There are a number of situations to make use of Unicode characters in Energy BI together with however not restricted to:

• Creating easy KPI columns in Desk or Matrix visuals
• To point out the standing of a measure extra visually like utilizing begins
• Utilizing Unicode characters as icons in your experiences representing the topic

Chris Webb defined a number of the above situations right here.

On this submit I clarify how you need to use Energy BI as a device to generate virtually all legitimate Unicode characters in Energy BI. You may obtain the PBIT on the backside of this submit. Then you’ll be able to copy the Unicode characters from Energy BI and use them in all textual elements of your report like visible titles, textual content packing containers and so forth.

The Unicode planes begin from 0 to 1,114,111 which is decimal equal of 0 to 10FFFF in hexadecimal numeral system. For extra info on Unicode planes examine this out.

So, a easy approach to generate all potential Unicode characters is to generate a listing of decimal numbers ranging from 0 ending at 1,114,111. This fashion we generate a sequence of decimal numbers whatever the gaps between beginning and ending Unicode blocks. Then utilizing UNICHAR() operate in DAX to generate corresponding Unicode characters. With the next DAX expression you’ll be able to simply generate a listing and the corresponding Unicode characters:

Generate Unicode = 
SELECTCOLUMNS(
  ADDCOLUMNS(
      GENERATESERIES(0, 1114111, 1)
    , "Unicode Character"
    , IFERROR(UNICHAR([Value]), "Not Supported")
     )
, "Decimal Worth", [Value]
, "Unicode Character", [Unicode Character]
)

Whereas producing Unicode characters with the above situation is technically working, however, it isn’t ok. With than 1 million rows, together with all decimal numbers even these ones that aren’t legitimate, discovering a Unicode character seems to be very exhausting.

So I considered a greater means of getting knowledge from net that comes with Unicode Planes, Unicode Blocks and block vary. Top-of-the-line on-line sources I discovered is Wikipedia.

So we simply have to:

• import knowledge from the desk within the above Wikipedia hyperlink
• cut up the “Block Vary” column to 2 columns containing Block Vary Begin and Block Vary Finish
• generate values between Block Vary Begin and Block Vary Finish

The one half which isn’t that straight ahead is changing hexadecimal values to decimal values. Keep in mind, UNICHAR() operate solely accepts decimal enter values.

I began constructing a Energy Question operate to transform hexadecimal to decimal, however, it was buggy and never environment friendly in any respect. So I googled hex to decimal and discovered this text written by “Greg Deckler” that works very properly, significantly better than what I used to be constructing.

UPDATE: A giant shout out to Rocco Lupoi who shared his Energy Question code within the feedback. His code is NOT recursive, so it performs higher on bigger quantities of knowledge. Give Rocco’s code a go and see the way it works in your situation.

Now that I’ve the beginning and finish Unicode Block Ranges in decimal, I can simply generate a listing of values between the beginning and finish ranges in Energy Question utilizing “Record.Generate”.

Increasing the “Unicode Decimal” record column provides us all decimal values in vary that may be handed to UNICHAR() operate in DAX.

After loading the information we simply want so as to add a calculated column with the next expression:

Unicode Character = IFERROR(UNICHAR('Unicode'[Unicode Decimal]), "Not Supported")

Now you’ll be able to simply discover and replica a Unicode Character and use it in your report pages, visuals and so forth with out consuming a variety of storage. As it’s possible you’ll already know, after September 2018 launch of Energy BI Desktop we will simply copy values from Desk and Matrix visuals which makes it straightforward to repeat Unicode Values.

The PBIT file is accessible to obtain, all it is advisable to do is to open the file, right-click on any desired Unicode Character from the Unicodes Desk then click on “Copy worth”.

Now you can paste the character in all textual elements of a report in Energy BI together with within the visible titles and Textual content packing containers. You may even use the Unicode characters to rename a measure or column within the “Fields” tab from “Visualization” ache.

Obtain the PBIT file from right here.

Extra to learn: Unicode Consortium official web site.