Forum Discussion
How to give variable values an alias?
Hi, I've been tasked with modifying an old Power BI report and was wondering if there's a way to give the values of a variable a different name, or alias, to make them easier to understand.
Specifically, we have a JobStatus column in a table (https://imgur.com/a/npA0MQO) and I'm wanting to either change the possible values of the variable, or give them an alias as per https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Desktop/Aliases-for-values-in-a-column/td-p/92182 eg 0 -> Incomplete, 10 -> Processing, 20 -> Complete
I realise that there's no way you could know what my Power BI report looks like and where the JobStatus variable is, but any general guidance on how I might access it would be greatly appreciated. The desktop environment is a bit confusing and there's no obvious way to change anything from the sidebar that comes up (https://imgur.com/a/HnaKuAT)
Thank you.
trijoco wrote:Hi d_gosbell, thanks for the reply! Unfortunately I'm totally new to Power BI so I just wanted to confirm your instructions:
1. Create JobStatuses table using the 'Enter Data' option in desktop app and follow that through
2. Follow instructions in https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/desktop-create-and-manage-relationships to create a many to 1 relationship (I'm guessing the JobStatuses table just gives an alternate, worded value to JobStatus that is switched to)
3. Replace instances of JobStatus with JobStatusDesc
Again, I really appreciate the help, this seems easier than expected.
Yes, that should be all you need to do.
3 Replies
This is actually pretty easy. The best way to do this is to create a separate table (maybe called JobStatuses)
eg.
JobStatus JobStatusDesc 0 Incomplete 10 Processing 20 Complete Then create a many to 1 relationship between your existing JobStatus column and the JobStatus column in this new table
ExistingTable[JobStatus] * ---> 1 JobStatuses[JobStatus]
Then I would suggest hidding the existing [JobStatus] column and replacing anywhere that you used it with the new JobStatuses[JobStatusDesc] column.
Hi d_gosbell, thanks for the reply! Unfortunately I'm totally new to Power BI so I just wanted to confirm your instructions:
1. Create JobStatuses table using the 'Enter Data' option in desktop app and follow that through
2. Follow instructions in https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/desktop-create-and-manage-relationships to create a many to 1 relationship (I'm guessing the JobStatuses table just gives an alternate, worded value to JobStatus that is switched to)
3. Replace instances of JobStatus with JobStatusDesc
Again, I really appreciate the help, this seems easier than expected.
trijoco wrote:Hi d_gosbell, thanks for the reply! Unfortunately I'm totally new to Power BI so I just wanted to confirm your instructions:
1. Create JobStatuses table using the 'Enter Data' option in desktop app and follow that through
2. Follow instructions in https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/desktop-create-and-manage-relationships to create a many to 1 relationship (I'm guessing the JobStatuses table just gives an alternate, worded value to JobStatus that is switched to)
3. Replace instances of JobStatus with JobStatusDesc
Again, I really appreciate the help, this seems easier than expected.
Yes, that should be all you need to do.
