1. SQL Saturday New York City May 19th, 2018
DAX Query Use Cases
Brett Powell
BI Consultant, Author

2. What is a DAX Query? DAX Measures DAX Queries
Scalar values
DAX Queries
Table values
EVALUATE clause
Table parameter to measure
DAX Query Authoring Tools
SQL Server Management Studio
DAX Studio
DAX Measures in Power BI
DAX Queries in SSMS

3. Leverage DAX Queries Across Tools & Scenarios
User: custom table for their tool of choice or need
Scenario: custom table for individual report(s) or isolated use case
Store and reuse queries across data models (e.g. Dev/Prod)
Report Projects in Visual Studio
Reports in
Report Builder
BI Dev
Tables in
Excel Reports
Power BI Report
Power User
Data Model
Analysis Services Database
*Power BI Dataset (Premium)
SQL Server Management Studio
DAX Studio
BI Admin
& Dev

4. Use Cases for DAX Queries
Paginated Reports in Power BI Report Server
or SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS)
Drillthrough Expressions in Analysis Services
Detail Rows in Analysis Services 2017+
Performance Tuning
Capture and analyze queries from Power BI
Test performance of DAX measures
Embed Queries (Tables) in DAX Measures
Query or queries drive measure results
Data Model Tables (Import Mode)
Analysis Services or Power BI
Excel Data Tables
Query local or external data model
Custom Application
DAX queries against Analysis Services
Data Model Troubleshooting
Missing rows, missing values
Calculated Tables in Power BI and Analysis Services
and more….

5. Introductory Examples

6. Use Case: Excel Table via Custom ODC
Analyze in Excel or Power BI Publisher for Excel
Obtain ODC (Office Data Connection) to source model
Embed DAX Query in ODC File
Optionally embed multiple queries in Excel
1. Custom ODC
3. New Query
in Excel
2. Retrieve Query as Table

7. Use Case: Ad Hoc Analysis; Troubleshooting
How many rows per table?
What’s the distribution of rows by date?
Any missing rows or values?
Find the details of any exceptions?
Row Counts
Rows with Blank Values
Row Counts in SSMS

8. Use Case: Import Analysis Services to PBI Desktop
Single Table
Simplified self-service reporting via aggregated and filtered table
Pass DAX query from Power BI Desktop
Self-Service Model
Merge Analysis Services data with other data source
DAX and M (Power Query) queries
Support limited self-service (sandbox)
Parameterized DAX query
Table in Power BI Desktop
Query Dependencies in Power BI Desktop

9. DAX Query Structure and Functions

10. Common DAX Table Functions
CALCULATETABLE
SUMMARIZECOLUMNS
FILTER
VAR
ALL
INTERSECT
VALUES
EXCEPT
DATATABLE
UNION
ADDCOLUMNS
DISTINCT
TOPN
NATURALINNERJOIN
SELECTCOLUMNS
SUMMARIZE
CROSSJOIN
GENERATE
Table
SUMMARIZECOLUMNS
FILTER
CALCULATETABLE

11. DAX Query Structure and Examples
DEFINE (Optional)
Measures or Variables
EVALUATE (Required)
Table or Table Expression
ORDER BY (Optional)
START AT (Optional)
Full DAX Query Syntax
DAX Query Results: SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)

12. DAX Query Examples Select Columns Filter Conditions Grouping Columns
Relationships implied
Filter Conditions
CALCULATETABLE
FILTER, TOPN
Grouping Columns
SUMMARIZECOLUMNS()
SUMMARIZE()
Aggregations
Use measures of model
Optionally create measures for query
DAX Query Example
DAX Query Results: SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)

13. DAX Queries in Power BI
Report Server Reports

14. Report Project in SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT)
Paginated Reports
Why paginated reports?
Printer-friendly, multi-page reports
Leverage SSRS experience and reports
Migrate source of reports to Analysis Services
Mature, robust report design features
Development Tools:
Report Builder
SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT)
Paginated Report
Report Project in SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT)

15. Paginated Report Examples
Internet Sales Analysis
Standard paginated report (.RDL)
First Year Customer Report
Pages of customer details
Printer-friendly
Reseller Analysis
Reseller Details linked report
Drillthrough action via parameter
Internet Sales User Analysis
Parameters for interactive filtering
Single and multi-value parameters
Paginated Report
Linked Paginated Report

16. Embedding DAX Queries in Measures

17. DAX Queries in Measures Examples
Filter measure by table
FILTER and CALCULATETABLE
Multi-table OR conditions
CROSSJOIN
SUMMARIZE
Multiple Sets of Customers
UNION
NATURALINNERJOIN
Multiple Sets and Filters
FILTER, SUMMARIZE, and
CALCULATETABLE

18. Thank You

19. Contact Information
Brett Powell LinkedIn Blog: Insight Quest Amazon: Author Page