Column, NOT THE KEY, contains null values - PBI error "This is not allowed on the one side..."

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I have a dataset that is having a hard time and I don't know why.  I keep getting this error on various dim tables:

This happens on multiple of my dim tables, but the column it references is never the key and is not defined in any relationships, nor is it used in any calculations or measures. For this particular dim, there is two relationships and both are using the primary key of the table:

I can't figure out why it won't let blank values exist if it has nothing to do with the table joins or the key? 

To make it more confusing, if the value is blank, it pulls everything just fine.  If the value is null, then I get the error.  I am on the most up-to-date version, and have not marked to use the new metadata style, and I do not bring in any relationships from the source:

Any help or guidance is greatly appreciated.

[v-deddai1-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous ,

The blank value and the null value are quite different in power bi, blank () can be added to the expression such as 4 + blank () = 4. For more details, please refer to  https://www.sqlbi.com/articles/how-to-handle-blank-in-dax-measures/

For your issue, I suggest you replace all null values with other special values, before you close and apply.  Please refer to How to replace null values with custom values in Power BI

Best Regards,

Dedmon Dai

[Anonymous]

But for an ancillary column on a dimension table, why would it not take a null value?  I've never run across this before, it just felt odd that this happened now.  I can understand it not liking any null or BLANK() values in the key columns, but the cell(s) that fall in this category aren't used to connect anywhere or do any calcs or logic...