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AndrewTobin
Frequent Visitor

SSAS Tabular Shared Expressions vs PowerBI Power Query

Hey folks, just a confirmation if I can.

 

We are using SSAS Tabular, and we want to create duplicates of tables, except if we do so using an Import or DAX then it contains a duplicate of the data in the model.

 

Someone mentioned in Power BI if we use Reference in the Power Query, then the second query gets the cached data from the first.

 

If we use Shared Expressions in SSAS Tabular, am I right that it won't duplicate this behaviour, even if we made the second Shared Expression a reference to the first, but instead the query gets evaluated and the data brought in for each table regardless?

 

Thanks

1 REPLY 1
jennratten
Super User
Super User

Hello -

 

When an expression references another expression, the referenced expression is evaluated first, and its result is then used in the evaluation of the referencing expression. This means that both expressions are evaluated, but not necessarily back to the source data. Instead, the evaluation depends on the context and the specific calculations involved.

For example, if you have Expression A that calculates a value based on some source data, and Expression B that references Expression A, the following happens:

  1. Expression A is evaluated based on the source data.
  2. The result of Expression A is then used in the evaluation of Expression B.

This process ensures that the calculations are performed correctly and efficiently, without redundant evaluations back to the source data.

If this post helps to answer your questions, please consider marking it as a solution so others can find it more quickly when faced with a similar challenge.

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