Once an animation has been created in the Animator, it can be exported
as a Power BI Visual if required. The visual may be a non data-driven
animation or if variables have been included then the Power BI Visual can
be used to set those variable values. This allows the creation of animated
charts, indicators and Infographics. In Power BI, data-driven animations
make use of the data values and are updated when a filter or slicer
is changed.
Please Note:The Inovista Compiler will be required to generate the
Visual once the zip file has been exported from the Animator. The Compiler
can be downloaded here:
M.S.Windows
(64 bit msi) Mac
OSX (dmg) Opening the Power BI Visual Form
Once the animation is ready, go to the 'Image Project' -> 'Export Files'
section. Click on the 'Power BI Visual' button.
This will open the Power BI form.
The form must be completed before the Power BI visual can be created.
Name of Visual: Give the visual a name. Don't use spaces. For
example, use 'MyVisual' instead of 'My Visual'.
Display Name: The name of the visual that will be displayed
to the end user.
Version: A version number e.g. 1.0.1 or 0.9.0
Description: A description of the visual that will be
available to the end user.
Author: The name of the Power BI Visual author
Author Email: The email address of the Power BI Visual author
or company
Support URL: The URL the user can access to receive support
on issues pertaining to the visual.
GitHub URL: The GitHub URL of the visual if it exists. Note
that this is an optional field.
Icon: Use the 'Select Icon' button to load an icon that will
be used to represent the visual in Power BI. The image size must be 20px
X 20px.
Define Data and Properties
Scroll down the form to view the list of values defined as variables in the
animation. Variables can be setup as either 'Data' or 'Properties'. A 'Data'
value will link to a data field in Power BI. A 'Property' value will be
available in the format section of Power BI, a user will be able to directly
select a specific value rather than linking to data.
If the 'Property' option is selected, the 'edit' button becomes available.
Clicking on the 'edit' button will present a dialog box which will help to
define how the property is presented in Power BI.
The initial editable options are:
Title: The name that will be used to define the property.
Default Value: The intitial default value of the property.
Property Type: A list of options which will define how the
user will be able to edit the property in Power BI.
The Property Type options are:
Boolean: A true/false or yes/no property.
Text: The user will be able to enter a textual value for the
property.
Numeric: The user will be able to enter a numeric value for
the property. Additionally, there is an option to set a minimum and/or
maximum value.
Color: The Power BI color editor will be used to set the
property.
List: A list of values can be entered here. In Power BI, the
user will be able to select from one of those values.
Font Size: The Power BI font size editor will be used to set
the property.
Font Family: The Power BI font family editor will be used to
set the property.
Both 'Data' and 'Property' variable types have the 'Text' option. This opens
a dialog which set the tooltip values that will be shown to a user in Power
BI.
Saving and Downloading the Visual
Once the form has been completed satisfactorily, click on the 'Create
Visual' button at the bottom of the Power BI form. This will close the
popup dialog and create a download link in the Export Files section. Click
on the 'zip' file link to download it. This will contain the newly
generated visual files. The file name will end in '-powerBI.zip'.
The Inovista Compiler
Download and install the Inovista Compiler. The Compiler will create the
'.pbiviz' component that will be imported into Power BI.
As noted above, the Compiler can be downloaded here:
Once downloaded, unzip the downloaded file and run the install as normal for
the Operating System, i.e double click the '.dmg' file on Mac or the '.msi'
file on Windows.
Then extract the zip file that was created by the Animator, it should be in
the same format as the image below. A number of folders and new files will
be added once the Compiler has been run.
Open the Inovista Compiler as any other application or program. The Compiler
is a very simple tool that only requires the user to navigate to the
extracted zip file folder and then click on 'Create Visual'.
PLEASE NOTE - once 'Create Visual' has beed clicked, the compilation
process can take quite a long time. Depending on the size of the visual or
the capability of the user's machine, this process can take 10 to 30
seconds.
It the compilation is successful, the output should be as shown above. If an
error has occurred, an indication of that error should be presented.
For a successful compilation, the visual will be created in the 'dist'
sub-folder of the extracted zip. The file name will be the name of the
visual plus the id and version and will end in '.pbiviz'. The visual file
can be renamed, but make sure the '.pbiviz' suffix is kept. For example, it
can be renamed to 'WheelOfFortune.pbiviz'. This is the file that will be
imported into Power BI.
Repeating Images
If there are repeating images in the animation, for example a number of
images presenting the same information for different entities, repeat the
variable name for each entity rather than giving it a new name for each one.
If this is the case, when the data is mapped in Power BI, then only one item
will be shown for each set. (in the example below, only one 'scalex', one
'scaley' and one 'docValue' will be shown in the popup. If the Power BI data
is in rows, then the first row will populate the first variable, the second
row will populate the second variable and so on.
Resizing Images
To ensure the images resize in Power BI, set the Image Size to a percentage
value in the 'Image Project' section.
