Create A Drill Through Button In Power BI

Overview

 
In this article, we will learn about one of the most important features rolled out in March 2020 Power BI Desktop update which is – Drill Through as an Action for Power BI Buttons.
 
In this article, we will cover the following things:
  1. What is the Drill Through feature?
  2. What is Drill Through Action for Button in Power BI?
  3. Simple example to demonstrate Drill Through Action from Button Click
  4. Pass Filter Context in Drill Through Action
  5. Limitations for Drill Through Action for Button
So, now let’s get started!
 

What is Drill Through Feature?

 
We all know the meaning of Drill Through: “Seeing details about a specific portion of the data with its applied filters”.
 

What is Drill Through Action for Button in Power BI?

 
With the March 2020 Power BI Desktop update, the new action for Button has been rolled out – “Drill Through (Preview)”.
 
This action type creates a button that drills through to a destination page to get details that are filtered to a specific context.
 
Real-life Example
 
We have the following data structure in our report.
 
Create A Drill Through Button In Power BI
 
Now, we have created the following charts in our Power BI report.
  • Count of Project Task by Status
  • Count of Project Task by Month
When here, we create a button to view the detailed tasks.
 
Create A Drill Through Button In Power BI
 
When the user clicks on the button, he will be redirected to the detailed view of the data with all the filters applied for the same context.
 
Create A Drill Through Button In Power BI
 
Now, we can apply a drill through from a button click in Power BI. One latest action has been added to the button to Drill Through from one page to another.
 
Create A Drill Through Button In Power BI
 

Download the Code File

 
You can download the sample code file using the Github URL.
 
So, now let’s get started.
 
Step 1
 
We have created two pages.
 
Page 1 (Home Page):
 
Create A Drill Through Button In Power BI
 
Page 2 (Detailed Page)
 
Create A Drill Through Button In Power BI
 
Step 2
 
We want to drill through using the Status from  Page 1.
 
So, in Page 2 > first we need to add Drill through the parameter.
 
Drag a Status column from the Fields pane to Drill through the section.
 
Create A Drill Through Button In Power BI
 
Step 3
 
Now, add a button to Page 1 (Home Page).
 
Create A Drill Through Button In Power BI
 
Turn on Action.
 
Add the following information.
 
Type = Drill through (Preview)
Destination = Detailed Page (Page 2 which we have created in Step 2).
 
Step 4
 
Now, select the bar from the “Count of Project Task by Status” visual.
 
Create A Drill Through Button In Power BI
 
This will enable your button.
 
Press Ctrl + Click to redirect to the detailed page.
 
This will drill through to the Detail Page.
 
Create A Drill Through Button In Power BI
 
This will also pass a filter context as well. So, in a detailed page, the user can view only detailed data.
 

How to pass Filter Context using Drill Through Button.

 
If we wish to filter based on Status + Month, then follow the below procedure.
 
First, select Status, this will cross filter Month.
 
Create A Drill Through Button In Power BI 
 
Then Press Ctrl Key and Select any month. I selected August.
 
Create A Drill Through Button In Power BI
 
Click on the button. This will filter data based on August’s “Waiting on Feedback” status.
 
Create A Drill Through Button In Power BI 
 
Limitations for Drill Through Button
  • Work only for inbuilt or OOTB visuals. Only some visuals from the App source support this feature.
  • We can use this feature in the same report. Cross filtering doesn't work. 

Conclusion

 
I hope this is clear now. This is how we can create a Drill Through Button in Power BI.
 
Stay connected with me for more amazing articles!
 
Happy reporting!!


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