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David_Billa's avatar
David_Billa
Frequent Visitor
4 years ago

Tables with no common columns

I have a scenario which was being asked in intwerview kindly help me --> 
Q.) there are two tables which doesn't have any columns in common how can we create relationships in this case(power bi). I thought we can use index for which interviewer is not happy.
What is the correct procedure in this case.

4 Replies

  • For a relationship to be useful, there has to be something in common between the tables, even if there isn't an existing pair of columns that you can match up.

     

    For example, if you have a date table that only has a single column Date and a fact table that has columns for Year and Month but no Date column, you can construct a representative Date column on the fact table like this

     

    Date = DATE ( Table1[Year], Table1[Month], 1 )

     

    and then use this column for the relationship with the date table.

     

    There are lots of other ways your tables might have granularity mismatches or need a bit of extra work in order to create a relationship. However, if there aren't columns on both tables that have some sort of logical relationship, then there's no reason to create a relationship between the tables at all.

  • bcdobbs's avatar
    bcdobbs
    Icon for Community Champion rankCommunity Champion

    Might be missing something but I think the answer is you can't.

     

    Adding an index doesn't help because it doesn't create any shared description of the data.

     

    Was there any details of what was in the two tables?

    • prv_1401's avatar
      prv_1401
      Icon for Helper I rankHelper I

      Hi I have the same problem . I ll share the details. Please consider if u can help .

      I want to show the budget and spends on campaigns.

       

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    Not applicable

    Hi David_Billa ,

     

    You can't create the relationship for tables without common columns.

    You could try to create a link table as a bridge between these tables if possible.

    However you could still do some calculations even there's no relationship between these tables by using some DAX formula.

     

    Best Regards,

    Jay