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

The Power BI Data Visualization World Championships is back! Get ahead of the game and start preparing now! Learn more

Reply
Dunner2020
Post Prodigy
Post Prodigy

Creating filter as measure

Hi there,

 

I have a fact table which contains data about the sales such as what was sold, how much sold, when sold, who sold, how many customers bought particular sold, so on and so forth.  You can call that fact table contains raw data. Now I want to apply some exclusion rules on the data (exclude some data based on some rules). For example:

1) exclude sale information about product that few customers (i.e. 5) have bought. 

2) exclude sale information about the product that was sold 'online'.

 

Initially, I thought to create two separate filters containing each rule and then apply to fact table of sales. So, I created a measure something like the following:

filter 1 =  

FILTER('Sales Information','Sales Information'[NumberOfConsumers] > 5)
 
When I tried to create it, it throws an error "The expression refers to multiple columns, Multiple columns can not be converted to a scalar value". 
I converted the measure into table. Now I have a separate table which is created as the result of running the above command. Then I added the second exclusion rule by using 'and' operator in filter function.  Now, I have about 8 to 9 exclusion rules. I dont want to use 'and' operator in filter function. 
 
My question is there a way I could use filter function as measure? Can I use multiple filter function that combined returned the table?

 

 

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
mahoneypat
Microsoft Employee
Microsoft Employee

Your error is that you can't return a table as a scalar value.  You have to aggregate it first.  The most common way is to wrap your FILTER in a COUNTROWS ( FILTER(Table, Table[Column] >5))

 

If this works for you, please mark it as the solution.  Kudos are appreciated too.  Please let me know if not.

Regards,

Pat





Did I answer your question? Mark my post as a solution! Kudos are also appreciated!

To learn more about Power BI, follow me on Twitter or subscribe on YouTube.


@mahoneypa HoosierBI on YouTube


View solution in original post

1 REPLY 1
mahoneypat
Microsoft Employee
Microsoft Employee

Your error is that you can't return a table as a scalar value.  You have to aggregate it first.  The most common way is to wrap your FILTER in a COUNTROWS ( FILTER(Table, Table[Column] >5))

 

If this works for you, please mark it as the solution.  Kudos are appreciated too.  Please let me know if not.

Regards,

Pat





Did I answer your question? Mark my post as a solution! Kudos are also appreciated!

To learn more about Power BI, follow me on Twitter or subscribe on YouTube.


@mahoneypa HoosierBI on YouTube


Helpful resources

Announcements
Power BI DataViz World Championships

Power BI Dataviz World Championships

The Power BI Data Visualization World Championships is back! Get ahead of the game and start preparing now!

December 2025 Power BI Update Carousel

Power BI Monthly Update - December 2025

Check out the December 2025 Power BI Holiday Recap!

FabCon Atlanta 2026 carousel

FabCon Atlanta 2026

Join us at FabCon Atlanta, March 16-20, for the ultimate Fabric, Power BI, AI and SQL community-led event. Save $200 with code FABCOMM.