Tag: DAX

Business Intelligence - BI, DAX, Power BI, Power BI Desktop, Power Query, Self-Service BI

Using Unicode Characters in Power BI

Unicode Characters in Power BI

There are several scenarios to use Unicode characters in Power BI including but not limited to:

  • Creating simple KPI columns in Table or Matrix visuals
  • To show the status of a measure more visually like using starts
  • Using Unicode characters as icons in your reports representing the subject

Chris Webb explained some of the above scenarios here.

In this post I explain how you can use Power BI as a tool to generate almost all valid Unicode characters in Power BI. You can download the PBIT at the bottom of this post. Then you can copy the Unicode characters from Power BI and use them in all textual parts of your report like visual titles, text boxes and so on.

The Unicode planes start from 0 to 1,114,111 which is decimal equivalent of 0 to 10FFFF in hexadecimal numeral system. For more information on Unicode planes check this out.

So, a simple way to generate all possible Unicode characters is to generate a list of decimal numbers starting from 0 ending at 1,114,111. This way we generate a series of decimal numbers regardless of the gaps between starting and ending Unicode blocks. Then using UNICHAR() function in DAX to generate corresponding Unicode characters. With the following DAX expression you can easily generate a list and the corresponding Unicode characters: Continue reading “Using Unicode Characters in Power BI” →

Business Intelligence - BI, DAX, Power BI, Power BI Desktop, Quick Tips

Quick Tips: Keyboard Shortcuts/Hotkeys When Writing DAX in Power BI Desktop

DAX Keyboard Shortcuts in Power BI Desktop

Keyboard shortcuts is an interesting topic for developes that can really improve your report development in Power BI Desktop. In this post I show you some keyboard shortcuts/hotkeys when writing DAX in Power BI Desktop.

 

  • Indend right: Ctrl + ]
  • Indent left: Ctrl + [

Mini-tip: You can also indent your code to ther right by pressing TAB or indent left by pressing Shift + TAB. But, the difference is that if your cursor is in the middle of a line, when you press TAB it divides your code to two pieces and indends the characters to the right from the position that cursor is in.

  • New line keep indent: Shift + Enter
  • New line starting from first of line: Alt + Enter
  • Activate Intellicence: Ctrl + Space
  • Comment multiple lines: Ctrl + KC or Ctrl + /
  • Uncomment multiple lines: Ctrl + KU or Ctrl + /
  • Move the current line up/down: Alt + Up/Down Arrow Key
  • Enter multiple lines of code at once: Ctrl + Alt + Up/Down Arrow Key
  • Find and replace a word: Ctrl + D to highlight the current word, Ctrl + D again to find/highligh the same next word. Continue pressing Ctrl + D to find/highlight all same words, then start typing to replace all words at once
  • Find and replace all of a kind at once: Ctrl + Shift + L to highlight a part of your DAX expression then start typing to replace the highlighted words at once

Continue reading “Quick Tips: Keyboard Shortcuts/Hotkeys When Writing DAX in Power BI Desktop” →

Business Intelligence - BI, DAX, Power BI, Power BI Desktop, Quick Tips, SQL Server Management Studio - SSMS

Quick Tips: Comment/Uncomment Multiple Lines in DAX Scripts

 

Comment Uncomment Multiple DAX Lines in Power BI

There are lots of cases you may want to comment/uncomment multiple lines in DAX scripts. You can save lots of development time if you know the shortcuts.

Here you go:

  • Select multiple lines of code you want to comment
  • Press Crtl+KC to comment those lines
  • Press Ctrl+KU to uncomment commented lines

Continue reading “Quick Tips: Comment/Uncomment Multiple Lines in DAX Scripts” →

Business Intelligence - BI, DAX, Power BI, Power BI Desktop, Power BI Documenter, Power Query

What is Power BI Documenter

Power BI Documenter Logo (Small)

On Saturday, 9th June 2018, we announced the existence of Power BI Documenter. As the name resembles, Power BI Documenter is a tool to help individuals and businesses to document their Power BI Desktop models. Everyone who already have several Power BI Desktop reports probably realized that documenting the solutions is not as easy as how creating a report in Power BI Desktop is. The issue is more visible in larger organisations with several Power BI Developers who are busy enough with a big list of tasks that are assigned to them on a day to day basis. Therefore, there is no time left to take care of the documentation. Every IT expert knows how important is to have proper documentation. We at Data Vizioner decided to do something tangible about this issue. So we started the project several months ago with the vision of creating web app to help individuals and businesses to keep their Power BI documentation on track. In this post I’m not going to explain how you can easily start documenting your Power BI Desktop reports using Power BI Documenter. You can learn more about Power BI Documenter and how to use it here. Despite the fact that the current version of Power BI Documenter is the very first version of the app with lots of limitations, it indeed can help users with their Power BI documentation tasks. All you need to do is to export the Power BI Desktop files (PBIX) to Power BI Template format (PBIT) and upload it to Power BI Documenter web app. Continue reading “What is Power BI Documenter” →