Adding a checkbox in Power BI

So this took me forever to find. Just like in Excel, I wanted to be able to add a checkbox in Power BI to either exclude or include something in my matrix.

Here's how I figured it out.

If you don't already have one, add a flag/indicator for what you want to exclude/include in your data.

Step 1

In the example below, I created a column called Public to include or exclude the items where my Group column in my Data table has "Public" in the field.

Public = IF(Data[Group] = "Public", "", UNICHAR(10004))

I think this is different depending on your PC, but on my PC, the UNICHAR(10004) is a check mark.

Step 2

Now that you've got a flag, go to Visualizations and add a Button Slicer, then drag your indicator into the Value field as shown below. 

Your visual will look like this, and we're going to change it to look like a checkbox.

Step 3

In your Filters, filter your data to only the ones with the checkmarks. This is important because otherwise, you'll end up with multiple boxes. You only want one box that will be your "checkbox".

Now your visual should look like this.

Step 4

In your Visualizations, select Format Visual --> Visual --> Callout--> Apply settings to --> States. 

Choose All.

In the Values section, I've changed the font to Segoe UI, size 14, but it doesn't really matter. Change the font color to white here.

Now, choose Selected.

In the Value section, choose the color of your checkmark. In the example below, I chose blue and I set my font to Segoe UI, size 14.

Your button will look like this when it's selected because we need to change the background color.

Step 6

To change the background color, go to Format Visual --> Visual --> Buttons and turn the Background off.

Step 7

Now let's fix the size of the button and the Title so it looks more like a checkbox.

• Go to General --> Properties --> Title and turn it off. 
• Go to General --> Properties --> Size and set your Height and Width. In my example, I've set it to a 45 x 45 square.

• Go to General --> Effects --> Visual border and change the border color. In my example, I've chosen blue to match the color of my checkmark.

Step 8

Add a text box to give your checkbox a title.

I've added the text "Exclude Public?" to my box.

That's it! You've not got a checkbox in your Power BI dashboard!

Leading Zeroes

In finance, it's very common to have numbers that are text that should have leading zeroes - like account numbers or other types of identifiers.

So for example, let's talk zip codes.  Your spreadsheet has decided to make your column of zip codes a number so for the zip "000123", you're seeing just "123".  Since all zip codes need to be 5 digits, the formula in a cell would be:

=right("00000"&A1, 5) where A1 contains the zip code "123".

Logically, this formula is taking the right 5 characters of the string "00000123" which would be "00123".

Unprotecting an Excel Workbook

This was a very cool post.  In case the link goes away, I'm pasting the code here as well.

http://lichao.net/eblog/how-to-un-protect-microsoft-excel-worksheet-without-password-200710100.html




Public Sub AllInternalPasswords()




' Breaks worksheet and workbook structure passwords. Bob McCormick



' probably originator of base code algorithm modified for coverage



' of workbook structure / windows passwords and for multiple passwords



'



' Norman Harker and JE McGimpsey 27-Dec-2002 (Version 1.1)



' Modified 2003-Apr-04 by JEM: All msgs to constants, and



' eliminate one Exit Sub (Version 1.1.1)



' Reveals hashed passwords NOT original passwords



Const DBLSPACE As String = vbNewLine & vbNewLine



Const AUTHORS As String = DBLSPACE & vbNewLine & _

"Adapted from Bob McCormick base code by" & _

"Norman Harker and JE McGimpsey"



Const HEADER As String = "AllInternalPasswords User Message"



Const VERSION As String = DBLSPACE & "Version 1.1.1 2003-Apr-04"



Const REPBACK As String = DBLSPACE & "Please report failure " & _

"to the microsoft.public.excel.programming newsgroup."

Const ALLCLEAR As String = DBLSPACE & "The workbook should " & _

"now be free of all password protection, so make sure you:" & _

DBLSPACE & "SAVE IT NOW!" & DBLSPACE & "and also" & _

DBLSPACE & "BACKUP!, BACKUP!!, BACKUP!!!" & _

DBLSPACE & "Also, remember that the password was " & _

"put there for a reason. Don't stuff up crucial formulas " & _

"or data." & DBLSPACE & "Access and use of some data " & _

"may be an offense. If in doubt, don't."



Const MSGNOPWORDS1 As String = "There were no passwords on " & _

"sheets, or workbook structure or windows." & AUTHORS & VERSION



Const MSGNOPWORDS2 As String = "There was no protection to " & _

"workbook structure or windows." & DBLSPACE & _

"Proceeding to unprotect sheets." & AUTHORS & VERSION



Const MSGTAKETIME As String = "After pressing OK button this " & _

"will take some time." & DBLSPACE & "Amount of time " & _

"depends on how many different passwords, the " & _

"passwords, and your computer's specification." & DBLSPACE & _

"Just be patient! Make me a coffee!" & AUTHORS & VERSION



Const MSGPWORDFOUND1 As String = "You had a Worksheet " & _

"Structure or Windows Password set." & DBLSPACE & _

"The password found was: " & DBLSPACE & "$$" & DBLSPACE & _

"Note it down for potential future use in other workbooks by " & _

"the same person who set this password." & DBLSPACE & _

"Now to check and clear other passwords." & AUTHORS & VERSION



Const MSGPWORDFOUND2 As String = "You had a Worksheet " & _

"password set." & DBLSPACE & "The password found was: " & _

DBLSPACE & "$$" & DBLSPACE & "Note it down for potential " & _

"future use in other workbooks by same person who " & _

"set this password." & DBLSPACE & "Now to check and clear " & _

"other passwords." & AUTHORS & VERSION



Const MSGONLYONE As String = "Only structure / windows " & _

"protected with the password that was just found." & _

ALLCLEAR & AUTHORS & VERSION & REPBACK



Dim w1 As Worksheet, w2 As Worksheet



Dim i As Integer, j As Integer, k As Integer, l As Integer



Dim m As Integer, n As Integer, i1 As Integer, i2 As Integer



Dim i3 As Integer, i4 As Integer, i5 As Integer, i6 As Integer



Dim PWord1 As String



Dim ShTag As Boolean, WinTag As Boolean



Application.ScreenUpdating = False



With ActiveWorkbook



WinTag = .ProtectStructure Or .ProtectWindows



End With



ShTag = False



For Each w1 In Worksheets



ShTag = ShTag Or w1.ProtectContents



Next w1



If Not ShTag And Not WinTag Then



MsgBox MSGNOPWORDS1, vbInformation, HEADER



Exit Sub



End If



MsgBox MSGTAKETIME, vbInformation, HEADER



If Not WinTag Then



MsgBox MSGNOPWORDS2, vbInformation, HEADER



Else



On Error Resume Next



Do 'dummy do loop



For i = 65 To 66: For j = 65 To 66: For k = 65 To 66



For l = 65 To 66: For m = 65 To 66: For i1 = 65 To 66



For i2 = 65 To 66: For i3 = 65 To 66: For i4 = 65 To 66



For i5 = 65 To 66: For i6 = 65 To 66: For n = 32 To 126



With ActiveWorkbook

.Unprotect Chr(i) & Chr(j) & Chr(k) & _

Chr(l) & Chr(m) & Chr(i1) & Chr(i2) & _

Chr(i3) & Chr(i4) & Chr(i5) & Chr(i6) & Chr(n)

If .ProtectStructure = False And _

.ProtectWindows = False Then

PWord1 = Chr(i) & Chr(j) & Chr(k) & Chr(l) & _

Chr(m) & Chr(i1) & Chr(i2) & Chr(i3) & _

Chr(i4) & Chr(i5) & Chr(i6) & Chr(n)



MsgBox Application.Substitute(MSGPWORDFOUND1, _

"$$", PWord1), vbInformation, HEADER



Exit Do 'Bypass all for...nexts



End If



End With



Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next



Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next



Loop Until True



On Error GoTo 0



End If



If WinTag And Not ShTag Then



MsgBox MSGONLYONE, vbInformation, HEADER



Exit Sub



End If



On Error Resume Next



For Each w1 In Worksheets



'Attempt clearance with PWord1



w1.Unprotect PWord1



Next w1



On Error GoTo 0



ShTag = False



For Each w1 In Worksheets



'Checks for all clear ShTag triggered to 1 if not.



ShTag = ShTag Or w1.ProtectContents



Next w1



If ShTag Then



For Each w1 In Worksheets



With w1



If .ProtectContents Then



On Error Resume Next



Do 'Dummy do loop



For i = 65 To 66: For j = 65 To 66: For k = 65 To 66



For l = 65 To 66: For m = 65 To 66: For i1 = 65 To 66



For i2 = 65 To 66: For i3 = 65 To 66: For i4 = 65 To 66



For i5 = 65 To 66: For i6 = 65 To 66: For n = 32 To 126

.Unprotect Chr(i) & Chr(j) & Chr(k) & _

Chr(l) & Chr(m) & Chr(i1) & Chr(i2) & Chr(i3) & _

Chr(i4) & Chr(i5) & Chr(i6) & Chr(n)



If Not .ProtectContents Then

PWord1 = Chr(i) & Chr(j) & Chr(k) & Chr(l) & _

Chr(m) & Chr(i1) & Chr(i2) & Chr(i3) & _

Chr(i4) & Chr(i5) & Chr(i6) & Chr(n)



MsgBox Application.Substitute(MSGPWORDFOUND2, _

"$$", PWord1), vbInformation, HEADER



'leverage finding Pword by trying on other sheets



For Each w2 In Worksheets



w2.Unprotect PWord1



Next w2



Exit Do 'Bypass all for...nexts



End If



Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next



Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next



Loop Until True



On Error GoTo 0



End If



End With



Next w1



End If



MsgBox ALLCLEAR & AUTHORS & VERSION & REPBACK, vbInformation, HEADER



End Sub

Create a list of Excel Files in a Worksheet

Here's a code to create a list of Excel files in your worksheet.

This will give me a list of all the Excel files in the folder

C:\Users\Dorothy\Documents\Consulting.

Sub ListExcelFiles()
Const ArrTop As Integer = 300
Dim MyDir As String
Dim FN As String
Dim MyArray(ArrTop) As String
Dim i, j As Integer

On Error Resume Next

MyDir = "\\tsclient\C\Users\Dorothy\Documents\Consulting\"
FN = Dir(MyDir & "\*.xls*", vbDirectory)

i = 1
Do While (Len(FN) > 0) And (i < 101)
  
    If Not (FN = ".") Or (FN = "..") Then
'        MyArray(i) = FN
        Range("a" & i) = FN
        i = i + 1
    End If

    ' Get the next file.
    FN = Dir()
Loop

End Sub

Compacting an Access DB via VBA

This was a great idea that I found on the internet.  It was on tek-tips.com.

WildHare (MIS)

2 Sep 03 15:39

Uhh.. toss this little puppy on a command button: Private Sub Command1_Click()    CommandBars("Menu Bar"). _    Controls("Tools"). _    Controls("Database utilities"). _    Controls("Compact and repair database..."). _ accDoDefaultAction End Sub The kicker here is the last line. Note the acCDoDefaultAction. Most other built-in guys use acSomethingOrOther, with only ONE "C" - I don't know if this was a deliberate thing or an acCident.. but this method works for A2K and above.

Professionally Embedding Excel Into Powerpoint

Embedding Excel spreadsheets into Powerpoint may sound simple, but there's a sloppy way to do it and a nice, clean, professional way to do it.

Always hide the gridlines or your presentation will look untidy and unprofessional.  See examples below.

Deleting the Pivot Cache in Excel

In order to keep your Excel file at its leanest, it's a good idea to routinely clean out the pivot cache when your data in your source changes.  If you don't, you'll notice that names in your pivot fields that are older and no longer exist in your new data still appear in your pivot field lists. 


To clear your pivot cache, run this macro: 


  Sub DeletePivotCache() 
  Dim pt As PivotTable
  Dim ws As Worksheet 
  For Each ws In ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets
    For Each pt In ws.PivotTables
      pt.PivotCache.MissingItemsLimit = xlMissingItemsNone
      pt.PivotCache.Refresh
    Next pt
  Next ws 
  End Sub