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cwayne758's avatar
cwayne758
Icon for Helper IV rankHelper IV
10 years ago
Solved

Time Intelligence: TOTALMTD vs DATESMTD vs DATEADD

Hi,   I am trying to have a floating measure that tells us the total write-off amounts from the start of the current month to the current day in the current month.   I have done this 3 different ...
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Need Help
  • greggyb's avatar
    greggyb
    10 years ago

    If you want to understand time intelligence better in DAX, read this excellent blog post.

     

    In short here is the behavior of the three functions you mentioned.

     

    TOTALMTD(): This is only syntactic sugar, all it does is give you the following:

    CALCULATE(
    [measure]
    ,DATESMTD(DimDate[Date])
)

    DATESMTD(): This works in a date dimension, which must have contiguous, nonrepeating dates from January 1 of the first year you have data to December 31 of the last year you have data. The function returns a 1 column table made up of dates between the first of the month of the current date in context and the current date in context.

     

    DATEADD(): This essentially gives you a range of dates (one column table) based on the number of intervals you've requested in either direction. It does not behave intuitively compared to a DATEADD() function in any other language, and I am not aware of any circumstances we (we being a Microsoft BI consultancy with a number of DAX experts) have decided this is the right function to use for any of our work. There is a good description in the linked blog post at the top of my reply.

greggyb's avatar
greggyb
Icon for Resident Rockstar rankResident Rockstar
10 years ago

First, is there anything preventing you from loading dates to the end of the current year in your date dimension?

 

Second, Power Query has a lot of built in date functions specifically to create flags like you have mentioned. I'd use those in Power Query rather than defining calculated columns in the data model if I were you. They specifically cover all of the use cases you've laid out, and cover year-end wrapping appropriately.

elliotdixon's avatar
elliotdixon
Icon for Responsive Resident rankResponsive Resident
10 years ago

Hi greggyb

 

I am using the date table creation from

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/lukaszp/archive/2015/03/05/power-bi-date-filtering.aspx

 

 

//let
//    CreateDateTable = (StartDate, EndDate) =>
let
    StartDate=#date(2012,1,1),
    EndDate=#date(Date.Year(DateTime.LocalNow()),12,31),
    //Create lists of month and day names for use later on
    MonthList = {"January", "February", "March", "April", "May", "June"
                 , "July", "August", "September", "October", "November", "December"},
    DayList = {"Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday", "Saturday", "Sunday"},
    //Find the number of days between the end date and the start date
    NumberOfDates = Duration.Days(EndDate-StartDate),
    //Generate a continuous list of dates from the start date to the end date
    DateList = List.Dates(StartDate, NumberOfDates, #duration(1, 0, 0, 0)),

Has been working great but I have only just noticed it seems to push the date out to the 30th of December instead of the 31st.

Strange.

the line

EndDate=#date(Date.Year(DateTime.LocalNow()),12,31),

Should do the work but for some reason isnt going right to the end.

 

  • greggyb's avatar
    greggyb
    Icon for Resident Rockstar rankResident Rockstar
    10 years ago

    I've never really thought much about the quirk of the end date. I'm assuming that it essentially does 365-1 (December 31 - January 1) to get a duration of 364. I just add one to the NumberOfDates in my PQ date script.

     

    No real need for MonthList or DayList, as these can be generated in the function Date.ToText( <date>, <format string> ):

    // Power Query M
// Add custom column
MonthName =
Date.ToText( [Date], "mmmm" )

MonthNameShort =
Date.ToText( [Date], "mmm" )

YearMonth =
Date.ToText( [Date], "yyyy - mmm" )

DayName =
Date.ToText( [Date], "dddd" )

DayNameShort =
Date.ToText( [Date], "ddd" )
    • elliotdixon's avatar
      elliotdixon
      Icon for Responsive Resident rankResponsive Resident
      10 years ago

      Hi greggyb

      Thanks for your help with this.

       

      My full code for dates is actually

      //let
//    CreateDateTable = (StartDate, EndDate) =>
let
    StartDate=#date(2012,1,1),
    EndDate=#date(Date.Year(DateTime.LocalNow()),12,31),
    //Create lists of month and day names for use later on
    MonthList = {"January", "February", "March", "April", "May", "June"
                 , "July", "August", "September", "October", "November", "December"},     //changed this day from the original to have Monday first so it would be the first day of the week
    DayList = {"Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday", "Saturday", "Sunday"},
    //Find the number of days between the end date and the start date
    NumberOfDates = Duration.Days(EndDate-StartDate),
    //Generate a continuous list of dates from the start date to the end date
    DateList = List.Dates(StartDate, NumberOfDates, #duration(1, 0, 0, 0)),
    //Turn this list into a table
    TableFromList = Table.FromList(DateList, Splitter.SplitByNothing(), {"Date"}
                     , null, ExtraValues.Error),
    //Cast the single column in the table to type date
    ChangedType = Table.TransformColumnTypes(TableFromList,{{"Date", type date}}),
    //Add custom columns for day of month, month number, year
    DayOfMonth = Table.AddColumn(ChangedType, "DayOfMonth", each Date.Day([Date])),
    MonthNumber = Table.AddColumn(DayOfMonth, "MonthNumberOfYear", each Date.Month([Date])),
    Year = Table.AddColumn(MonthNumber, "Year", each Date.Year([Date])),
    DayOfWeekNumber = Table.AddColumn(Year, "DayOfWeekNumber", each Date.DayOfWeek([Date])+1),

    //Since Power Query doesn't have functions to return day or month names,
    //use the lists created earlier for this
    MonthName = Table.AddColumn(DayOfWeekNumber, "MonthName", each MonthList{[MonthNumberOfYear]-1}),
    DayName = Table.AddColumn(MonthName, "DayName", each DayList{[DayOfWeekNumber]-1}),
    WeekEnding = Table.AddColumn(DayName, "Week Ending", each Date.EndOfWeek([Date])),
    #"Changed Type" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(WeekEnding ,{{"DayOfMonth", Int64.Type}, {"MonthNumberOfYear", Int64.Type}, {"Year", Int64.Type}, {"DayOfWeekNumber", Int64.Type}}),
    #"Added Custom" = Table.AddColumn(#"Changed Type", "MonthYear", each Text.Range([MonthName], 0, 3) & "-" & Number.ToText([Year])),
    #"Added Custom1" = Table.AddColumn(#"Added Custom", "MonthYearNumber", each [Year] * 1000 + [MonthNumberOfYear]),
    #"Changed Type1" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(#"Added Custom1",{{"MonthYearNumber", Int64.Type}}),
    #"Duplicated Column" = Table.DuplicateColumn(#"Changed Type1", "Week Ending", "Copy of Week Ending"),
    #"Renamed Columns" = Table.RenameColumns(#"Duplicated Column",{{"Copy of Week Ending", "WeekEndingDate"}}),
    #"Changed Type2" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(#"Renamed Columns",{{"WeekEndingDate", type date}}),
    #"Renamed Columns1" = Table.RenameColumns(#"Changed Type2",{{"Week Ending", "WeekEnding"}})
in
    #"Renamed Columns1"
//in

//    CreateDateTable

      Then add the following columns.

      (I guess a lot of these could be added with Power Query automatically but I am still learning and have not got around to getting them in just yet. )

      DAX Measures
Today:=DATE(year(now()),MONTH(NOW()), DAY(NOW()))

      DAX Calculated Columns
IsInCurrentYear
=if(YEAR(NOW())= [Year],1,0)

WeekOfYearNumber
=WEEKNUM([Date],2)
IsInCurrentWeek
=if([isInCurrentYear] && WEEKNUM(NOW())=[WeekOfYearNumber],1,0)

IsInCurrentYear = if(YEAR(NOW())= [Year],1,0)// Column to see if it is the current year

IsInLastWeek
=if([isInCurrentYear] && (WEEKNUM(NOW())-1)=[WeekOfYearNumber],1,0)

IsLast30Days
=if(AND([Date]>=[Today]-30,[Date]<=[Today] ),1,0)

YearWeekNum = Concatenate(Dates[Year],Dates[WeekOfYearNumber])

WTD = IF(CALCULATE(VALUES(Dates[YearWeekNum]),Dates[Date]=TODAY()-1,ALL(Dates))=Dates[YearWeekNum]
	&& Dates[Date]<=TODAY()-1,"WTD",BLANK())
	// shows if it's in the current Week To Date - can use as a filter
	
RelativeDate = [Date]-Today()
//shows the difference in days between today and a date 
// good for looking into the future or so many days back in the past. 

EOM = EOMONTH(Dates[Date],0)    //Add a column that returns true if the date on rows is the current date

IsLast7Days = if(AND([Date]>=[Today]-7,[Date]<=[Today]),1,0)
// 1 if is in the last 7 days

IsToday = Table.AddColumn(DayName, "IsToday", each Date.IsInCurrentDay([Date]))
//Column to see if it is the day today.

      Already have Monthnames, days etc.

       

      Looking at the M language I tried adding in the IsInPreviousMonth

       

      IsInPreviousMonth = Table.AddColumn(IsInPreviousMonth, "IsInPreviousMonth", each Date.IsInPreviousMonth([Date]))

      However it didnt seem to come up? Would have thought this should have just added another column with the info I needed.

       

      Final code is

      //let
//    CreateDateTable = (StartDate, EndDate) =>
let
    StartDate=#date(2015,1,1),
    EndDate=#date(Date.Year(DateTime.LocalNow()),12,31),
    //Create lists of month and day names for use later on
    MonthList = {"January", "February", "March", "April", "May", "June"
                 , "July", "August", "September", "October", "November", "December"},
    DayList = {"Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday", "Saturday", "Sunday"},
    //Find the number of days between the end date and the start date
    NumberOfDates = Duration.Days(EndDate-StartDate),
    //Generate a continuous list of dates from the start date to the end date
    DateList = List.Dates(StartDate, NumberOfDates, #duration(1, 0, 0, 0)),
    //Turn this list into a table
    TableFromList = Table.FromList(DateList, Splitter.SplitByNothing(), {"Date"}
                     , null, ExtraValues.Error),
    //Cast the single column in the table to type date
    ChangedType = Table.TransformColumnTypes(TableFromList,{{"Date", type date}}),
    
//Add custom columns for day of month, month number, year
    DayOfMonth = Table.AddColumn(ChangedType, "DayOfMonth", each Date.Day([Date])),
    MonthNumber = Table.AddColumn(DayOfMonth, "MonthNumberOfYear", each Date.Month([Date])),
    Year = Table.AddColumn(MonthNumber, "Year", each Date.Year([Date])),
    DayOfWeekNumber = Table.AddColumn(Year, "DayOfWeekNumber", each Date.DayOfWeek([Date])+1),
    
//Since Power Query doesn't have functions to return day or month names,
    //use the lists created earlier for this
    MonthName = Table.AddColumn(DayOfWeekNumber, "MonthName", each MonthList{[MonthNumberOfYear]-1}),
   
 DayName = Table.AddColumn(MonthName, "DayName", each DayList{[DayOfWeekNumber]-1}),

    WeekEnding = Table.AddColumn(DayName, "Week Ending", each Date.EndOfWeek([Date])),
    #"Changed Type" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(WeekEnding ,{{"DayOfMonth", Int64.Type}, {"MonthNumberOfYear", Int64.Type}, {"Year", Int64.Type}, {"DayOfWeekNumber", Int64.Type}}),
    #"Added Custom" = Table.AddColumn(#"Changed Type", "MonthYear", each Text.Range([MonthName], 0, 3) & "-" & Number.ToText([Year])),
    #"Added Custom1" = Table.AddColumn(#"Added Custom", "MonthYearNumber", each [Year] * 1000 + [MonthNumberOfYear]),
    #"Changed Type1" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(#"Added Custom1",{{"MonthYearNumber", Int64.Type}}),
    #"Duplicated Column" = Table.DuplicateColumn(#"Changed Type1", "Week Ending", "Copy of Week Ending"),
    #"Renamed Columns" = Table.RenameColumns(#"Duplicated Column",{{"Copy of Week Ending", "WeekEndingDate"}}),
    #"Changed Type2" = Table.TransformColumnTypes(#"Renamed Columns",{{"WeekEndingDate", type date}}),
    #"Renamed Columns1" = Table.RenameColumns(#"Changed Type2",{{"Week Ending", "WeekEnding"}}),
    #"Sorted Rows" = Table.Sort(#"Renamed Columns1",{{"Date", Order.Descending}}),

IsInPreviousMonth = Table.AddColumn(IsInPreviousMonth, "IsInPreviousMonth", each Date.IsInPreviousMonth([Date]))



in
    #"Sorted Rows"
//in
//    CreateDateTable
      • elliotdixon's avatar
        elliotdixon
        Icon for Responsive Resident rankResponsive Resident
        10 years ago

         

        So I just took another look and worked out I could change the code

         

          //Generate a continuous list of dates from the start date to the end date
    DateList = List.Dates(StartDate, NumberOfDates, #duration(1, 0, 2, 0)),

        previously this was

         //Generate a continuous list of dates from the start date to the end date
    DateList = List.Dates(StartDate, NumberOfDates, #duration(1, 0, 0, 0)),

        Gather that 2 moves it one day forward.
        Not sure how that works but it seems to do the job. Now back to the formula.