Skip to main content
cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Join us for an expert-led overview of the tools and concepts you'll need to become a Certified Power BI Data Analyst and pass exam PL-300. Register now.

Reply
Anonymous
Not applicable

Direct Query with Where clause for date time field

Hello 

 

Trying to get my direct query with the where clause to fetch the records for the last 30 days from today from a table with date time format. I have tried the below approach and could not get it to work as the variable Start_date is not recognised. What is the correct format to pass the parameter to this where clause. I cannot use the parameter function as the report need be refreshed daily and user will not have access to change parameters.  Appreciate all the help.

 

Query editor : 

Start_date=Date.From(Date.AddDays(DateTime.FixedLocalNow(),-30)),

Source = Sql.Database("System_APP_DB001", "APP_DB", [Query="SELECT [id], [CreatedOn] FROM [APP_DB1].[db].[Document] where [CreatedOn] > Start_date ", CreateNavigationProperties=false])

 

 Error Message shows 

 

DataSource.Error: Microsoft SQL: Invalid column name 'Start_date'.
Details:
DataSourceKind=SQL
DataSourcePath=System_APP_DB001;APP_DB
Message=Invalid column name 'Start_date'.
Number=207
Class=16

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Such as:

 

"SELECT COL1, COL2 FROM Table WHERE Date_Column > " & Start_date

 

2. Usually not. As long as you don't get a warning about an operation not supporting direct query you are fine. Power Bi will append a where clause to the end of your query when filtering happens.

 

E.g. if your query is:

SELECT A FROM B.

 

Then  when a user of the report click a filter, Power Bi will do something like:

SELECT * FROM ( SELECT A FROM B) WHERE B == 'ABC'

View solution in original post

3 REPLIES 3
artemus
Microsoft Employee
Microsoft Employee

The reason your query does not work is that you have Start_date in the query string, so it is passed directly to SQL. If you want it to be fixed based on last refresh, then you would: "<Query Text>" & Start_date

 

However, if you want to use direct query, you don't need to do anything. Just load in the data using direct query (without the where clause), then in your report, add a filter on the CreatedOn field, set it to filter within last 30 days (if you want, you can hide the filter).

Anonymous
Not applicable

@artemus 

 

Sorry. Are you saying the condition should be changed to & Start_date &. Tried it and that gives an error. 

 

Message=Incorrect syntax near '&'.

 

On the second suggestion, doesn't the model still try to query the whole table? I do have multiple joins on subsequent steps after filtering this table .I am new to the Power BI and trying to understand this from a performance point of view if applying the filter on the report is good enough to restrict the data fetch. 

Such as:

 

"SELECT COL1, COL2 FROM Table WHERE Date_Column > " & Start_date

 

2. Usually not. As long as you don't get a warning about an operation not supporting direct query you are fine. Power Bi will append a where clause to the end of your query when filtering happens.

 

E.g. if your query is:

SELECT A FROM B.

 

Then  when a user of the report click a filter, Power Bi will do something like:

SELECT * FROM ( SELECT A FROM B) WHERE B == 'ABC'

Helpful resources

Announcements
Join our Fabric User Panel

Join our Fabric User Panel

This is your chance to engage directly with the engineering team behind Fabric and Power BI. Share your experiences and shape the future.

June 2025 Power BI Update Carousel

Power BI Monthly Update - June 2025

Check out the June 2025 Power BI update to learn about new features.

June 2025 community update carousel

Fabric Community Update - June 2025

Find out what's new and trending in the Fabric community.