Chart Patterns
Bar, column and line charts with something extra: a % of total label above each bar, bubbles over the columns, a ranked list a page at a time, or a highlighted stretch of time. You get the measures as a TMDL script and the steps to build the chart in Power BI’s own visuals. No AI needed.
Connect your model
With your model, you pick the measure and columns from lists and every name is checked before you copy the script.
The model export query (the same one the other toolkit pages use)
- In Power BI Desktop, open DAX query view, paste this query and select Run.
- Above the results grid, select Copy, then paste below.
What should readers see?
Pick a pattern. Each one uses Power BI’s own charts, set up in a way the Format pane alone doesn’t give you.
Your fields
The measure to chart and the column to chart it by.
Look
Colors for the bars and the labels. The build steps use them. Pick your own, or take your brand colors from Theme Builder.
Build it:
Add the measures first, then build the chart. Test on a copy of your report.
1. Check the measures first (DAX query view, optional)
Run it after step 2 to see the new measures for each item before you build the chart.
2. Add them to your model (TMDL view)
In Power BI Desktop, open TMDL view, paste the script into a new tab and select Apply.
3. Update your report theme (required for this pattern)
- In Power BI Desktop, select View > Themes (the dropdown arrow) > Save current theme, and save the .json file.
- Select Open your theme file below and pick that file.
- Check the bubble size in Step 4 (now ), then select The page adds the marker size and keeps everything else in your file.
- In Power BI Desktop, select View > Themes > Browse for themes and pick the downloaded file.
Made your theme in Theme Builder? Set Combo chart bubble size in its Step 2, download it again and import that instead.
Prefer to edit the theme file yourself?
- Save the current theme as above and open it in Notepad.
- Find
"visualStyles". Inside it, look for"lineClusteredColumnComboChart". - If it’s not there, add this inside
"visualStyles", with a comma after the entry before it: - If it is there, don’t add a second one: a second copy replaces the first and drops its settings. Inside its
"*": { ... }, add"lineStyles": [ { "markerSize": } ]with a comma before it. If"lineStyles"is already there, add"markerSize":inside its{ }instead. - Save the file, then View > Themes > Browse for themes and pick it.
Don’t set a marker size on the chart in the Format pane afterwards: a size set on the chart overrides the theme. If you import a different theme later, do this again.
3. Build the chart in Power BI
Names in the Format pane can differ a little between Power BI versions. Format settings are under Format your visual (the paintbrush) > Visual.