Power BI Visuals

Power BI Visuals Skill

Create and manage visuals on PBIR report pages. No Power BI Desktop connection is needed -- these commands operate directly on JSON files.

Adding Visuals

# Add by alias (pbi-cli resolves to the PBIR type)
pbi visual add --page page_abc123 --type bar
pbi visual add --page page_abc123 --type card --name "Revenue Card"

# Custom position and size (pixels)
pbi visual add --page page_abc123 --type scatter \
    --x 50 --y 400 --width 600 --height 350

# Named visual for easy reference
pbi visual add --page page_abc123 --type combo --name sales_combo

Each visual is created as a folder with a visual.json file inside the page's visuals/ directory. The template includes the correct schema URL and queryState roles for the chosen type.

Prerequisite: Measures Must Exist in the Semantic Model

visual bind writes field references into the visual JSON. It does not create measures — it only records that a measure should exist. If the measure is missing from the TMDL, every visual bound to it will show an error in Desktop.

Before binding any visual to a measure, verify the measure exists:

# Option A: create it via pbi-cli (requires pbi connect)
pbi connect
pbi measure create "Total Revenue" -e "SUM(Fact_Sales[Total_Revenue])" -t Fact_Sales

# Option B: check existing measures in the TMDL file directly
# Look for `measure '...' =` lines in SemanticModel/definition/tables/*.tmdl

After adding measures directly to a TMDL file (without pbi connect): close and reopen the .pbip file in Power BI Desktop. Desktop only reads TMDL on file open — it does not hot-reload TMDL changes made on disk.

Checklist before opening Desktop:

• Every --field, --value, --indicator reference points to a real measure or column in the TMDL
• Table names match exactly (case-sensitive in PBIR): "Fact_Sales" ≠ "fact_sales"
• Measure names match exactly: "Total Revenue" ≠ "Total_Revenue"

Binding Data

Visuals start empty. Use visual bind with Table[Column] notation to connect them to your semantic model. The bind options vary by visual type -- see the type table below.

# Bar chart: category axis + value
pbi visual bind mybar --page p1 \
    --category "Geography[Region]" --value "Sales[Revenue]"

# Card: single field
pbi visual bind mycard --page p1 --field "Sales[Total Revenue]"

# Matrix: rows + values + optional column
pbi visual bind mymatrix --page p1 \
    --row "Product[Category]" --value "Sales[Amount]" --value "Sales[Quantity]"

# Scatter: X, Y, detail, optional size and legend
pbi visual bind myscatter --page p1 \
    --x "Sales[Quantity]" --y "Sales[Revenue]" --detail "Product[Name]"

# Combo chart: category + column series + line series
pbi visual bind mycombo --page p1 \
    --category "Calendar[Month]" --column "Sales[Revenue]" --line "Sales[Margin]"

# KPI: indicator + goal + trend axis
pbi visual bind mykpi --page p1 \
    --indicator "Sales[Revenue]" --goal "Sales[Target]" --trend "Calendar[Date]"

# Gauge: value + max/target
pbi visual bind mygauge --page p1 \
    --value "Sales[Revenue]" --max "Sales[Target]"

Binding uses ROLE_ALIASES to translate friendly names like --value into the PBIR role name (e.g. Y, Values, Data). Measure vs Column is inferred from the role: value/indicator/goal/max roles create Measure references, category/row/detail roles create Column references. Override with --measure flag if needed.

Inspecting and Updating

# List all visuals on a page
pbi visual list --page page_abc123

# Get full details of one visual
pbi visual get visual_def456 --page page_abc123

# Move, resize, or toggle visibility
pbi visual update vis1 --page p1 --width 600 --height 400
pbi visual update vis1 --page p1 --x 100 --y 200
pbi visual update vis1 --page p1 --hidden
pbi visual update vis1 --page p1 --visible

# Delete a visual
pbi visual delete visual_def456 --page page_abc123

Container Properties

Set border, background, or title on the visual container itself:

pbi visual set-container vis1 --page p1 --background "#F0F0F0"
pbi visual set-container vis1 --page p1 --border-color "#CCCCCC" --border-width 2
pbi visual set-container vis1 --page p1 --title "Sales by Region"

Visual Calculations

Add DAX calculations that run inside the visual scope:

pbi visual calc-add vis1 --page p1 --role Values \
    --name "RunningTotal" --expression "RUNNINGSUM([Revenue])"

pbi visual calc-list vis1 --page p1
pbi visual calc-delete vis1 --page p1 --name "RunningTotal"

Bulk Operations

Operate on many visuals at once by filtering with --type or --name-pattern:

# Find visuals matching criteria
pbi visual where --page overview --type barChart
pbi visual where --page overview --type kpi --y-min 300

# Bind the same field to ALL bar charts on a page
pbi visual bulk-bind --page overview --type barChart \
    --category "Date[Month]" --value "Sales[Revenue]"

# Resize all KPI cards
pbi visual bulk-update --page overview --type kpi --width 250 --height 120

# Hide all visuals matching a pattern
pbi visual bulk-update --page overview --name-pattern "Temp_*" --hidden

# Delete all placeholders
pbi visual bulk-delete --page overview --name-pattern "Placeholder_*"

Filter options for where, bulk-bind, bulk-update, bulk-delete:

• --type -- PBIR visual type or alias (e.g. barChart, bar)
• --name-pattern -- fnmatch glob on visual name (e.g. Chart_*)
• --x-min, --x-max, --y-min, --y-max -- position bounds (pixels)

All bulk commands require at least --type or --name-pattern to prevent accidental mass operations.

Supported Visual Types (32)

Charts

Cards and KPIs

Tables

Slicers

Maps

Decorative and Navigation

Suppressing Auto-Sync (--no-sync)

By default, every write command automatically syncs Power BI Desktop. When adding or binding many visuals in sequence, Desktop reloads after each one.

Use --no-sync on the visual command group to batch all changes, then call pbi report reload once at the end:

# Suppress sync while building visuals
pbi visual --no-sync add --page overview --type card --name rev_card
pbi visual --no-sync bind rev_card --page overview --field "Sales[Total Revenue]"
pbi visual --no-sync add --page overview --type bar --name sales_bar
pbi visual --no-sync bind sales_bar --page overview --category "Product[Category]" --value "Sales[Revenue]"

# Single reload when all visuals are done
pbi report reload

JSON Output

All commands support --json for agent consumption:

pbi --json visual list --page overview
pbi --json visual get vis1 --page overview
pbi --json visual where --page overview --type barChart