Earlier function errors

[GunnerJ]

In the calculation below the red colored text is giving me an error. Both lines throw "Parameter is not the right type" and "Cannot find name". I have no idea why this is the case and in sample code the creators seem to be using the EARLIER function like myself. Is there something I'm missing?

Calc Column =

VAR PreviousRow =

Topn(

1,

FILTER(

Workflow1,

Workflow1[BI_WRKFLW_TASK_SEQ_NBR] < EARLIER( Workflow1[BI_WRKFLW_TASK_SEQ_NBR])

&& Workflow1[BI_SO_NBR] = EARLIER( Workflow1[BI_SO_NBR])

&& Workflow1[BI_WORK_EVENT_CD] = "COMP"

),

Workflow1[BI_WRKFLW_TASK_SEQ_NBR],ASC

)

VAR CurrDateTime =

MAX(Workflow[BI_EVENT_DT_TM])

return CurrDateTime - PreviousRow

[v-juanli-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @GunnerJ 

As tested, when i use the "Earlier" function inside "Filter" function to produce a table, it would throw an error, the same as used in Top N function.

You could understand the "Earlier" meaning from this thread.

When using it in Topn or other formula which finally returns a table, it makes no sense in that case.

You could try the following workaround to get the expected result.

If you have any question, feel free to let me know.

Create measures

SUB =
VAR previous =
    CALCULATE (
        MIN ( Sheet7[nbr1] ),
        FILTER (
            ALLSELECTED ( Sheet7 ),
            Sheet7[nbr2] = MAX ( Sheet7[nbr2] )
                && Sheet7[cd] = "COMP"
        )
    )
RETURN
    DATEDIFF ( previous, MAX ( Sheet7[tm] ), HOUR )

Or

SUB 2 =
VAR previous =
    CALCULATE (
        MIN ( Sheet7[nbr1] ),
        FILTER (
            ALLSELECTED ( Sheet7 ),
            Sheet7[nbr2] = MAX ( Sheet7[nbr2] )
                && Sheet7[cd] = "COMP"
        )
    )
VAR current1 =
    CALCULATE ( MAX ( Sheet7[tm] ), ALLSELECTED ( Sheet7 ) )
RETURN
    DATEDIFF ( previous, current1, HOUR )

Best Regards
Maggie
Community Support Team _ Maggie Li
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[parry2k]

@GunnerJ are you adding this as  measure or column? it will not work in measure

[GunnerJ]

Yes I was trying as a measure. I thought measures were used for multi row context and columns for single row context? I'm trying to compare one time to another so that's why I went with measure. When I switch to column I get the message "The expression refers to multiple columns. Multiple columns cannot be converted to a scalar value." I'm only trying to return one value but it will require a few columns to compute. 

@parry2k