Power BI August 2016 issue with custom visuals

The Power BI Desktop August 2016 update (v2.38.4491.282) has an annoying issue with custom visuals that use the new API – like our Sparkline.

Conditions

The issue affects only report files within these conditions:

  • Report files have to be created with a previous version of Power BI Desktop (July 2016 or earlier update)
  • Custom visuals embedded in the files must be coded with the new API (today only Sparkline in OKViz components is affected)
  • Custom visuals must be published in the Power BI Gallery (and Sparkline has been published on Power BI Gallery September 1, 2016)

The issue

Involved visuals don’t appear, leaving a blank space.

Workaround

To solve the issue, you have to follow these steps on each report file:

  1. Remove the custom visual
  2. Save, close, and re-open the report
  3. Import the visual again and use it as usual (unfortunately you have to set all the bindings/properties)

Microsoft has been informed and assured us that will release a patch in a few days.