Power BI Best Practice Analyzer Results Viewer¶

Interactive HTML visualization tool for Tabular Editor's Best Practice Analyzer (BPA) results from TRX files.

Live Demo¶

Try the interactive viewer with sample BPA results from multiple anonymized Power BI models:

Switch between models using the dropdown (shows pass rates and timestamps)
Filter results by All/Failed/Passed rules
Expand categories to see rule details and violated objects
Color-coded badges show severity levels (Error/Warning/Info)
Statistics panel displays overall compliance metrics

The demo shows real BPA results (with scrubbed company data) so you can see exactly what the tool generates before running it on your own models.

Overview¶

This tool parses Visual Studio Test Results (TRX) files generated by Tabular Editor's BPA CLI and creates an interactive HTML dashboard showing rule violations, warnings, and pass rates across one or multiple Power BI semantic models.

Key Features:

Multi-Model Results: Automatically discovers all TRX files, dropdown to switch between models instantly
Interactive Filtering: Filter by severity (Error/Warning/Info), category, object type, or search
Smart Visual Design: Color-coded severity badges, expandable details, real-time compliance stats
Self-Contained Output: Single HTML file, works offline, shareable, CI/CD friendly

Prerequisites¶

Python: 3.7 or higher
Dependencies: None (uses Python standard library only)
Input Format: TRX files generated by Tabular Editor CLI Best Practice Analyzer

How to Run¶

Step 1: Download the script¶

Save visualize_bpa_results.py anywhere in your repo (root folder, scripts/, tools/, wherever works for you).

Or download via command line:

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/JoeRossouw/semantic_ops/main/scripts/visualize_bpa_results.py

Step 2: Open a terminal¶

In VS Code: Terminal → New Terminal (or press Ctrl+`)

Step 3: Run it¶

The command is python followed by the path to the script. How you write that path depends on where you saved the script.

Option A: Drag and drop (easiest)

Type python in your terminal (with a space after)
Drag the script file from Explorer into the terminal
Press Enter

The terminal pastes the full path for you.

Option B: Navigate to the script first

cd path/to/folder/containing/script
python visualize_bpa_results.py

Option C: Ask GitHub Copilot

In VS Code with Copilot, just ask:

"Run the visualize_bpa_results.py script on my TRX files"

Copilot will figure out the correct path and run it for you.

The script will:

Recursively search for all .trx files
Parse BPA results from each file
Generate bpa_results_viewer.html
Open in your default browser

Advanced options¶

# Specify input directory (use with drag-and-drop or full path)
python visualize_bpa_results.py --input ./bpa_results

# Specify output location
python visualize_bpa_results.py --output ./reports/bpa_report.html

# Skip opening browser
python visualize_bpa_results.py --no-browser

# Combine options
python visualize_bpa_results.py -i ./test_results -o ./reports/report.html --no-browser

Command-line options:

Option	Description	Default
`--input <path>`, `-i`	Directory containing TRX files (or path to single TRX file)	Current directory (recursive search)
`--output <path>`, `-o`	Output HTML file path	`bpa_results_viewer.html` in input directory
`--no-browser`	Skip automatically opening HTML in browser	Opens browser

Input Requirements¶

This tool requires TRX files generated by Tabular Editor's Best Practice Analyzer CLI.

What you need: - TRX files (XML test results format) from Tabular Editor BPA runs - See Tabular Editor CLI documentation for how to generate TRX output

Once you have TRX files:

python visualize_bpa_results.py --input ./bpa_results

Expected Folder Structure¶

The script works with any folder structure containing TRX files:

your_project/
├── bpa_output/
│   ├── SalesModel_20241122_143022.trx
│   ├── FinanceModel_20241122_143045.trx
│   └── InventoryModel_20241122_143108.trx
├── SalesModel.SemanticModel/
├── FinanceModel.SemanticModel/
└── InventoryModel.SemanticModel/

The script recursively searches for any *.trx files regardless of folder depth.

Interactive Viewer Features¶

Visualization: - Model selector dropdown to switch between different BPA test runs - Pass rate progress bar showing compliance percentage - Severity badges: Info (blue), Warning (orange), Error (red) - Statistics panel with real-time counts (Total, Passed, Failed, by severity)

Controls: - Filter by All Rules / Failed Only - Expand All / Collapse All sections - Each rule shows name, severity, pass/fail status, expandable description - Click violation lists to see affected objects (measures, tables, columns)

Output: - Self-contained HTML file (200KB - 1MB depending on violations) - All data embedded as JSON, no external dependencies - Works offline, shareable with stakeholders

Troubleshooting¶

No TRX files found:

❌ No TRX files found in: <path>

Solution: Run Tabular Editor CLI with BPA flags to generate TRX files, verify directory path

TRX parsing errors:

⚠ Could not parse file

Common causes: Corrupted TRX, non-standard XML, empty results Solution: Re-run BPA analysis

Browser doesn't open: Use --no-browser flag and manually open the HTML file

CI/CD Integration¶

GitHub Actions example:

- name: Run BPA Analysis
  run: |
    Get-ChildItem -Filter "*.SemanticModel" -Recurse | ForEach-Object {
      TabularEditor3.exe $_.FullName -BPA -TRX "bpa_output/$($_.BaseName).trx"
    }

- name: Generate Viewer
  run: python visualize_bpa_results.py -i ./bpa_output -o report.html --no-browser

- name: Upload Report
  uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
  with:
    name: bpa-report
    path: ./report.html

Azure DevOps example:

- task: PowerShell@2
  inputs:
    script: |
      Get-ChildItem -Filter "*.SemanticModel" -Recurse | ForEach-Object {
        TabularEditor3.exe $_.FullName -BPA -TRX "$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/bpa.trx"
      }

- task: PythonScript@0
  inputs:
    scriptPath: 'visualize_bpa_results.py'
    arguments: '--input $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory) --output report.html --no-browser'

Technical Details¶

Parser: Python's xml.etree.ElementTree
Input: Visual Studio Test Results (TRX) XML schema
Browser: Modern browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari)
Data: JSON-embedded in HTML for offline operation
Filtering: Client-side JavaScript (no server required)