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Saxon202202's avatar
Saxon202202
Helper III
3 years ago
Solved

Same Variable in multiple measure

Hi,

 

I am very new to new Power BI. Can you please explain about variable (VAR)? How can I use it? Where should I use it? 

Can I use the same variable in multiple place within the same measure or using the same variable in different measure? It will affect the report performance?

  • Saxon202202 var are local to the measure, you cannot use it across the measures, yes you can use it in the measure as many times as you want. It is basically storing the value and resuing it rather than computing it again and again which can have a performance impact. 

     

    For example, if you have a measure called Sales Amount  and want to have a condition if sales amount > 100 then color is "green", if sales amount > 50 then color is "yellow" otherwise "red", see the measure below with and without var

     

    Color Measure = 
    //in this case sales measure will be evaluated until condition is true
    SWITCH ( TRUE()
      [Sales Measure] > 100, "Green",
      [Sales Measure] > 50, "Yellow",
      "Red"
    )
    
    Color Measure = 
    //in this case sales measures will be evaluated once and store in a variable
    VAR __sales = [Sales Measure]
    SWITCH ( TRUE()
      __sales > 100, "Green",
      __sales > 50, "Yellow",
      "Red"
    )
    
    

     

     

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1 Reply

  • Saxon202202 var are local to the measure, you cannot use it across the measures, yes you can use it in the measure as many times as you want. It is basically storing the value and resuing it rather than computing it again and again which can have a performance impact. 

     

    For example, if you have a measure called Sales Amount  and want to have a condition if sales amount > 100 then color is "green", if sales amount > 50 then color is "yellow" otherwise "red", see the measure below with and without var

     

    Color Measure = 
    //in this case sales measure will be evaluated until condition is true
    SWITCH ( TRUE()
      [Sales Measure] > 100, "Green",
      [Sales Measure] > 50, "Yellow",
      "Red"
    )
    
    Color Measure = 
    //in this case sales measures will be evaluated once and store in a variable
    VAR __sales = [Sales Measure]
    SWITCH ( TRUE()
      __sales > 100, "Green",
      __sales > 50, "Yellow",
      "Red"
    )
    
    

     

     

    Follow us on LinkedIn and  to our YouTube channel

    I would  Kudos if my solution helped. 👉 If you can spend time posting the question, you can also make effort to give Kudos to whoever helped to solve your problem. It is a token of appreciation!

     

    Visit us at https://perytus.com, your one-stop shop for Power BI-related projects/training/consultancy.