powerbi-visuals-webpack-plugin

This plugin allows developing custom visuals by using webpack to build a visual package.

Provides following functionality:

• Creates assets for developer server
• Creates *.pbiviz package.

How to use the plugin

Plugin options

Plugin config description

  const defaultOptions = {
      visual: {
        name: "Visual name",
        displayName: "Visual name for displaying in visuals panel",
        guid: `Unique GUID for the visual (generated by plugin)`,
        visualClassName: "Visual class name, it is used by visual plugin to create instance of the visual",
        version: "Visual version",
        description: "Visual description",
        supportUrl: "URL for support"
    },
    author: "Author of the visual",
    apiVersion: "API version"
    capabilities: {
        // Visual capabilities
    },
    iconImage: "Icon file as base64 string",
    devMode: "development mode",
    packageOutPath: "location to create *.pbiviz file",
    generateResources: "it is used --resources flag in pbiviz tools",
    generatePbiviz: "it is used by --no-pbiviz flag in pbiviz tools",
    certificationAudit: "scan the bundle for forbidden calls (fetch, eval, XMLHttpRequest) and report them as errors",
    certificationFix: "remove forbidden calls from the bundle by replacing them with undefined; takes precedence over certificationAudit when both are set"
  };

How to build a visual with webpack

1. Install all required libraries to build a visual

   npm i webpack webpack-cli powerbi-visuals-webpack-plugin mini-css-extract-plugin webpack-bundle-analyzer extra-watch-webpack-plugin ts-loader json-loader less-loader less css-loader webpack-dev-server --save-dev

2. Install optional libraries to build JSX files

   If you aren't going to build JSX files, then you can skip this step and delete all babel in section 5.

   npm i @babel/preset-react @babel/runtime @babel/runtime-corejs3 @babel/core @babel/preset-env babel-loader --save-dev

3. Install the latest version of API package

   npm i powerbi-visuals-api --save

4. Create SSL certificates (optional)

   You need generate SSL certificates manually or copy files from powerbi-visuals-tools instance.

   Read more about certificates in documentation.

   Also, you can use certificates from powerbi-visuals-tools or use autogenerated certificates by webpack-dev-server. Just skip section 4 to use webpack-dev-server certificates.

   4.1 Run the following command:

       npm i powerbi-visuals-tools@latest --save-dev

   to install the latest version of tools

   4.2 create script command to generate certificate.

   Add into scripts section of package.json command "cert": "pbiviz --install-cert":

   ...
       "scripts": {
           "cert": "pbiviz --install-cert"
       },
   ...

   Execute command npm run cert. You should get message:

       error  Certificate not found. The new certificate will be generated
       info   Certificate generated. Location is <visual root>\node_modules\powerbi-visuals-tools\certs\PowerBICustomVisualTest_public.pfx. Passphrase is '<YOUR_PASSPHRASE>'

   Apply path node_modules\powerbi-visuals-tools\certs\PowerBICustomVisualTest_public.pfx in webpack.config.js at https section of devServer parameters:

   ...
       https: {
           pfx: fs.readFileSync(path.join(__dirname, `node_modules/powerbi-visuals-tools/certs/PowerBICustomVisualTest_public.pfx`)), // for windows
           passphrase: "<YOUR_PASSPHRASE>",
           requestCert: true
       },
   ...

5. Use sample of config webpack 5. (copy into webpack.config.js)

   const path = require("path");
   
   // webpack
   const webpack = require("webpack");
   const { PowerBICustomVisualsWebpackPlugin, LocalizationLoader } = require('powerbi-visuals-webpack-plugin');
   const MiniCssExtractPlugin = require("mini-css-extract-plugin");
   const { BundleAnalyzerPlugin } = require('webpack-bundle-analyzer');
   const ExtraWatchWebpackPlugin = require("extra-watch-webpack-plugin");
   
   // api configuration
   const powerbiApi = require("powerbi-visuals-api");
   
   // visual configuration json path
   const pbivizPath = "./pbiviz.json";
   const pbivizFile = require(path.join(__dirname, pbivizPath));
   
   // the visual capabilities content
   const capabilitiesPath = "./capabilities.json";
   const capabilities = require(path.join(__dirname, capabilitiesPath));
   
   const pluginLocation = "./.tmp/precompile/visualPlugin.ts"; // Path to visual plugin file, the file generated by the webpack-plugin
   const visualSourceLocation = "../../src/visual" // This path is used inside of the generated plugin, so it depends on pluginLocation
   const statsLocation = "../../webpack.statistics.html";
   
   const babelOptions = {
       presets: [
           [
               require.resolve('@babel/preset-env'),
               {
                   "targets": {
                       "ie": "11"
                   },
                   useBuiltIns: "entry",
                   corejs: 3,
                   modules: false
               }
           ],
           "@babel/preset-react" // required for jsx files
       ],
       sourceType: "unambiguous", // tell to babel that the project can contains different module types, not only es2015 modules
       cacheDirectory: path.join(".tmp", "babelCache") // path for cache files
   };
   
   // webpack sets process.env.WEBPACK_SERVE when running `webpack serve` (dev server).
   // Use it to switch automatically between developer-visual (dev server) and packaging behavior.
   const isProduction = !process.env.WEBPACK_SERVE;
   module.exports = {
       entry: {
           "visual.js": pluginLocation,
       },
       target: "web",
       devtool: "source-map",
       mode: isProduction ? "production" : "development",
       optimization: {
           minimize: isProduction, // enable minimization for create *.pbiviz file less than 2 Mb, can be disabled for dev mode
       },
       performance: {
           maxEntrypointSize: 1024000,
           maxAssetSize: 1024000
       },
       module: {
           rules: [
               {
                   test: /\.tsx?$/,
                   exclude: /node_modules/,
                   include: /powerbi-visuals-|src|precompile(\\|\/)visualPlugin.ts/,
                   use: [
                       {
                           loader: require.resolve('babel-loader'),
                           options: babelOptions
                       },
                       {
                           loader: "ts-loader",
                           options: {
                               transpileOnly: false,
                               experimentalWatchApi: false
                           }
                       }
                   ],
               },
               {
                   test: /(\.js)x|\.js$/,
                   use: [
                       {
                           loader: require.resolve('babel-loader'),
                           options: babelOptions
                       }
                   ]
               },
               {
                   test: /\.json$/,
                   loader: 'json-loader',
                   type: "javascript/auto"
               },
               {
                   test: /(\.less)|(\.css)$/,
                   use: [
                       {
                           loader: MiniCssExtractPlugin.loader
                       },
                       {
                           loader: 'css-loader'
                       },
                       {
                           loader: 'less-loader',
                           options: {
                               lessOptions: {
                                   paths: [path.resolve(__dirname, 'node_modules')]
                               }
                           }
                       }
                   ]
               },
               {
                   test: /\.(woff|ttf|ico|woff2|jpg|jpeg|png|webp|gif|svg|eot)$/i,
                   type: 'asset/inline'
               },
               { 
                   test: /powerbiGlobalizeLocales\.js$/,
                   loader: LocalizationLoader
               }
           ],
       },
       externals: { "powerbi-visuals-api": "null" },
       resolve: {
           extensions: [".tsx", ".ts", ".jsx", ".js", ".css"],
       },
       output: {
           clean: isProduction, // do NOT clean while serving: pbiviz.json is written outside webpack's asset pipeline and would be deleted by clean
           path: path.join(__dirname, ".tmp", "drop"),
           publicPath: 'assets',
           filename: "[name]",
           library: `${pbivizFile.visual.guid}${isProduction ? "" : "_DEBUG"}`, // dev server registers the visual under `<guid>_DEBUG`
           libraryTarget: "var",
       },
       devServer: {
           static: {
               directory: path.join(__dirname, ".tmp", "drop"), // path with assets generated by webpack plugin
               publicPath: '/assets/'
           },
           devMiddleware: {
               writeToDisk: true // required: flush emitted assets (status, visual.js, visual.css, source maps) to `.tmp/drop` so they are served under `/assets/*` (e.g. `/assets/status`)
           },
           compress: true, // enable gzip compression
           port: 8080, // dev server port
           hot: false,
           server: { // cert files for dev server
               type: "https",
               options: {
                   // keep it commented to use webpack generated certificate
                   // key: path.join(__dirname, "certs","PowerBICustomVisualTest_public.key"), // for darwin, linux
                   // cert: path.join(__dirname, "certs", "PowerBICustomVisualTest_public.cer"), // for darwin, linux
                   // pfx: fs.readFileSync(path.join(__dirname, "certs", "PowerBICustomVisualTest_public.pfx")), // for windows
   
                   // passphrase: "5031595470751755"
                   // requestCert: true,
               }
           },
           headers: {
               "access-control-allow-origin": "*",
               "cache-control": "public, max-age=0",
           }
       },
       plugins: [
           new MiniCssExtractPlugin({
               filename: "visual.css",
               chunkFilename: "[id].css"
           }),
           new BundleAnalyzerPlugin({ // adds the ability to analyze the size of the bundle
               reportFilename: statsLocation,
               openAnalyzer: false,
               analyzerMode: `static`
           }),
           new PowerBICustomVisualsWebpackPlugin({ // custom visuals plugin instance with options
               ...pbivizFile,
               capabilities,
               visualSourceLocation,
               pluginLocation,
               apiVersion: powerbiApi.version,
               capabilitiesSchema: powerbiApi.schemas.capabilities,
               dependenciesSchema: powerbiApi.schemas.dependencies,
               devMode: !isProduction, // adds the `_DEBUG` suffix to the status file, plugin name and guid required by the Power BI developer visual
               generatePbiviz: true,
               generateResources: isProduction,
               modules: true,
               packageOutPath: path.join(__dirname, "dist"),
           }),
           new ExtraWatchWebpackPlugin({
               files: [pbivizPath, capabilitiesPath],
           }),
           new webpack.WatchIgnorePlugin({ // visual plugin regenerates with the visual source, but it does not require relaunching dev server
               paths: [
                   path.join(__dirname, pluginLocation),
                   "./.tmp/**/*.*",
                   "./.tmp/**/**/*.*"
               ]
           }),
           new webpack.ProvidePlugin({
               define: "fakeDefine",
           }),
       ],
   };

6. Add new script to build a visual package

   Add new command "package": "webpack" into scripts section of package.json:

   "scripts": {
       "cert": "pbiviz --install-cert",
       "package": "webpack"
   }

   Run npm run package command to create visual package.

Add webpack-dev-server package to debug custom visual

Install webpack-dev-server:

npm i webpack-dev-server --save-dev

Add command "start": "webpack serve" into scripts section of package.json :

"scripts": {
    "cert": "pbiviz --install-cert",
    "package": "webpack",
    "start": "webpack serve"
}

Run command npm run start to start dev server.

Serving the status file and visual assets in development

When you develop a visual through this plugin directly (i.e. with your own webpack.config.js instead of the pbiviz CLI), the dev server must expose the following files under the /assets/ route so Power BI can load the developer visual:

• status
• visual.js
• visual.css
• the related source maps

The plugin emits the status asset on every compilation and writes pbiviz.json to the drop folder, but the JS/CSS bundles and source maps are produced by webpack itself. By default webpack-dev-server keeps compiled assets in memory, so only pbiviz.json ends up in .tmp/drop, and requests such as https://localhost:8080/assets/status return 404 Not Found.

To match the behavior of the pbiviz CLI, make sure your devServer configuration:

1. Serves the drop folder under the /assets/ route (devServer.static.directory = .tmp/drop, publicPath = /assets/).
2. Writes emitted assets to disk with devMiddleware: { writeToDisk: true }.
3. Uses output.publicPath: 'assets' so emitted assets resolve under /assets/*.
4. Keeps output.clean disabled while serving. pbiviz.json is written by the plugin directly to disk (it is intentionally not a webpack asset), so clean: true would delete it after every rebuild and /assets/pbiviz.json would return 404.
5. Runs the plugin with devMode: true while serving, so the status file, plugin name and visual GUID get the _DEBUG suffix that the Power BI developer visual expects (e.g. status contains <guid>_DEBUG instead of <guid>). Keep the webpack output.library in sync (<guid>_DEBUG). When devMode is true, minification is also typically disabled, so no visual.js.LICENSE.txt sidecar is produced.

The sample webpack.config.js above derives all of this from a single isProduction = !process.env.WEBPACK_SERVE switch: running webpack serve behaves like pbiviz start (developer visual, _DEBUG suffix, no clean, unminified), while running webpack builds the package. After starting the dev server, https://localhost:8080/assets/status should return 200 and .tmp/drop should contain status, visual.js, visual.css, pbiviz.json, and the source maps.

Contributing

This project welcomes contributions and suggestions. Most contributions require you to agree to a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) declaring that you have the right to, and actually do, grant us the rights to use your contribution. For details, visit https://cla.microsoft.com.

When you submit a pull request, a CLA-bot will automatically determine whether you need to provide a CLA and decorate the PR appropriately (e.g., label, comment). Simply follow the instructions provided by the bot. You will only need to do this once across all repos using our CLA.

This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact opencode@microsoft.com with any additional questions or comments.