Export to Excel keeping the layout

[HELNLot]

I know that this has been discussed in ticket Export to Excel #55 and it was classified as enhancement but not planned for implementation. I think it was told then that this was not working in PowerBI standard matrix at the time and you were waiting for an API from Mirosoft.
Now I have noticed that this is now possible in PowerBI standard matrix so I'm wondering if you have been in touch with Microsoft regarding this. See attachment. Is there a plan for implementing this enhancement now?
Br, Helen
2022-06-15.docx

[AndersAano]

Hi @HELNLot!

In the Power BI feature summary for May, they updated the API to include "file download":

We are currently looking into this, and hopefully it will result in the visual being able to push all relevant information and metadata to a file in order to keep the layout, formatting and styling in an excel-file.

That's the goal! However, it's too soon to say if and how it will work, but it's a feature that a lot of our users have requested, and that we ourselves are really interested in developing, so it's going to take top priority going forward!

Best regards
Anders

[smitpau]

Hi @AndersAano,

Typical impatient customer here!

Just wondering if you can provide a high level update on this please?

Appreciate the work you guys do.

Thanks,

Paul

[AndersAano]

Hi @smitpau,

We are currently doing some upgrades under the hood of the visual. It's a task that is estimated to take 1 - 2 months to finish, depending on how many issues we meet on the way. It's never fun to spend so much time on these upgrades, but it will allow us to speed up future development once it's done.

The upgrade should help performance, as well as fix some issues we have when it comes to Column ID's, but mainly make it a lot easier to add new features afterwards.

The features currently at the top of the list is:

1. Export to Excel
2. Add support for Expand/Collapse all/Expand Next level.
3. Add support for Calculation Groups

Number 3 on that list has been there for a while, but we have met issues with Column IDs when trying to implement it. So to get that working, we needed to get this "Under the hood"-upgrade finished first.

The goal with that has two parts.

1. Get all format strings and meta data from Tabular editor.
2. Under "Column Styles" in the Format Pane, you can define formatting for each measure in the visual. If you use one measure with a SWITCH-statement, and have columns like "This Period | Year to date | Rest of year | Year", and would like to format those individually, that's not possible today. After the upgrade, we aim to get something in place to let you chose if you want to format measure by measure, or column by column.

Please know, I feel you, and I'm just as impatient to get these things finished, as they will be great improvements to the visual! ;)

Best regards
Anders

[smitpau]

Hi @AndersAano,

Great thanks, your detailed response is appreciated.

Paul

[HELNLot]

Hi,
Any news on this request?
Br, Helena

[AndersAano]

Hi @HELNLot

Yes, this feature is close to being ready, and available in Beta!
I'll make a demo of it this week, and share a video showing how it works as of now.

We still need to do some more testing, to make sure that it works with all possible combination of features, styles, format strings, and hierarchies and so on, but it looks really promising!

Best regards
Anders

[AndersAano]

@HELNLot @smitpau

Check out: #435

[AndersAano]

@HELNLot @smitpau, check it out here: https://github.com/Profitbase/PowerBI-visuals-FinancialReportingMatrix/releases/tag/v7.0.0-rc1-4

Please read the information before testing!

-Anders

[rakucmr]

@AndersAano what you use for exporting the data?
Can you write files from powerbi visuals using javascript / typescript?

[AndersAano]

Hi @rakucmr
We use the "exceljs" library (https://www.npmjs.com/package/exceljs)

-Anders

[rakucmr]

Hi @rakucmr We use the "exceljs" library (https://www.npmjs.com/package/exceljs)

-Anders

@AndersAano And is working on PowerBI Desktop?
I've tried to write files using nodejs fs and I can't package it with pbiviz.
Do you have sa sample?
Thanks!

[AndersAano]

Yes, it works with Power BI Desktop, but you need to turn on a setting in the Admin portal:

I don't have a sample on that - sorry.

-Anders