Combining 2 Date Fields into 1

[MAkiva1]

I have 2 date fields in the same table in my database: Date Field 1 and Date Field 2.  Date Field 1 always contains data; Date FIeld 2 sometimes contains data.  What I'd like to do is create a new date column that always prefers Date Field 2 only if it has data, otherwise I want it to pull data from Date Field 1.  

Example 1: Date Field 1 has a date 03/16/2017; Date Field 2 is blank; New Column = 03/16/2017

Example 2: Date Field has a date 03/16/2017; Date Field 2 has a date 04/08/2017; New Column = 04/08/2017

I tried to use the SWITCH() function but wasn't able to get it to work.  Any suggestions?

[drewlewis15 · Accepted solution]

What about creating a custom column using the Query Editor?  You could add a column with the following statement (replace the text in green with your field names:

if [Date 2] <> null then [Date 2] else [Date 1]

It would result in something like this:

[anandav]

@MAkiva1,

Will the below DAX work for you?

New Date = IF(ISBLANK(Sheet1[Date 2]), Sheet1[Date 1], Sheet1[Date 2])

[MAkiva1]

No, I get the following error:

"A single value for column '[Date Field]' in table '[Table]' cannot be determined.  This can happen when a measure formula refers to a column that contains many values without specifying an aggregation such as min, max, count, or sum to get a single result."

Any other suggestions?

[anandav]

@MAkiva1, create it as a new column (not as a measure).

[MAkiva1]

Hi - I tried creating it as a column instead of a measure and still received the same error.  Any other suggestions?