Forum Discussion
Helper IISingle date slicer to filter multiple date tables
I'm hoping this isn't actually so difficult, but I've had a tough time trying to figure out the proper setup. I'd like to use a single date slicer to filter multiple tables with dates in them. The tables are like this:
RoughInspectionsFinalInspections
There is a relationship between the tables like so (using JobID field and the Job_info table):
Relationships
There are no dates in Job_info to use with a slicer. Using two slicers -- one for the date in RoughInspections and one for the date in FinalInspections -- works in a sense, but because of the implicit relationship between the two, when I select a date range in RoughInspections it filters visuals using data from FinalInspections. I know this is as designed but it is undesirable in this case because I only want the FinalInspections visuals sliced by the Final Inspection Date slicer. It seems the logic is such that, as in the screenshot below, when I slice by Rough Inspection Date the Final Inspections count card visual counts only observations that have a related record in the date range in RoughInspections.
In short, I have visuals and slicers on the page using data from RoughInspections, FinalInspections and Job_info, below. I'd like the Job_info slicers (e.g. Job Status) to slice all visuals, and Rough Inspection date slicer to slice RoughInspections visuals and Final Inspection date slicer to slice FinalInspections. (Ideally, this could be done with one date slicer, but I'd be happy with the two behaving independently.)
un-sliced viewsliced on RoughInspections date
Is there a way to do this other than breaking relationships or splitting the visuals across different pages? Thanks for any help!
Jonathan
Shouldn't your slicer be based on the dates in a Date Table where the Date field is related to all of the relevant date fields in your other tables?
18 Replies
- edhans
Community Champion
Shouldn't your slicer be based on the dates in a Date Table where the Date field is related to all of the relevant date fields in your other tables?
- otravers
As edhans suggested, you should have a calendar table (i.e. a dimension table for dates) with relationships with your fact tables, and set up your filters against dimension tables rather than fact tables.
Years ago people used to import big pre-created calendar tables (e.g. from a relational database), but if you google around you'll now find plenty of solutions using either M (my preference) or DAX. Here's something to get you started, there's plenty more related content on the web:
jscottNRGThanks edhans, do you know of a good resource describing how to do that?
I tried setting up a slicer with a Date Table, and added calculated columns to RoughInspections and FinalInspections looking to see if each record was "in range" per the sliced Date Table, but no luck. I didn't think to set up relations between the Date Table and the other tables, though.
AreeResolver I
You would use a Date Table as the main source that all timephased data would be linked too.
The typical functions used to create this table is the following DAX
CALENDAR(<start_date>, <end_date>)https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/query-bi/dax/calendar-function-dax
or
CALENDARAUTO([fiscal_year_end_month])
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/query-bi/dax/calendarauto-function-daxYour relationships will look like this
This gives you a single source for date slicing.
Hope this helps.
- jscottNRG
edhansAree thanks again for your suggestions.
I created a Date Table and marked it as such on the Modeling tab:
Calendar (Date Table)
I tried to set up relationships between Calendar and RoughInspections and FinalInspections -- the first one went fine but I got an error on the second:
Relationship activation
You can't create a direct active relationship between RoughInspections and Calendar because that would introduce ambiguity between tables Calendar and Job_info...
I'm guessing that is causing this problem, that all records are included when the slicer is 'wide-open,' but when I restrict the range even by one day then the visuals go blank:
7/1/2016 - 6/30/20187/2/2016 - 6/30/2018
Any thoughts on what I've done wrong?
- Aree
Hey Mate,
Can you upload a screen shot of the relationship diagram?
Also the calendar table becomes the focal point for all timephased data (all sources that have transactions by day).
Do not link other none timephased data to the calendar table. I believe this is what might be causing your ambiguity but I would need to see the relationship diagram to be certain.
