pbiplintRules / Report Design
Slicer saved with a search term
What it checks
Slicers saved with a term in their search box: any visual whose visual.json holds a selfFilter with a condition under objects.general, which is where Power BI Desktop's saved files keep the text typed in a slicer's search box.
Each finding names the slicer, as slicer (5d2e8c) on "Overview", or as "City" on "Overview" when it has a title, at the line of the selfFilter in its visual.json. Its detail quotes the term, as opens with the search term "spring" saved, when the search is one piece of text pbiplint can read, and reads opens with a search term saved otherwise. It names no column, since the term can sit on a column the slicer does not show.
Example
visual.json{
"$schema": "https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/fabric/item/report/definition/visualContainer/2.8.0/schema.json",
"name": "5d2e8c41b07a9f36e1c4",
"position": { "x": 40, "y": 40, "z": 1000, "height": 72, "width": 260, "tabOrder": 1000 },
"visual": {
"visualType": "slicer",
"query": {
"queryState": {
"Values": {
"projections": [
{
"field": { "Column": { "Expression": { "SourceRef": { "Entity": "Customer" } }, "Property": "City" } },
"queryRef": "Customer.City",
"nativeQueryRef": "City",
"active": true
}
]
}
}
},
"objects": {
"data": [
{ "properties": { "mode": { "expr": { "Literal": { "Value": "'Dropdown'" } } } } }
],
"general": [
{
"properties": {
"selfFilterEnabled": { "expr": { "Literal": { "Value": "true" } } },
"selfFilter": {
"filter": {
"Version": 2,
"From": [{ "Name": "c", "Entity": "Customer", "Type": 0 }],
"Where": [
{
"Condition": {
"Contains": {
"Left": { "Column": { "Expression": { "SourceRef": { "Source": "c" } }, "Property": "City" } },
"Right": { "Literal": { "Value": "'spring'" } }
}
},
"Annotations": { "PowerBI.MParameterBehavior": 1 }
}
]
}
}
}
}
]
}
}
}
visual.json{
"$schema": "https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/fabric/item/report/definition/visualContainer/2.8.0/schema.json",
"name": "5d2e8c41b07a9f36e1c4",
"position": { "x": 40, "y": 40, "z": 1000, "height": 72, "width": 260, "tabOrder": 1000 },
"visual": {
"visualType": "slicer",
"query": {
"queryState": {
"Values": {
"projections": [
{
"field": { "Column": { "Expression": { "SourceRef": { "Entity": "Customer" } }, "Property": "City" } },
"queryRef": "Customer.City",
"nativeQueryRef": "City",
"active": true
}
]
}
}
},
"objects": {
"data": [
{ "properties": { "mode": { "expr": { "Literal": { "Value": "'Dropdown'" } } } } }
],
"general": [
{
"properties": {
"selfFilterEnabled": { "expr": { "Literal": { "Value": "true" } } }
}
}
]
}
}
}
The City slicer was saved with spring typed in its search box, and the finding reads slicer (5d2e8c) on "Overview" with opens with the search term "spring" saved. The fix takes the selfFilter out of objects.general and leaves the slicer's other settings as they were.
Why it matters
A slicer's search is there to find values in a long list. You open it with the ellipsis (...) at the slicer's top right and then Search, or by selecting the slicer and pressing Ctrl+F, and as you type, the slicer "instantly filters to show only matching entries," in Microsoft's words. Saved with the report, the term stays. That was checked on reopening the report in Power BI Desktop and on opening it as a reader in the Power BI service. In both, the term is in the slicer's search box and the slicer's list is narrowed to the values that match it. Whoever reads the report in the service, or opens it next in Power BI Desktop, sees a slicer listing only some of its values, under a term they did not type, and can take that list for all there is.
The term narrows only the slicer's own list; whether the other visuals are filtered depends on what is selected in the slicer. Even so, this rule is a warning and SLICER_SELECTION_SAVED, which reports a saved selection, is info without a policy, because a saved selection is usually easy to spot, while a leftover term, often a partial one, is harder to spot and so more likely to slip by.
Most saved terms stand alone. Of the 41 slicers found saved with a search term in public Power BI projects saved by Power BI Desktop, 30 had nothing selected, only the term.
How to fix it
In Power BI Desktop, select the slicer, delete the text in its search box, and save the report. Checked in Power BI Desktop, the box then stays empty when the report is reopened. The slicer's eraser also clears the search box; then save the report. The eraser clears the slicer's selection as well, so to keep a selection the report is meant to open with, delete the term instead. Reset to default in the service returns a reader to the report as it was published, saved term included, so the fix belongs in the saved report.
In visual.json, the term is the selfFilter property in the slicer's general entry under objects: remove it, as the example does, and leave the rest of the entry as it is. That is an edit to the saved file, and selfFilter is the only property this rule reads.
When to ignore it
A report meant to open with a long list already narrowed to a starting term, where that is a deliberate choice and whoever opens it knows the list is narrowed. Otherwise there is rarely a reason to keep a saved term.
To ignore this rule on one visual, add { "name": "pbiplint.ignore", "value": "SLICER_SEARCH_SAVED" } to the annotations array of its visual.json. Power BI Desktop keeps the annotation. To turn the rule off for a whole project, set "SLICER_SEARCH_SAVED": "off" under rules in pbiplint.config.json.
Quirks
- The term can sit on a column the slicer does not show: 9 of the 41 slicers found saved with a term had it on a column other than the one they show. The finding is the same either way, which is why its detail names no column.
- A term is read by where it sits, not by the visual's type, as a selection is for
SLICER_SELECTION_SAVED, so a custom slicer from AppSource that keeps a search term in the sameselfFilteris reported the same way as the slicers built into Power BI. - A hidden slicer is reported like a visible one.
Related rules
SLICER_SELECTION_SAVEDreports a selection saved on the slicer. A slicer saved with both is reported by both rules, and one saved with a term alone by this rule only.