Power BI Connector

You can download and install the Power BI Desktop software for free from Microsoft's website or Microsoft Store. In order to install the Flow connector, locate the install directory for Power BI connectors, presumably located in the path C:\Users\<username>\Documents\Power BI Desktop\Custom Connectors. If the directory does not exist, create it. Download the file VertexFlowConnector.pqx from the link on the right and move it to the install directory Custom Connectors. The connector can be enabled in two ways related to the connector's certificate. See the options below:

In Power BI, go to the Home tab in the ribbon and in the Data group, choose Get data and then More....

Find the Vertex Flow connector, for example by writing "vertex" in the search field. Choose Vertex Flow and select Connect.

In the text field, write the address of the Flow server from which you want to get data. With Power BI's Vertex Flow connector you can direct your data queries to different Flow servers by changing the address in this field.

Sign in with your Flow credentials. The Power BI connector does not require special Flow credentials, but you can create an account on the Flow server just for reporting, if you wish.

After the first sign in Power BI automatically signs in to the Flow server with the credentials. The credentials are saved separately for each unique address of the Flow server, so you can sign in to different Flow servers with different credentials using the same Power BI connector.

1. Select the operation you want.
2. Fill the input fields required by the operation.
3. Update the preview of the query using the Apply button.
4. Confirm the data query by selecting the checkbox of the operation. You can also select multiple operations.
5. Get the data using the Load button.

If there are unopened data structures, such as Record or List, in the data preview, you can open the data structures and get the data you want with Power BI's query editor by selecting Transform Data.

Press the column expand button indicated in the picture to view the sub-columns of the data column.

Select the columns you want from the list and press OK.

The original column is replaced with the chosen columns.

The numbering according to the Bill of Materials can be found in the PARTNO sub-column of the extAttributes column.

After the modifications are done, save the queries using the save icon in the top left corner or by using pressing Ctrl + S.

1. Choose Table in the Visualizations section
2. Expand the query that contains the data which you want to visualize in the table

Choose the columns you want under the query. The columns will appear in the active table.

1. Choose Pie chart in the Visualizations section
2. Expand the query that contains the data which you want to visualize in the pie chart

Find the column you want to visualize in the pie chart and drag it to the Values field of the visualization (both outlined in red in the picture). Then find the column you want to use for the legend of the pie chart and drag it to the Legend field of the visualization (both outlined in blue in the picture).

You could also drag the same column in both the Legend and Values field. In the example shown in the picture, the same end result could be reached by using the field statusName in both fields. If the field status were used, the pie chart's legend would show the raw data format of the objects' status, which can be a string of numbes for a customized state model. By using a separate column in the legend field, you can ensure that the visualization's legend is easily readable and understandable.

This section will walk you through the basics of creating reports that automatically update their data at scheduled times from Vertex Flow using Power BI's cloud service, called Power BI Service.

In summary, the workflow is as follows:

1. Install the Vertex Flow connector
2. Create a report using the Power BI Desktop software
3. Save the report file (.pbix)
4. Sign in to Power BI Service using an Internet browser
5. Install the On-premises Data Gateway
6. Connect the On-premises Data Gateway to Power BI Service
7. Import the report file to Power BI Service
8. Publish the report
9. Schedule an automatic update for the report

On-premises Data Gateway is a tool built by Microsoft for data transfer between on-premises data, such as databases on local hardware, and Microsoft's cloud services, such as Power BI Service. For more information, see Microsoft's documentation.

To automatically update reports that use the Vertex Flow connector, Power BI Service requires the On-premises Data Gateway to be installed on a local computer that has a connection to both Power BI Service and the Flow server. If Power BI Service cannot reach the computer with the gateway (e.g. the computer has been shut down), the report can not be updated. Thus, it is recommended to install the gateway on server hardware or another such computer that is always running, and preferably has a wired Internet connection.

Install the Vertex Flow connector according to the install earlier in this article.

Create a report according to the report earlier in this article.

You may wish to include a Card visualization with the following code

= #table(type table[Refresh=datetime], {{DateTime.LocalNow()}})

or something similar to easily see when the report has been updated.

After creating a report in Power BI Desktop, save the report in the native Power BI report file type, as a .pbix file.

Sign in to Power BI Service using an Internet browser.

Install the On-premises Data Gateway on a computer that Power BI Service can reach reliably, following Microsoft's instructions.

The relevant steps for this use case are:

1. Installing the gateway
2. Configuring the gateway

After completing the steps above, open the Connectors tab in On-premises Data Gateway and select the directory where the Vertex Flow connector is located. The Vertex Flow connector should appear in the list on the Connectors tab.

In Power BI Service, enable the use of the connector through the gateway, following Microsoft's instructions.

In Power BI Service, go to My workspace, then select New and Upload a file. Select your report .pbix file. Your workspace should now have three new items:

• Report
• Dataset
• Dashboard

The report is by default visible only in your workspace. You can share it with your coworkers on Power BI Service by following Microsoft's instructions.

You can also embed the report as an interactive HTML element directly on a webpage or an intranet service. To obtain the HTML <iframe> snippet, open your report, and select File > Embed report > Website or portal. The embedded report can only be read by people you have shared the report with, and viewing the embedded report requires your browser to be signed in to Power BI Service.

To schedule an automatic update for your report, select the dataset related to your report, and select Refresh > Schedule refresh. Follow Microsoft's instructions and set the refresh to use the gateway you set up earlier.

The actual refresh time of the report will likely differ slightly from the scheduled time and vary from refresh to refresh.