Dates between 2000 BC and 3000 AD

[MrMgr]

Hello, I am trying to analyze historical data regarding solar eclipses. Source data on the NASA website range from 2000 BC to 3000 AD. But when I try to generate a calendar table for dates preceded by a '-' minus sign, I get an error message (date out of range). Is there a limit for BC dates? Is there any way around this? This is the code I uses to generate DATE table:

let
    // configurations start
    Today=Date.From(DateTime.LocalNow()), // today's date
    FromYear = 1, // set the start year of the date dimension. dates start from 1st of January of this year
    ToYear= 3000, // set the end year of the date dimension. dates end at 31st of December of this year
    StartofFiscalYear=1, // set the month number that is start of the financial year. example; if fiscal year start is July, value is 7
    firstDayofWeek=Day.Monday, // set the week's start day, values: Day.Monday, Day.Sunday....
    // configuration end
    FromDate=#date(FromYear,1,1),
    ToDate=#date(ToYear,12,31),
    Source=List.Dates(
        FromDate,
        Duration.Days(ToDate-FromDate)+1,
        #duration(1,0,0,0)
    ),
    #"Converted to Table" = Table.FromList(Source, Splitter.SplitByNothing(), null, null, ExtraValues.Error),
    #"Renamed Columns" = Table.RenameColumns(#"Converted to Table",{{"Column1", "Date"}}),
    #"Changed Type" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(#"Renamed Columns",{{"Date", type date}}),
    #"Inserted Year" = Table.AddColumn(#"Changed Type", "Year", each Date.Year([Date]), Int64.Type),
    #"Inserted Start of Year" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Year", "Start of Year", each Date.StartOfYear([Date]), type date),
    #"Inserted End of Year" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Start of Year", "End of Year", each Date.EndOfYear([Date]), type date),
    #"Inserted Month" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted End of Year", "Month", each Date.Month([Date]), Int64.Type),
    #"Inserted Start of Month" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Month", "Start of Month", each Date.StartOfMonth([Date]), type date),
    #"Inserted End of Month" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Start of Month", "End of Month", each Date.EndOfMonth([Date]), type date),
    #"Inserted Days in Month" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted End of Month", "Days in Month", each Date.DaysInMonth([Date]), Int64.Type),
    #"Inserted Day" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Days in Month", "Day", each Date.Day([Date]), Int64.Type),
    #"Inserted Day Name" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Day", "Day Name", each Date.DayOfWeekName([Date]), type text),
    #"Inserted Day of Week" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Day Name", "Day of Week", each Date.DayOfWeek([Date],firstDayofWeek), Int64.Type),
    #"Inserted Day of Year" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Day of Week", "Day of Year", each Date.DayOfYear([Date]), Int64.Type),
    #"Inserted Month Name" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Day of Year", "Month Name", each Date.MonthName([Date]), type text),
    #"Inserted Quarter" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Month Name", "Quarter", each Date.QuarterOfYear([Date]), Int64.Type),
    #"Inserted Start of Quarter" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Quarter", "Start of Quarter", each Date.StartOfQuarter([Date]), type date),
    #"Inserted End of Quarter" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Start of Quarter", "End of Quarter", each Date.EndOfQuarter([Date]), type date),
    #"Inserted Week of Year" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted End of Quarter", "Week of Year", each Date.WeekOfYear([Date],firstDayofWeek), Int64.Type),
    #"Inserted Week of Month" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Week of Year", "Week of Month", each Date.WeekOfMonth([Date],firstDayofWeek), Int64.Type),
    #"Inserted Start of Week" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Week of Month", "Start of Week", each Date.StartOfWeek([Date],firstDayofWeek), type date),
    #"Inserted End of Week" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted Start of Week", "End of Week", each Date.EndOfWeek([Date],firstDayofWeek), type date),
    FiscalMonthBaseIndex=13-StartofFiscalYear,
    adjustedFiscalMonthBaseIndex=if(FiscalMonthBaseIndex>=12 or FiscalMonthBaseIndex<0) then 0 else FiscalMonthBaseIndex,
    #"Added Custom" = Table.AddColumn(#"Inserted End of Week", "FiscalBaseDate", each Date.AddMonths([Date],adjustedFiscalMonthBaseIndex)),
    #"Changed Type1" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(#"Added Custom",{{"FiscalBaseDate", type date}}),
    #"Inserted Year1" = Table.AddColumn(#"Changed Type1", "Year.1", each Date.Year([FiscalBaseDate]), Int64.Type),
    #"Renamed Columns1" = Table.RenameColumns(#"Inserted Year1",{{"Year.1", "Fiscal Year"}}),
    #"Inserted Quarter1" = Table.AddColumn(#"Renamed Columns1", "Quarter.1", each Date.QuarterOfYear([FiscalBaseDate]), Int64.Type),
    #"Renamed Columns2" = Table.RenameColumns(#"Inserted Quarter1",{{"Quarter.1", "Fiscal Quarter"}}),
    #"Inserted Month1" = Table.AddColumn(#"Renamed Columns2", "Month.1", each Date.Month([FiscalBaseDate]), Int64.Type),
    #"Renamed Columns3" = Table.RenameColumns(#"Inserted Month1",{{"Month.1", "Fiscal Month"}}),
    #"Removed Columns" = Table.RemoveColumns(#"Renamed Columns3",{"FiscalBaseDate"}),
    #"Inserted Age" = Table.AddColumn(#"Removed Columns", "Age", each [Date]-Today, type duration),
    #"Extracted Days" = Table.TransformColumns(#"Inserted Age",{{"Age", Duration.Days, Int64.Type}}),
    #"Renamed Columns4" = Table.RenameColumns(#"Extracted Days",{{"Age", "Day Offset"}}),
    #"Added Custom1" = Table.AddColumn(#"Renamed Columns4", "Month Offset", each (([Year]-Date.Year(Today))*12)
+([Month]-Date.Month(Today))),
    #"Changed Type2" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(#"Added Custom1",{{"Month Offset", Int64.Type}}),
    #"Added Custom2" = Table.AddColumn(#"Changed Type2", "Year Offset", each [Year]-Date.Year(Today)),
    #"Changed Type3" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(#"Added Custom2",{{"Year Offset", Int64.Type}}),
    #"Added Custom3" = Table.AddColumn(#"Changed Type3", "Quarter Offset", each (([Year]-Date.Year(Today))*4)
+([Quarter]-Date.QuarterOfYear(Today))),
    #"Changed Type4" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(#"Added Custom3",{{"Quarter Offset", Int64.Type}}),
    #"Added Custom4" = Table.AddColumn(#"Changed Type4", "Year-Month", each Date.ToText([Date],"MMM yyyy")),
    #"Added Custom5" = Table.AddColumn(#"Added Custom4", "Year-Month Code", each Date.ToText([Date],"yyyyMM")),
    #"Changed Type5" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(#"Added Custom5",{{"Year-Month", type text}, {"Year-Month Code", Int64.Type}}),
    #"Day Name" = #"Changed Type5"{0}[Day Name]
in
    #"Day Name"

[MrMgr · Accepted solution]

Well, I stumble on the same error, with the date of 100 AD. But the solution is simple, I will split date in to 3 columns. And I willl create artificial hierachical structure. I will know that its the year/month/day but PowerBI will not. I will post final soluton tumorow. Limts are real, in the end it's for buissness analitics not for science.

[Greg_Deckler]

@MrMgr Through some experimentation, I found that M also basically taps out at 1/1/0100. For example, if you do this (see below) then no errors. The minute you specificy a number less than -657434 then when you convert to date you get errors.

let
    Source = List.Generate( () => -657434, each _ < 2000, each _ +1),
    #"Converted to Table" = Table.FromList(Source, Splitter.SplitByNothing(), null, null, ExtraValues.Error),
    #"Changed Type" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(#"Converted to Table",{{"Column1", type date}})
in
    #"Changed Type"

[Greg_Deckler]

@MrMgr Hmm, well, in DAX you can create a date table that goes from 1/1/0100 as the earliest date so not a lot of help there. The reference date for both DAX and M is 12/30/1899. So, as a work-a-round perhaps if you just generated a list of numbers that represented the number of days prior to that date as negative numbers and the number of days after that date as positive numbers. You wouldn't be able to represent them as dates but you might be able to use that in calculations to "fake" it. Not sure how far back M can go but it can handle dates prior to 12/30/1899. For example, if you convert a numeric -1 to a date, M will return back 12/29/1899.