topic Understanding DATESYTD, DATESBETWEEN and similar functions in DAX Commands and Tips

Understanding DATESYTD, DATESBETWEEN and similar functions

Cymbolz — Mon, 20 May 2019 03:32:55 GMT

I am trying to understand what is happening beneath the surface with functions like DATESYTD and DATESBETWEEN. The scenario:

A measure [Total]
A calendar table Calendar with columns Date, Year, Month, Day
A matrix with rows Year, Month and value [Total]
Some YTD measures (below)

Measure 1 - Using TOTALYTD - ok

Measure 2 - Using CALCULATE and DATESYTD

Measure 3 - Using CALCULATE and DATESBETWEEN

All three work as expected and produce the expected result. Curiosity has me wondering how the 2nd and 3rd are doing so relative to the matrix layout. In my expressions I do not refer to of modify (clear) the filters on Year, Month, Day.

Given DATESYTD and DATESBETWEEN return a single column table.

If I wrote the expression using the custom technique with FILTER then I'd need to explicitly clear the filters on those columns or the entire Calendar table.

I assume DATESYTD and DATESBETWEEN are doing this but is there any documented details on how these functions work?

Measure 2 = CALCULATE ( [Total, DATESYTD ( 'Calendar'[Date] ) )
Measure 3 = CALCULATE ( [Total], DATESBETWEEN ( 'Calendar'[Date], STARTOFYEAR ( 'Calendar'[Date] ), LASTDATE ( 'Calendar'[Date] ) ) )

Note, am not concerned about the theory of other functions (unless they relate to this topic), am well aware of when and how simple functions like MAX/MIN should be used.

Re: Understanding DATESYTD, DATESBETWEEN and similar functions

Cymbolz — Sun, 16 Jun 2019 23:14:09 GMT

Giving this a slight bump. Anyone?

Re: Understanding DATESYTD, DATESBETWEEN and similar functions

Cymbolz — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 03:09:38 GMT

marcorusso time for the super heros of DAX to have an input? :)

Re: Understanding DATESYTD, DATESBETWEEN and similar functions

marcorusso — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 05:59:52 GMT

The reason is explained in this article: https://www.sqlbi.com/articles/time-intelligence-in-power-bi-desktop/

Re: Understanding DATESYTD, DATESBETWEEN and similar functions

Cymbolz — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 06:33:23 GMT

Thank you marcorusso, hit the nail on the head (again!).

Mid-way through the article I was saying to myself "but it works irrespective of Mark as Date table" as that was part of my testing. Only a couple of paragraphs later did I read about when the Date column is the key in the relationship.

My life feels much more complete now :smileyvery-happy: