More and more often, I’m asked whether logos or icons—for example, representing product categories, companies, suppliers, or departments—can also be used in slicers and tables. Of course, this can be applied to all sorts of different areas, but what’s the best way to go about it?.
Images
The images you want to use in your visual or slicer can be added to the model in various ways. You can use image URLs, but the images can also be stored in a database, for example. Since we’re often already working with a database, I usually opt for the latter option. This also has the advantage that the data is stored in one place, making it easier to edit and manage from there.
Storing the images in the database is fairly simple. The images can be stored as a Base64-encoded string and can then be used directly within Power BI. Any tool can be used to convert an image to a Base64-encoded string. It’s also possible to do this yourself using SQL, for example.
Creating Objects in Power BI / Tabular Editor
Images that can be used in Power BI must meet a number of requirements.
- Images must be saved in one of the following formats: .bmp, .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .png, or .svg
- When using a URL, the URL/image must be publicly accessible
- When saving the image to the database, you need to pay attention to the image's size and resolution. This is because a column in Power BI has a maximum size, and the image must fit within that limit. (This can be resolved by splitting the file, if necessary.)
- The data type of the object in the model must be set to "text"
- The [dataCategory] of the object in the model must be [ImageURL]
If URLs are used, the content of the corresponding object in the model can simply be the image's URL.
If you use images stored in the database, you must also specify a prefix so that Power BI knows how to interpret the image. The base of the prefix is always the same, but the extension must be adjusted depending on the image type.
Use in Power BI
Visualizations
Once the objects have been correctly created in the semantic model, they can be used without any issues in, for example, table and matrix visuals. The images are automatically displayed correctly, and you can set the size of the images in the visual’s properties under “image size.”.
Slicers
Images can also be used in the (New) Card visual and the (New) Slicer visual. Their use within these visuals works slightly differently. A text field should simply be used as the data element in the visual; the corresponding [ImageUrl] fields can then be added in the properties under Images. The properties can also be configured here. As mentioned above, the text of the field in the slicer cannot be displayed either.
Conclusion
With some knowledge of SQL, you can easily add dimensions to the database and the semantic model. This can add an extra dimension to your visualizations in Power BI, allowing you to make your dashboards just a little more attractive and user-friendly.
