1. Make Power BI Your Own with the Power BI APIs
Steve Wake
Make Power BI Your Own with the Power BI APIs

2. Principal Business Intelligence Developer, Brown and Caldwell
Steve is currently the Principal Business Intelligence Developer at Brown and Caldwell and has experience in advertising, media, manufacturing, retail, charities, telecommunications and financial services organizations using the full Microsoft BI stack. Steve is also very involved in the SQL community, speaking at events around the world, blogging at wakebi.com, and is currently Chapter Leader of the Mile Hi Power BI User Group.
Steve Wake
Principal Business Intelligence Developer, Brown and Caldwell
/in/b5lurker
@stevewake
/stevenmwake

3. Agenda Introduction Details & Demos Custom Data Connectors
Live (streaming) Data in Dashboards
Dataset Refresh
Custom Visualizations
Embedding Power BI
Other Options Available
Resources
Summary

4. Introduction API (Application Programming Interface)
Microsoft has provided APIs/customizations for most tools including SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services)
APIs allow for enhancements now instead of waiting
Different ways to enhance Power BI detailed in this session:
Custom Data Connectors
Live (streaming) Data in Dashboards
Dataset Refresh
Custom Visualizations
Embedding Power BI in your apps

5. Custom Data Connectors
Access data from data sources that are not currently supported by Power BI or have standard transformations that can be reused in multiple reports and dashboards. This feature is currently in Preview with the Power BI Desktop, so use with caution.

6. Custom Data Connectors
Technologies
Power BI Desktop (May 2017 or greater version)
Visual Studio 2015 or greater (free Community Edition will also work)
Power Query SDK (free extension in Visual Studio Marketplace)
Power Query M language (Mashup)

7. Custom Data Connectors Demo

8. Live (streaming) Data in Dashboards
Push (stream) live data generated on the Internet (sensors or IoT for example) to a Power BI dashboard. Makes your Power BI dashboard become a live view without requiring manual refreshes.

9. Live (streaming) Data in Dashboards
Technologies
Power BI Service
Technologies for the type of streaming dataset vary based on type:
API Based: PowerShell, C# (or other language), or even Microsoft Flow and others
Azure Stream Analytics
PubNub

10. Live (streaming) Data in Dashboards Demo

11. Dataset Refresh
Start the refresh of a Power BI dataset from outside of Power BI. Does not bypass existing limits on dataset refreshes based on the level of Power BI the dataset resides on (Pro = max of 8/day or Premium = max of 48/day).

12. Dataset Refresh Technologies Azure Access Token for Power BI
Power BI REST API
PowerShell (or other scripting/programming language)

13. Dataset Refresh Demo

14. Custom Visualizations
Build your own visualizations that can be used in your reports and dashboards. Source code for all built-in visualizations provided with Power BI are available on GitHub along with many others available in the Office Store.

15. Custom Visualizations
Technologies
NodeJS 4.0+ (5.0+ is recommended)
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)
TypeScript (superset of JavaScript)
Less CSS

16. Custom Visualizations Demo

17. Embedding Power BI
Add Power BI into your applications without requiring you to re-write the entire application. Similar to Reporting Services ReportViewer Web/Windows controls, but made to work with Power BI’s SaaS. Requires extra licensing (Power BI Premium).

18. Embedding Power BI Technologies Azure Workspace Collection
Power BI REST API
Power BI .NET SDK
JavaScript
Power BI Pro
Power BI Premium

19. Embedding Power BI Demo

20. Other Options Available
Power BI Apps (aka Content Packs)
Create packaged Dashboards, Reports and Datasets that can be shared read-only
Custom Report Themes
Create custom colors for all items on a report/dashboard using a JSON file R
R is fully supported in Power BI to access data and create custom visuals in R code
Azure Logic Apps
Create custom workflows that can include pushing data back into Power BI or triggering actions in Power BI (Dataset Refresh)
PowerApps
Create mobile/web applications without code that can include Power BI titles and include PowerApp content in Power BI Dashboards!

21. Resources
Power BI Documentation Power BI Developer Samples (GitHub) Power BI Community – Developer Forums Stack Overflow – Power BI Power BI APIARY Power BI Embedded Sample (GitHub) Power BI Blog

22. Summary Microsoft’s history of supporting APIs
Many ways to enhance Power BI so that it works in your apps
Much of the code is on GitHub and free to use
Some require extra licensing (Azure, Power BI Pro, Power BI Premium)
Some are still in Preview
Go to the event page for this session to download all code samples!

23. Thank You Learn more from Steve Wake