I have users who would like to be able to modify what columns a table aggregates by. My issue is that I seem unable to do this in Power BI. I basically want to be able to do the following in SQL:
SELECT
<OrgLevel1>,
<OrgLevel2>,
SUM([Revenue])
FROM [Data]
GROUP BY
<OrgLevel1>,
<OrgLevel2>
;
where the user can change <OrgLevel1> and/or <OrgLevel2> to be any of { "(All)", [Department], [Product] }.
The issue may be related to this post: https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Desktop/Calculated-Column-Table-Change-Dynamically-According-to-Slicer/m-p/655991#M314800
Here's a link to a workbook that illustrates this issue, TestParameterizeGroupby.pbix (hosted by Google Drive). I've also included field definitions below with screenshots. Thanks for any help.
TestParameterizeGroupby.pbix
Link: TestParameterizeGroupby.pbix (hosted by Google Drive)
Problem
[Org Level 1] and [Org Level 2] fields are not recalculating from the users' selection. Only the default values are shown.
Expected result in table
"Org Level 1", "Org Level 2", "Revenue"
"(All)", "(All)", 28
Note
The purpose is to have parameterizable organization level fields so that the report user can aggregate by all, department, product, or both in either order.
Table and column definitions
'Data' = DATATABLE(
"Department",
STRING,
"Product",
STRING,
"Revenue",
DOUBLE,
{
{"DeptA", "ProdX", 5.0},
{"DeptA", "ProdY", 6.0},
{"DeptB", "ProdX", 10.0},
{"DeptB", "ProdY", 7.0}
}
)
'Data'[Org Level 1] = SWITCH(
'Org Level 1 Parameter'[Org Level 1 Parameter Value],
0,
"(All)",
1,
[Department],
2,
[Product]
)
// Problem: [Org Level 1] and [Org Level 2] fields are not recalculating from the users' selection. Only the default values are shown.
'Org Level 1' = DATATABLE(
"Org Level 1",
STRING,
"Org Level 1 Parameter",
INTEGER,
{
{"(0) (All)", 0},
{"(1) Department", 1},
{"(2) Product", 2}
}
)
'Org Level 1 Parameter'[Org Level 1 Parameter] = GENERATESERIES(0, 2, 1)
'Org Level 1 Parameter'[Org Level 1 Parameter Value] = SELECTEDVALUE('Org Level 1 Parameter'[Org Level 1 Parameter], 1)
Table 'Org Level 1' has a 1-1 relationship with 'Org Level 1 Parameter' on column [Org Level 1 Parameter].
The user selects the value for 'Data'[Org Level 1] by selecting the value for 'Org Level 1'[Org Level 1].
Tables and columns for [Org Level 2] are defined in the same way as [Org Level 1].
Screenshots
Report view:
Data view:
Model view:
Cross-reference to post in Power BI forum:
Power BI Forum: How to parameterize a column for aggregation
One solution to this is to add two list values parameters and use their values in Power Query M code to modify the database query. Lets assume that you have a table Data with columns Department, Product and Revenue. For simplicity I will add one more column, named Dummy Column, with all rows having the same value (e.g. null). I will explain why later in this post. So the table looks like this:
Then in your report specify a query when adding this table to your model (lets assume we will import it, but in general you can do this in DirectQuery too):
Now if you look the M code you will see the above query there:
Source = Sql.Database(".", "StackOverflow", [Query=" select ....
Now define couple of parameters, that the end-user can use to select how the data should be aggregated. Lets name them Level 1 and Level 2:
The value of a parameter can be used in M by parameter name, and & is used to concatenate strings. So if there is a parameter Name with value Samuel, the expression "Hello, " & Name & "!" will be evaluated as Hello, Samuel!. The idea is to check the value of our parameters and modify the database query accordingly.
In the select part, we will replace the name of the field selected, or we will put '' (empty string) in case of <All> (I surrounded parameter values with brackets to be more easily to distinguish parameter values from database field names). So the expression should look like:
"select " & (if #"Level 1" = "<Department>" then "Department" else ..." (and so on)
Because there is a space in our parameter's name, we need to surround it with #" and ", so Level1 can be referenced simply as Level1 in the code, but Level 1 becomes #"Level 1".
The group by part is a bit trickier. We should add a comma between field names, add or not field name, or even omit the group by at all (in case both parameters are set to <All>). To simplify this, I added one dummy column, with all rows having the same value (e.g. null) and always group by this column. This way building the group by clause is way more simpler - in case the parameter value is not <All>, we should add , fieldname. So the code could look like this:
"group by DummyColumn" & (if #"Level 1" = "<Department>" then ", Department" else ..." (and so on)
So the final M code is this:
let
Source = Sql.Database(".", "StackOverflow", [Query="select#(lf) " & (if #"Level 1" = "<Department>" then "Department" else if #"Level 1" = "<Product>" then "Product" else "''") & " as [Org Level 1]#(lf) , " & (if #"Level 2" = "<Department>" then "Department" else if #"Level 2" = "<Product>" then "Product" else "''") & " as [Org Level 2]#(lf) , SUM(Revenue) as Revenue#(lf)from Data#(lf)group by DummyColumn" & (if #"Level 1" = "<Department>" then ", Department" else if #"Level 1" = "<Product>" then ", Product" else "") & (if #"Level 2" = "<Department>" then ", Department" else if #"Level 2" = "<Product>" then ", Product" else "")])
in
Source
Now the end-user can change parameter values, by clicking Edit Queries -> Edit Parameters:
And select how to group the data:
By default, Power BI Desktop will warn you first time, when particular query is executed:
If you want to turn this off, go to File -> Options and settings -> Options -> (GLOBAL) Security and make sure Require user approval for new native database queries is not selected:
When the end-user changes parameter values, the data will change too, e.g.:
Or:
And so on...
This trick works well in Power BI Desktop when every user has its own copy of the .pbix file. However, if you publish it, first changing parameter values is not very convenient (you must go to datasat's settings) and more important, changing parameter values affects all users, which are looking at this report. You can also use it to modify Table.Group statements generated by Power Query Editor, in case you want to aggregate the data in Power BI, but changing the database query is easier and more flexible.
If you want to enable this scenario for concurrent multi-users scenarios for published reports, you can use slicers and What-if parameters. Unfortunately, What-if parameters can be numeric (you can't define the list of values there), so you can use measures to "decode" the int value of the parameter and write some DAX code to perform different aggregations accordingly. It is more work, but if it is needed, it can be made too.
Accept a customer number and then output the details of each order and items to an editor widget.
Here customer , order ,order-line and items are table names.
where as customer and order tables have cust-num as common field , order and order-line(table-name) and order have order-num as common field , order-line and item have item-num as common field.
now i have to use a fill-in (f1 is object name) to get the cust-num and use a search button (search1 as object name) to find the corresponding fields and display them in the editor widget ( editor-1 as object name).
define temp-table ttcustomer
field custnum like customer.cust-num
field cname like customer.name
field orders like order.order-num
field items like item.item-num
field itemname like item.item-name .
find first customer WHERE customer.cust-num = input f1 NO-LOCK .
create ttcustomer .
assign
ttcustomer.custnum = customer.cust-num
ttcustomer.cname = customer.name.
for each order WHERE Order.cust-num = input f1 NO-LOCK .
assign
ttcustomer.orders = order.order-num.
for each order-line where order-line.order-num = order.order-num no-lock.
for each item where item.item-num = order-line.item-num no-lock.
assign
ttcustomer.items = item.item-num
ttcustomer.itemname = item.item-name.
end.
end.
end.
i have written this code in search button .
how can i display the temp-table ttcustomer in editor widget please help me :)
You'd probably be better off using a browser instead of an editor. But if you are going to use an editor, this should give you what you need:
DEFINE VARIABLE edData AS CHARACTER NO-UNDO.
FOR EACH ttcustomer:
edData = edData + ttcustomer.items + ", " + ttcustomer.itemname + CHR(10).
END.
editor-1:SCREEN-VALUE = edData.
The editor is just text so you won't be able to do any record selection/manipulation like you can with a browser. And if you have many ttcustomer records, you run the risk of overflowing the 32k character string size limit.
I have a customer name with first name, last name, middle name. I want to concatenate these fields. When I concatenate these fields I am getting some of the fields as null cause as it contains at least one null value field. I have tried with this formula.
{FIRST_NAME}&","&{MIDDLE_NAME}&","&{LAST_NAME}
Ex: I have first name, last name but middle name is null then I am getting entire field as null.
Please help me how to resolve this.
You'll probably want to wrap each field with a formula to adjust for nulls:
// {#FIRST_NAME}
If Isnull({table.FIRST_NAME}) Then "" Else {table.FIRST_NAME}
Then create a formula to concatenate them
// {#FULL_NAME}
{#FIRST_NAME} + "," + {#MIDDLE_NAME} + "," + {#LAST_NAME}
I have a Crystal report with a table as a datasource and I want to include another table with details for the report footer.
I have two data sources in the report which are not linked, but when the selection criteria returns no rows from the main table, the results from the non-empty non-linked source are also empty.
I suspect it's doing a cross join between the two datasources, so if one is empty, that joined with another is also empty. The problem is I need my rows from the non-empty table to show in the report footer section, and they're getting suppressed by the other, empty datasource.
How can I get rows from an independent table to show in the report footer when the selection criteria and their parameter choices return an empty result set in the main table?
Thanks for your help,
-Beth
Also, I tried using a command as a datasource with sql like this:
select * from waitlist
union all
select distinct null as reportID, null as ..., lastupdated
from waitlist
but it still returns null for lastupdated and suppresses the subreport in the report footer.
I ended up setting my report datasource to a view which unioned another row to the table. I also needed to change my selection criteria so it allows this row to pass through.
Here's my datasource:
CREATE VIEW [dbo].[vw_rpt_waitlist] AS
select * from waitlist
union all
select distinct
reportID,
null as (fields...),
lastupdated,
'reserved' as countyName
from
waitlist
and here's my record selection formula:
({vw_rpt_waitlist.countyName} = {?County} or
{vw_rpt_waitlist.countyName} = "reserved") and
{vw_rpt_waitlist.reportID} = 14
I'm also suppressing the detail section if there were real rows returned:
formula = {vw_rpt_waitlist.countyName} = "reserved"
and to get the parameterized county name they selected in the page header of the report, I'm using:
dim t as string
dim c as string
if {vw_rpt_waitlist.countyName}="reserved" then
c = {?County}(1)
else
c = {vw_rpt_waitlist.countyName}
end if
t = "Waitlist by " + {#serviceTitle} + " and Waiver Need Index as of "
+ cstr({vw_rpt_waitlist.lastUpdated},"MM/dd/yyyy")
formula = t
Since the 'reserved' county always comes through, the subreports are not suppressed.
So I have these 3 table/views in my database.
Table
id
template
View1 // the ids in this view have a corresponding id in table if template = 1
id
type1
View2 // the ids in this view have a corresponding id in table if template = 2
id
type2
So in my report, I want to select all the ids... and then group by template, and then group by type. I can do this for one View at a time by setting up the group to be either View1.type1 or View2.type2. But, I want it to group by View1.type1 if template is 1 and then I want it to group by View2.type2 if the template is 2.
So I made a forumla called type, and changed the group to that formula.. So I am first grouping by template, and then by type (my formula). If I set the formula for type as below:
formula = {View1.type1}
Then it works as expected and I see the correct grouping. It also works if I only do it for View2.type2.
However, when I do this:
if {Table.template} = 1
formula = {View1.type1}
else
formula = {View2.type2}
This returns no data for my grouping. Even if I do this:
if 1 = 1
formula = {View1.type1}
else
formula = {View2.type2}
This also returns no data. How is dynamic grouping supposed to work? I am missing something? I guess at the worst case I can make another view in my database or even use subreports... but I was hoping to have it work like this... I greatly appreciate the help guys!...
UPDATE:
So I can do formulas such as this one:
if {View1.type1} = "" then
formula = "[Undefined]"
else
formula = {View1.type1}
end if
It looks like I only have issues when I try to use a formula with the 2 views...