- Overview
- How to use
- Technical
Metro visual
Last update: 26 February 2025
v1.0.0.11
Purpose
To show flow data as a metro-style schematic diagram. Tooltips and highlighting of predecessor and successor paths as standard. Highly flexible formatting.
Functionality
Data
The data pane contains two data wells. Each data well can accept a maximum of one data series and Power BI will treat the data as text.
The first data well, for Start Nodes, is mandatory. Power BI requires data in both wells for the Metro to render.
The second data well, for End Nodes, is also mandatory. The Start and End nodes must be in the correct order and there must be the same number of non-null datapoints in each. Metro will pair the first start node (e.g. "A") with the first end node (e.g. "B"), and interpret the pair to mean that A leads to B. Then it will match the second pair, and so on.
By default, Metro draws from left to right. Therefore any starting nodes (which have no precedents) will be placed on the far left of the diagram.
Metro is designed to deal with convergence. This means it can draw paths which converge to fewer nodes as we move to the right. However, Metro cannot cope with circularity and will fail to render if your data contain circularities. If your data shows A to B, B to C and C to A, the Metro will not draw. An error message will try to identify the problem node to help you adjust your data.
Highlighting & Filtering
Currently, Metro does not filter outwards to other visuals. By default, hovering will highlight precedent and dependent paths within the visual, and clicking will lock these highlights in place (click again or hover to deselect).
Licence
The licence can only be sold via Microsoft AppSource marketplace: Viz Data does not sell direct.
Licenses are offered as monthly subscriptions: there are not currently annual payment options or one-off purchases. Contact us if you have a specific need.
A licence is required to use Metro when viewing a report. Editing Metro is free. Viewing works in Unsupported Environments where we suspend license checks to ensure unrestricted access. However, legally, we still request that you buy a license for those viewing in these environments.
- Embedded - Publish To Web, PaaS embed
- National/Regional clouds
- RS Server (No planned support)
- Exporting (PDF\PPT) using REST API
Metro visual works in both Desktop and Service. Since Desktop is constantly in Edit mode, Metro will always work there. License checks are initiated in Service within View Mode.
Purchases can only be made in Microsoft tax remitted countries to deploy in any Azure region. The list of tax remitted countries can be seen here.
Only the license buyer (owner) can assign licenses. If you are buying for other people, ensure you have the correct admin rights to manage the licenses you buy.
Upgrades, rights and refunds
You can get a full refund if you change your mind within 7 days.
You (or your organisation admin) can assign licenses to other regions as long as they are within the same tenant.
AppSource custom visuals will be automatically upgraded under the same license when a visual is updated by us.
Standard Power BI functionality
Power BI has automatic support to make visuals full screen & allow them to be deleted. These should all work as for standard visuals.
Hover
On hover, there is a tooltip that will show the node name. You can change the prompt from "Node" in the formatting pane (Interactivity settings > Tooltip prompt). You can also switch Tooltips off. Or you can switch labels off, and rely on tooltips to work out the node name.
Resize
Metro visual resizes dynamically to fit the viewport.