Forum Discussion
Unknown Data Type Icon
Hi folks,
I am pretty new to Power BI so this might be a very beginner question. When I tried to use PBI time functions like MONTH() in calculated fields (measures) I noticed that I cannot select any date fields within the formula.
I am (live) connected to a SSAS cube with these settings for the field in question:
Visual Studio Data Field Properties
In Power BI I see the data field indicated with this small icon for which I cannot find any specification or description in the forums:
But what I found is a different icon in an Excel-based dataset where I defined the data type in Power BI modelling tab directly. See:
What is the difference between these two icons?
Any help appreciated!
jmuehlenbrock
Hi jmuehlenbrock ,
Based on this document, This icon is mean: Identity field: Fields with this icon are unique fields, set to show all values, even if they have duplicates.
But if you want to create a measure, we cannot just use Month('Auftragsdatum'[Auftragsdatum]) to get the month, we need to get a certain value of this field such as following:
MonthMeasureOfLatestDate = MONTH(MAX('Auftragsdatum'[Auftragsdatum]))
Best regards,
2 Replies
So what I have found after some further investigation is that the mentioned icon indicates a row level identifier.
(src: https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Desktop/Field-list-question/td-p/17312)
But I still don't get why I cannot use this field in a formula where a date is needed. When I put this field to the filter pane it is possible to use relative date filters, so I guess that the field itself IS recongnized as a date.
Hi jmuehlenbrock ,
Based on this document, This icon is mean: Identity field: Fields with this icon are unique fields, set to show all values, even if they have duplicates.
But if you want to create a measure, we cannot just use Month('Auftragsdatum'[Auftragsdatum]) to get the month, we need to get a certain value of this field such as following:
MonthMeasureOfLatestDate = MONTH(MAX('Auftragsdatum'[Auftragsdatum]))
Best regards,
