Pbir Conditional Formatting

PBIR Conditional Formatting Reference

Three approaches: measure-based (flexible), FillRule gradients (no DAX), and rule-based Conditional (UI-generated).

Approach Matrix

Supported Properties

Not every property accepts measure expressions. These do:

fill, borderColor, defaultColor, fontColor, color, backgroundColor, lineColor, markerColor, strokeColor, text, titleText, fontSize, strokeWidth, weight, transparency, radius, url, good, bad, neutral, target, icon

Everything else is literal-only or ThemeDataColor.

dataViewWildcard Selector

The key to per-point formatting.

"selector": {"data": [{"dataViewWildcard": {"matchingOption": 1}}]}

Wrong for per-point: "selector": {"metadata": "Sales.Revenue"} — evaluates once per series.

Two-Entry Array Pattern (Required)

dataPoint, lineStyles, error require a two-entry array: base entry + conditional entry.

"dataPoint": [
  {"properties": {}},
  {
    "properties": {
      "fill": {"solid": {"color": {"expr": {"Measure": {
        "Expression": {"SourceRef": {"Schema": "extension", "Entity": "_Formatting"}},
        "Property": "Bar Color"
      }}}}}
    },
    "selector": {"data": [{"dataViewWildcard": {"matchingOption": 1}}]}
  }
]

Extension Measure (for color CF)

Defined in Report.Report/definition/reportExtensions.json. dataType MUST be "Text" for color measures. Must attach to an EXISTING entity from the model.

{
  "name": "extension",
  "entities": [{
    "name": "_Formatting",
    "measures": [{
      "name": "Bar Color",
      "dataType": "Text",
      "expression": "SWITCH(TRUE(), [Value]<10, \"bad\", [Value]<50, \"neutral\", \"good\")"
    }]
  }]
}

Theme color names returned by measures: "bad", "good", "neutral", "minColor", "midColor", "maxColor".

Measure Reference in CF Expressions

{"expr": {"Measure": {
  "Expression": {"SourceRef": {"Schema": "extension", "Entity": "_Formatting"}},
  "Property": "Bar Color"
}}}

"Schema": "extension" is required for report-level extension measures. Omit for model measures.

Pattern — Bar / Column Fill

"dataPoint": [
  {"properties": {}},
  {
    "properties": {
      "fill": {"solid": {"color": {"expr": {"Measure": {
        "Expression": {"SourceRef": {"Schema": "extension", "Entity": "_Formatting"}},
        "Property": "Bar Color"
      }}}}}
    },
    "selector": {"data": [{"dataViewWildcard": {"matchingOption": 1}}]}
  }
]

Pattern — linearGradient2 (Two-Color)

Data-driven (scale to observed range):

{"FillRule": {"linearGradient2": {
  "min": {"color": {"Literal": {"Value": "'minColor'"}}},
  "max": {"color": {"Literal": {"Value": "'maxColor'"}}},
  "nullColoringStrategy": {"strategy": {"Literal": {"Value": "'asZero'"}}}
}}}

Explicit bounds (fixed thresholds):

{"FillRule": {"linearGradient2": {
  "min": {"color": {"Literal": {"Value": "'minColor'"}}, "value": {"Literal": {"Value": "0D"}}},
  "max": {"color": {"Literal": {"Value": "'maxColor'"}}, "value": {"Literal": {"Value": "1D"}}},
  "nullColoringStrategy": {"strategy": {"Literal": {"Value": "'asZero'"}}, "color": {"Literal": {"Value": "'#FFFFFF'"}}}
}}}

Pattern — linearGradient3 (Diverging)

{"FillRule": {"linearGradient3": {
  "min": {"color": {"Literal": {"Value": "'minColor'"}}, "value": {"Literal": {"Value": "-1D"}}},
  "mid": {"color": {"Literal": {"Value": "'neutral'"}}, "value": {"Literal": {"Value": "0D"}}},
  "max": {"color": {"Literal": {"Value": "'maxColor'"}}, "value": {"Literal": {"Value": "1D"}}},
  "nullColoringStrategy": {"strategy": {"Literal": {"Value": "'asZero'"}}}
}}}

Pattern — Line Segment Colors (Single-Series Only)

Multi-series line charts cannot use segment coloring. Measure must return hex.

"lineStyles": [
  {"properties": {"segmentGradient": {"expr": {"Literal": {"Value": "true"}}}}},
  {
    "properties": {
      "strokeColor": {"solid": {"color": {"expr": {"Measure": {
        "Expression": {"SourceRef": {"Schema": "extension", "Entity": "_Formatting"}},
        "Property": "Line Color"
      }}}}}
    },
    "selector": {"data": [{"dataViewWildcard": {"matchingOption": 1}}]}
  }
]

segmentGradient only affects strokeColor. It does NOT work with lineStyle, strokeWidth, or markerFill.

Pattern — Axis Label Colors

No selector needed.

"categoryAxis": [{
  "properties": {
    "labelColor": {"solid": {"color": {"expr": {"Measure": {
      "Expression": {"SourceRef": {"Schema": "extension", "Entity": "_Formatting"}},
      "Property": "Axis Color"
    }}}}}
  }
}]

Pattern — Marker Transparency (0-100)

Marker color / shape / size do NOT support CF. Transparency does.

"markers": [
  {"properties": {"borderShow": {"expr": {"Literal": {"Value": "false"}}}}},
  {
    "properties": {
      "transparency": {"expr": {"Measure": {
        "Expression": {"SourceRef": {"Schema": "extension", "Entity": "_Measures"}},
        "Property": "Marker Opacity"
      }}}
    },
    "selector": {"data": [{"dataViewWildcard": {"matchingOption": 1}}]}
  }
]

Pattern — Rule-Based Conditional

{"expr": {"Conditional": {"Cases": [
  {"Condition": {...}, "Value": {"Literal": {"Value": "'#FF0000'"}}},
  {"Condition": {...}, "Value": {"Literal": {"Value": "'#00FF00'"}}}
]}}}

Cases evaluated in order; first match wins.

ComparisonKind Codes

Logical Wrappers

{"And": {"Left": {...}, "Right": {...}}}
{"Or":  {"Left": {...}, "Right": {...}}}
{"Not": {"Expression": {...}}}

ScopedEval + AllRolesRef (Global Context)

Removes filter context for global min/max:

{"ScopedEval": {"Expression": {"Measure": {...}}, "Scope": [{"AllRolesRef": {}}]}}

Data Bars (table/matrix columns)

"dataBars": {
  "positiveColor": {"solid": {"color": {"expr": {"Literal": {"Value": "'#E1EBF2'"}}}}},
  "negativeColor": {"solid": {"color": {"expr": {"Literal": {"Value": "'#E5B97D'"}}}}},
  "axisColor":     {"solid": {"color": {"expr": {"Literal": {"Value": "'#FFFFFF'"}}}}},
  "reverseDirection": {"expr": {"Literal": {"Value": "false"}}},
  "hideText":         {"expr": {"Literal": {"Value": "false"}}}
}

Conditional Icons

"icon": {
  "kind": "Icon",
  "layout": {"expr": {"Literal": {"Value": "'IconOnly'"}}},
  "value": {"expr": {"Conditional": {"Cases": [
    {"Condition": {"Comparison": {"ComparisonKind": 4, "Left": {"Measure": {...}}, "Right": {"Literal": {"Value": "0D"}}}},
     "Value": {"Literal": {"Value": "'SymbolMedium'"}}}
  ]}}}
}

Custom icon from a URL

The block above is the Rules format style, driving a built-in icon set. The other style, Field value, points at a column of image URLs and renders those instead of a built-in icon — the way to get an arbitrary custom icon into a table or matrix cell.

• The URL may be an anonymously accessible web URL, or a OneLake file URL: https://onelake.dfs.fabric.microsoft.com/{workspace-id}/{item-id}/Files/{path-to-image}
• Icons must be BMP, JPG, JPEG, GIF, PNG or SVG.
• Desktop path: field dropdown → Conditional formatting → Icons → Format style = Field value. Icon layout still controls left / right of the value or icon-only.

Two limits ride along when the URL is a OneLake one — Power BI loads it under each viewer's Entra identity, so:

• Viewers need Read on the lakehouse item and OneLake Read on the folder holding the image. Access to the report does not grant it.
• Publish to web and anonymous embed cannot use OneLake URLs at all — they have no identity to authenticate with. Use an anonymously accessible web URL for reports headed there. See powerbi-report-authoring/references/image.md for the full OneLake image-source model.

The visual.json encoding for the Field value icon source is deliberately not given here — it was not observed against a real PBIP export, and this skill's property paths are only worth having when they are verified. The block above is the Rules style and does not carry over unchanged.

Gotchas

Reference

• Microsoft Learn: Apply conditional table formatting in Power BI
• Microsoft Learn: Format by field value (color expression measures)
• Microsoft Learn: Tips and tricks for color formatting
• Comprehensive MS Learn link bundle (CF user concept / measure pattern / gradient scales / theme tokens / PBIR file format): references/REFERENCE.md

See also

• pbir-visual-json — selectors, expressions, literal suffixes
• pbir-themes — ThemeDataColor and theme token resolution