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Submitted

Support for calculated tables in tabular models (semantic layer)

  • December 6, 2018
  • 5 replies
  • 0 views

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 Sometimes we need calculated tables in tabular models. It would be very helpful if these could be defined in Discovery Hub.

5 replies

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  • Known Participant
  • January 23, 2019

When developing in Power BI. I'm used to create an 'Measure table'. I use this table to add all DAX measures.

Unfortunately, it is not possible in Discovery Hub to add a 'custom / calculated' table to a semantic model.


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  • New Participant
  • January 23, 2019

We use dummy tables all the time (for advanced filtering for example), so it would be a handy feature.

But for now, you could create a custom (empty?) table in your DWH and import that one into your model and then start adding your measures (I guess...)


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  • Known Participant
  • January 23, 2019

Hi Mike,

I tested your suggestion. It is working using an 'empty / dummy' table in the DWH.

The only downside is, that Power BI is showing it as a 'normal table'. 2xNdCvGqynE70KWy1fkCig.png

When I add an empty table in Power BI and add measures to it, it showing a 'calculator icon' in front of the table name: 3iYVcJCCSIjXtsHaFFm2ew.png


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  • New Participant
  • January 23, 2019

Too bad...

You'll have to use a good naming convention for the moment.

I see it already has 6 votes! Who knows... :)


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  • Participating Frequently
  • October 22, 2019

Hi Bas,

We are importing an empty table as suggested and adding dax measures to it in Power BI.  When I add the 'empty' table from the DWH into tabular, I just bring in the DW_ID from the empty table, and then when I hide that column in the model and add a measure to it, PowerBI changes the icon from a normal table to the calculator icon you are looking for.  Hope this helps.