under Get Data -> Online Services I see way less options than in Web Power BI. So me questions are:

* are AppSource apps the same as Online Services? If not what are the differences? How do you build and publish both of them?

* what is the technical challenge to actually build an app / online service? Is there any documentation regarding this process? Is it a web app implementing couple of contracts defined by Microsoft?

Thanks in advance for making it clear

--

Mateusz

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@Mateusz

Usually they're the same, for example when connecting to Google Analytics, the online documentation says

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The Google Analytics content pack and the connector in Power BI Desktop rely on the Google Analytics Core Reporting API

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For reports design purpose, I'd suggest you use Power BI desktop. Desktop contains a whole suite of tools(DAX, PowerQuery) to create models. After designing, you can publish reports to Power BI.service for sharing.

You could start your Power BI journey from this starting page.

[skameron]

@Mateusz I'm not sure the question was really answer, as I have the same question and the response left me more confused.

Let's say I want to publish, for Power BI web, an APP, which is accessed by Get Data >> (under Microsoft AppSource >> Services ((Get), then have my App listed on there. Let me know the steps, and licenses needed for me to publish an app, so when my customers sign up for a free Power BI web version, they just navigate to Get Data, then Services under AppSource and see my App/Product listed, just as Zen Desk, or Google Analytics is.

Thanks, Scott  

[skameron]

@Mateusz I'm not sure the question was really answer, as I have the same question and the response left me more confused.

Let's say I want to publish, for Power BI web, an APP, which is accessed by Get Data >> (under Microsoft AppSource >> Services ((Get), then have my App listed on there. Let me know the steps, and licenses needed for me to publish an app, so when my customers sign up for a free Power BI web version, they just navigate to Get Data, then Services under AppSource and see my App/Product listed, just as Zen Desk, or Google Analytics is.

Thanks, Scott