Troubleshoot unexpected behaviors in the Power BI Connector

Troubleshoot unexpected behaviors when using the Autodesk Data Connector for Power BI.


00:03

With the Autodesk Data Connector for Power BI, you may on occasion experience unexpected behaviors.

00:10

Most of these issues can be resolved by confirming the presence of the required files and the appropriate visualization data fields.

00:18

If you cannot see the Autodesk Data Connector after installation, open your Windows Explorer and navigate to Documents \ Power BI Desktop.

00:27

Open the Custom Connectors folder and ensure that you have the Autodesk Data Connector for Power BI.pqx file,

00:34

as it is required to import any data from an Autodesk Data Exchange.

00:39

Returning to the Power BI Desktop folder,

00:41

open the Custom Visuals folder to confirm that you have the file Autodesk Data Connector for Power BI.pbiviz.

00:50

This file is required to create the viewer visual in the Power BI desktop application.

00:55

If either of these files is missing, try reinstalling the Autodesk Data Connector.

01:01

If the Autodesk Data Connector viewer is not displaying any data,

01:05

you may see an information icon indicating that there are active filters or slices.

01:10

Navigate to any slices and turn them off.

01:13

Then, select the viewer, and from the Filters pane, remove any filters applied to the visual.

01:20

The viewer now updates as expected.

01:23

Also verify that an appropriate .viewer property is added to the Model File field in the Visualizations pane.

01:30

If object highlighting does not work as expected—for instance,

01:34

selecting objects in other visuals does not highlight corresponding elements in the viewer—first, select the viewer on the dashboard.

01:43

Then, in the Visualizations pane, confirm that the viewer has the ExternalElementID added to the Model ID, ID, and Value fields.

01:53

This also affects colors, which will not be applied if the ExternalElementID property is missing from any of these three fields.

02:01

To add the ExternalElementID, expand the Data Exchange in the Data pane, then drag and drop ExternalElementId into the visualization fields.

02:11

Coloring and highlighting should now work as expected.

02:14

For further troubleshooting, you may need to enable logging.

02:18

From the ribbon, open the File tab.

02:22

Select Options and settings, then select Options.

02:27

In the Options dialog, from the selection panel, select Diagnostics.

02:33

Then, in the Diagnostic Options group, select Enable tracing.

02:38

To access the log files, under Crash Dump Collection, select Open crash dump/traces folder.

02:46

This opens your Windows Explorer to the Traces folder, where you can access the log file.

02:51

With a log file, you can review issues or send it to the Autodesk support team for further troubleshooting.

02:58

To review current limitations for the connector, visit the Autodesk Data Exchange Help website.

03:04

From the navigation panel, expand Power BI Data Connector and select Known Limitations.

03:11

For further support, visit the Data Exchange Help website or the user and public forums for Data Exchange, or contact Autodesk support.

Video transcript

00:03

With the Autodesk Data Connector for Power BI, you may on occasion experience unexpected behaviors.

00:10

Most of these issues can be resolved by confirming the presence of the required files and the appropriate visualization data fields.

00:18

If you cannot see the Autodesk Data Connector after installation, open your Windows Explorer and navigate to Documents \ Power BI Desktop.

00:27

Open the Custom Connectors folder and ensure that you have the Autodesk Data Connector for Power BI.pqx file,

00:34

as it is required to import any data from an Autodesk Data Exchange.

00:39

Returning to the Power BI Desktop folder,

00:41

open the Custom Visuals folder to confirm that you have the file Autodesk Data Connector for Power BI.pbiviz.

00:50

This file is required to create the viewer visual in the Power BI desktop application.

00:55

If either of these files is missing, try reinstalling the Autodesk Data Connector.

01:01

If the Autodesk Data Connector viewer is not displaying any data,

01:05

you may see an information icon indicating that there are active filters or slices.

01:10

Navigate to any slices and turn them off.

01:13

Then, select the viewer, and from the Filters pane, remove any filters applied to the visual.

01:20

The viewer now updates as expected.

01:23

Also verify that an appropriate .viewer property is added to the Model File field in the Visualizations pane.

01:30

If object highlighting does not work as expected—for instance,

01:34

selecting objects in other visuals does not highlight corresponding elements in the viewer—first, select the viewer on the dashboard.

01:43

Then, in the Visualizations pane, confirm that the viewer has the ExternalElementID added to the Model ID, ID, and Value fields.

01:53

This also affects colors, which will not be applied if the ExternalElementID property is missing from any of these three fields.

02:01

To add the ExternalElementID, expand the Data Exchange in the Data pane, then drag and drop ExternalElementId into the visualization fields.

02:11

Coloring and highlighting should now work as expected.

02:14

For further troubleshooting, you may need to enable logging.

02:18

From the ribbon, open the File tab.

02:22

Select Options and settings, then select Options.

02:27

In the Options dialog, from the selection panel, select Diagnostics.

02:33

Then, in the Diagnostic Options group, select Enable tracing.

02:38

To access the log files, under Crash Dump Collection, select Open crash dump/traces folder.

02:46

This opens your Windows Explorer to the Traces folder, where you can access the log file.

02:51

With a log file, you can review issues or send it to the Autodesk support team for further troubleshooting.

02:58

To review current limitations for the connector, visit the Autodesk Data Exchange Help website.

03:04

From the navigation panel, expand Power BI Data Connector and select Known Limitations.

03:11

For further support, visit the Data Exchange Help website or the user and public forums for Data Exchange, or contact Autodesk support.

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