When we created the first version, more than one year ago, we just wanted to improve the existing built-in Card. Since then, Microsoft released another good component inside Power BI, like Card, but with some differences: the KPI.
Card with States, with this update, took the best of both visuals, adding some unique features and customization options.
What’s new in Card with States?
You can see the updated changes here: Card with States Change Log
Let’s see the main changes of this version:
- We migrated all the code to the new Visuals API 1.3. This provides a production-level stability to our visual.
- We fixed several bugs (thanks to all the users who reported them).
- We introduced the option to bind a categorical measure through a new field (Trend axis). If you set it, a sparkline will appear in the bottom area of the visual, showing the trend of the main measure over the selected column.
After setting the trend axis, the main label displays the last data point value by default, instead of the sum of all data points. You can change this behavior in the Data label property panel.
The trend line comes with a few customization options, such as smoothness, weight, color, and so on.
- We introduced some options to further customize the labels of the visual.
- We implemented the Color Blindness by OKViz library. Now you can figure out how people affected by color vision deficiencies will see the colors used inside the visual. Read more about it at http://okviz.com/blog/color-blindness.
- We included the option to change the icon of the state messages. Now there are just a few icons available, but our plan is to add more icons in the future.
- We added the option to show the % variance of the main measure over the target (visible only if a target has been set).
- We added the option to apply performance coloring to other elements of the visual, such as the background.
- We changed how states work. Now you define a Target and as many states as you want, without any limit. Moreover, the State Measure is optional. If you don’t set it, then the visual will be use the main measure for the comparisons with the states.
To see how the states work now and figure out how to migrate you existing models, please refer to this post: http://okviz.com/blog/states-in-custom-visuals.
Because of the amount of the changes, the previous version of Card with States (v1.2.5) will not be automatically updated inside your reports.
In order to benefit of all the new features presented here, you should manually update each report where the component is used. It is a recommend action, also because the previous versions contain deprecated code and we assume that they will stop working as soon as Microsoft removes support for legacy APIs in Power BI.
Card with States by OKViz is FREE for all, you just have download it from http://okviz.com/card-with-states.
If you have any idea to improve the visual, please leave a feedback in the comments below.