“New Feature Friday” returns as we’re thrilled to introduce support for URL parameters for paginated reports in the Power BI service. This capability allows report authors to send commands to paginated reports in Power BI by adding a parameter to a URL. For example, you can pass report parameters to a report by including them in a paginated report URL, and even construct this URL dynamically in a Power BI report and drillthrough to a paginated report by using a DAX measure.
To use report parameters, you need to prefix the parameter name with rp: for Power BI to recognize it in the URL. The parameter name is the one set by the author when creating the report parameter in Power BI Report Builder.
The URL patterns for paginated reports closely follow those of SQL Server Reporting Services today. For example, to set a report parameter within a URL, use the following syntax:
rp:parameter=value
So if I want to specify a value for the “Salesperson” parameter for my report in an app, I’d use the following URL:
https://app.powerbi.com/groups/me/apps/xxxxxxx-c4c4-4217-afd9-3920a0d1e2b0/rdlreports/b1d5e659-639e-41d0-b733-05d2bca9853c?rp:Salesperson=Tiggee
If “Salesperson” was instead a multi-value parameter that accepted multiple values, I can use an & to add an additional parameter value to my URL like so –
https://app.powerbi.com/groups/me/rdlreports/xxxxxxx-abc7-40f0-b456-febzf9cdda4d?rp:Salesperson=Tie+Bear&rp:Salesperson=Mickey
We’re also rolling out a new feature next week to simplify the discovery of the parameter names by adding an item in the File menu called “Generate Link”. This will generate a link of the current report view with the parameter values appended to the URL.
In addition to report parameters, you may also set the export format of your paginated report directly on the URL. So when you click the report url, it will render and download the report in the selected format without any user interaction required. You just need to use the rdl: prefix when setting the output format.
For example, if I wanted to export my report to PDF when I clicked the URL, it would look like this:
https://app.powerbi.com/groups/me/apps/xxxxxxx-c4c4-4217-afd9-3920a0d1e2b0/rdlreports/b1d5e659-639e-41d0-b733-05d2bca9853c?rp:Salesperson=Tiggee&rdl:format=PDF
Please be sure to review the documentation to see several additional examples of URL parameters.
We’re really excited to see what you do with this feature, so be sure to leave us your feedback in the comments below and let us know what you think.