Skip to main content
cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Join us for an expert-led overview of the tools and concepts you'll need to become a Certified Power BI Data Analyst and pass exam PL-300. Register now.

Reply
bhalicki
Helper IV
Helper IV

CountRows from related table, return 0 if unmatched

Hello,
I have the following tables and data (example scenario to demonstrate requirement):

bhalicki_0-1677580965790.png

Customer table:

bhalicki_1-1677580987174.png

Invoice table:

bhalicki_2-1677580999682.png

Product table:

bhalicki_3-1677581010602.png

I want to implement a measure that gives me the total number of products on the invoice (by counting the number of rows).  Measure is as follows:

 

ProductCount1 = COUNTROWS(InvoiceProducts)
bhalicki_0-1677582334869.png
I have implemented the following measure, but it creates a cartesian product:
ProductCount =
VAR ProdCount = COUNTROWS(InvoiceProducts)
RETURN IF(ISBLANK(ProdCount),0,ProdCount)

bhalicki_5-1677581358708.png

Hoping someone could please explain why this is happening and how to resolve it?

 

Thanks in advance,

Ben.

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
johnt75
Super User
Super User

Its happening because the measure returns a non-blank result even for invalid combinations of customer and invoice. You can use

Num prods = SUMX( 'Invoice', COALESCE( COUNTROWS( RELATEDTABLE('Product')), 0))

View solution in original post

4 REPLIES 4
bhalicki
Helper IV
Helper IV

Hi @johnt75 , thank you for your help, your solution is perfect.

Could you please explain why measures are evaulated for invalid combinations as well?  I always thought the measure would only be evaluated for the current filter context (in the example above, this would be InvoiceId and CustomerId).

Every time I think I understand DAX, something completely changes my understanding 🙂

The measure is just evaluated for the current filter context, but that changes for each data point, either a cell in a table or matrix or a point on a chart.

As I understand it, SUMMARIZECOLUMNS generates the cross join of all values in the columns you put into the visual. It will then run any measures you add for each of these combinations. If all the measures return blank then that combination is not returned as part of the result set, but if any of the measures returns a non-blank value then it will be included.

Thanks @johnt75 , that makes sense.  Appreciate your help.

johnt75
Super User
Super User

Its happening because the measure returns a non-blank result even for invalid combinations of customer and invoice. You can use

Num prods = SUMX( 'Invoice', COALESCE( COUNTROWS( RELATEDTABLE('Product')), 0))

Helpful resources

Announcements
Join our Fabric User Panel

Join our Fabric User Panel

This is your chance to engage directly with the engineering team behind Fabric and Power BI. Share your experiences and shape the future.

June 2025 Power BI Update Carousel

Power BI Monthly Update - June 2025

Check out the June 2025 Power BI update to learn about new features.

June 2025 community update carousel

Fabric Community Update - June 2025

Find out what's new and trending in the Fabric community.