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Anonymous's avatar
Anonymous
Not applicable
3 years ago
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Trying to divide two columns but getting error

I'm new to DAX SORRY if this is a silly question. I'm trying to Divide two columns to find margin. 
Here's my intention 
(Column A-Column B)/Column A
 
What I wrote : 
Measure = DIVIDE(SUM('table name'[fieldname]-SUM('fieldname'), SUM('table name[(field name)])
 
Error I'm getting
The SUM function only accepts a column reference as an argument.
 
Thanks for your help!
  • daXtreme's avatar
    daXtreme
    3 years ago

    Writing code, any code for that matter, requires from the author something that's called pedantry.

    Your code has an obvious problem:

    Measure = DIVIDE(SUM('table name'[fieldname]-SUM('fieldname'), SUM('table name[(field name)])

    Can you spot it? It's rather easy based on what the error message says. And it says:

    The SUM function only accepts a column reference as an argument.
     
    Column references in DAX are of the form 'Table'[ColumnName]. Measures, on the other hand, should never be preceded by the name of the table they reside in.
     
    By the way, this form:
    SUM('table name[(field name)])
    might also be wrong if the field name is not originally surrounded with "(..)". What's more, you're missing the closing ' (apostrophe) here...
     
    You have to write code exactly as the rules dictate. Otherwise, you'll be getting errors all over the place.

2 Replies

  • daXtreme's avatar
    daXtreme
    Icon for Solution Sage rankSolution Sage
    3 years ago

    Writing code, any code for that matter, requires from the author something that's called pedantry.

    Your code has an obvious problem:

    Measure = DIVIDE(SUM('table name'[fieldname]-SUM('fieldname'), SUM('table name[(field name)])

    Can you spot it? It's rather easy based on what the error message says. And it says:

    The SUM function only accepts a column reference as an argument.
     
    Column references in DAX are of the form 'Table'[ColumnName]. Measures, on the other hand, should never be preceded by the name of the table they reside in.
     
    By the way, this form:
    SUM('table name[(field name)])
    might also be wrong if the field name is not originally surrounded with "(..)". What's more, you're missing the closing ' (apostrophe) here...
     
    You have to write code exactly as the rules dictate. Otherwise, you'll be getting errors all over the place.
  • v-yinliw-msft's avatar
    v-yinliw-msft
    Icon for Community Support rankCommunity Support
    3 years ago

    Hi Anonymous ,

     

    According your code , you lost a “)” in the end of the first “table name[fieldname]”, in front of the minus.

     

    Hope this helps you.

     

    Best Regards,

    Community Support Team _Yinliw

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