Respond to PowerBI Filters and write back to SQL

[swiftyPWL]

Trying to decide if PowerApps is the right solution for what I need.

I know I can embed a PowerApp within PowerBI and have it respond to PowerBI filters/slicers by using PowerBIIntegration.Data.

I know I can also embed a PowerApp within PowerBI and have it connect to SQL Server and have full CRUD functionality.

My question is can I have an embedded PowerApp do both?

How would I set up the data sources in PowerApps? If I use PowerBIIntegration.Data as the source, I can't write back to SQL. If I use direct SQL connection - I don't think I can use the filters?

I basically just want to have a filterable excel-like list in PowerBI and have an embedded app that allows writing to SQL after you have made a row selection.

Thanks

[v-xida-msft]

Hi @swiftyPWL,

Could you please share a bit more about your scenario?

Do you want to made a filter in Power BI report and then write back to SQL table via the embedded app?

I have made a test on my side, if you want to made a filter in Power BI report and then write back to SQL table via the embedded app, I afraid that there is no way to achieve your needs in PowerApps currently.

If you would like this feature to be added in PowerApps, please submit an idea to PowerApps Ideas Forum:

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/PowerApps-Ideas/idb-p/PowerAppsIdeas

More details about the availability of PowerApps custom visual for Power BI, please check the following blog:

https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/powerbi-powerapps-visual/

Best regards,

Kris

[swiftyPWL]

I'd simply like my PowerApp to respond to PowerBI filters/slicers (display what is selected from the PowerBI dashboard) and then once filtered, the user can edit and be able to write back to SQL.

[v-xida-msft]

Hi @swiftyPWL,

I have made a test on my side, I think there is no way to achieve your needs in PowerApps currently.

Currently, we could not display/edit one record selected from the Power BI dashboard within a Edit form control (which has been bound to a SQL table data source) in your app. So we could not edit the record selected from Power BI dashboard within the embedded app.

If you would like this feature to be added in PowerApps, please submit an idea to PowerApps Ideas Forum:

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/PowerApps-Ideas/idb-p/PowerAppsIdeas

Best regards,

Kris

[swiftyPWL]

Appeciate the reply, do you know if this is achievable with any other data source? Thanks

[v-xida-msft]

Hi @swiftyPWL,

I think there is no data source could support the feature that you mentioned in PowerApps currently.

Best regards,

Kris

[swiftyPWL]

Ok understand.

This may be a strech but do you think I could achieve this solution by creating a custom API/connector?

The theory being I could have PowerBI slicer functionality for selection then have an embedded PowerApp call my own API to write to the database.

Thanks

[v-xida-msft]

Hi @swiftyPWL,

I think your thought is proper.

You could consider take a try to create a custom connector within your app. Within the OpenAPI definition file of this custom connector, you should define the Insert operation or Edit operation.

When you want to save the filtered data into your SQL table, please call the Edit function or Insert function of your custom API.

More details about creating a custom connector within PowerApps, please check the following article:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/maker/canvas-apps/register-custom-api

Best regards,

Kris

[karaoan]

@swiftyPWL you could try a solution like https://www.acterys.com  that enables write-back from Power BI custom visuals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QmtAgl-hok&t=98s