Question

Rendering Graphviz in Power BI? – Is it possible to display Graphviz diagrams in Power BI? Any workarounds?

I’m exploring ways to display Graphviz diagrams in Power BI but haven’t found a native solution. Given that Power BI doesn’t directly support Graphviz, are there any workarounds, such as embedding rendered diagrams from an external source or using custom visuals? If anyone has managed to integrate Graphviz into Power BI, I’d love to hear about the approach.

Answer 1

In Power BI, a native application for Graphviz is lacking. However, a few workarounds can be employed for displaying Graphviz-based diagrams in reports:

Workarounds:
Image Output from Graphviz—An external script (Python or Power Automate) generates a Graphviz design diagram as an image (SVG, PNG), stores it in a database, SharePoint, or a web service, and then displays it in Power BI via an Image Viewer/custom visual.

Custom Power BI Visual—Create a new visual with Power BI Developer Tools, which additionally implements a JavaScript-based Graphviz renderer (such as Viz.js), allowing the dynamic rendering of Graphviz diagrams within Power BI.

Python or R in Power BI—If your data includes Graphviz DOT format data, you can use Power BI's Python or R script visual to process and render Graphviz directly within a report. This option requires Graphviz to have been installed on the Power BI Desktop machine.