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penguins_fly's avatar
penguins_fly
Regular Visitor
2 years ago
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How to connect to data using DAX

Hello,  I am a newbie in Power BI and recently had my first interview for Power BI. The only knowledge I have of Power BI is with power query, data modeling, and report generation. I know how to con...
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  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    2 years ago

    Hi penguins_fly ,

    DAX, which stands for Data Analysis Expressions, is a formula language used in Power BI for creating custom calculations on data already in your model. It's primarily used for data analysis and creating measures and calculated columns within your Power BI datasets. DAX does not directly connect to or import data. Instead, it works on data that has already been imported into Power BI.
    To connect to data sources like SQL, Excel, web, and CSV, Power BI uses the "Get Data" feature available in Power BI Desktop. This process is part of the data modeling phase, where you import data into Power BI before applying any DAX calculations.
    But in Power Query you can use M function to connect to the data source, please confirm if this is the question your interviewer is asking? But it is true that DAX cannot connect to the data source.

    Best Regards,
    Dino Tao
    If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

Anonymous's avatar
Anonymous
Not applicable
2 years ago

Hi penguins_fly ,

DAX, which stands for Data Analysis Expressions, is a formula language used in Power BI for creating custom calculations on data already in your model. It's primarily used for data analysis and creating measures and calculated columns within your Power BI datasets. DAX does not directly connect to or import data. Instead, it works on data that has already been imported into Power BI.
To connect to data sources like SQL, Excel, web, and CSV, Power BI uses the "Get Data" feature available in Power BI Desktop. This process is part of the data modeling phase, where you import data into Power BI before applying any DAX calculations.
But in Power Query you can use M function to connect to the data source, please confirm if this is the question your interviewer is asking? But it is true that DAX cannot connect to the data source.

Best Regards,
Dino Tao
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

penguins_fly's avatar
penguins_fly
Regular Visitor
2 years ago

Thank you Anonymous .

Yeah, the interviewer did ask the same question. He asked if I knew about loading data using DAX and I thought I was wrong when I said I never heard of such an option.  But again, he was not an expert in power BI or analytics.

Thanks again for clarifying though.

PS: It would be a great help if you could recommend any resources to learn different data connecting methods to Power BI.