Power BI
Needs VotesList of used fields in visuals (and in calculated fields and measures)
Eddy De Maerschalck on 28 Feb 2017 15:58:03
How can I get a documentation which mentions which field is used on a visual? or in a calculation of a column or measure?
With DAX studio we can make a list of calculated fields and measures. And with a little programming we can see which field as source for another calculated field or measure.
I know that by clicking on a visual the involved dataset will be highlighted into yellow. If I expand it, I see data fields used (which is selected) in this visual.To do this manually I'll need to click on each visual, manually make a note of every field used, cliick on the next visual, manually make a note of fields used...>> iterate. That'll take ages.
Main purpose is to eliminate all unneccessary fields and ... documentation!
- Comments (17)
RE: List of used fields in visuals (and in calculated fields and measures)
I know documenting your reports is probably low on the list of to do items, but for company wide use, it is critical that users understand what they are selecting when we are asking them to embrace Power BI. I'm documenting over 80 measures used in dozens of visuals and doing this manually is the pits. Please, please create some query that pulls this info into one place. It doesn't seem like it's an impossible task. Thank you.
RE: List of used fields in visuals (and in calculated fields and measures)
Hi All,
I had the problem a few times and created a simple web site to analyze a PBIX file and find unused fields
https://analyzepbix.azureedge.net/
RE: List of used fields in visuals (and in calculated fields and measures)
Just as a side thought on this; we use an analytics cube so by it's nature we can have custom measures but not custom columns when working in live. You can have calculated columns by building a query that just custom selects the fields you want, but realistically you're building visuals up on the fly and don't know at the outset what fields you might need. Being able to have a either highlighting or an embedded tool to tell you which fields are being used on which pages and which visuals would make it quicker to make a decision what you pull through to your custom query when you get to the stage of wanting to manipulate the dataset with custom columns.
RE: List of used fields in visuals (and in calculated fields and measures)
This would be a nice built in feature, for sure. There is another idea about a complete Measure management interface. I'd love. love to see that.
In the interim.. for anyone needing this DAX Studio can do this if you spit it out to excel.
If you launch DAX studio and run the following MDX query:
SELECT OBJECT_TYPE, [TABLE], OBJECT, EXPRESSION, REFERENCED_TABLE, REFERENCED_OBJECT
From $SYSTEM.DISCOVER_CALC_DEPENDENCY
WHERE OBJECT_TYPE = 'MEASURE' OR OBJECT_TYPE = 'CALC_COLUMN'
ORDER BY [OBJECT] ASC
This will give you all Measures and calculations as well as their dependent columns
RE: List of used fields in visuals (and in calculated fields and measures)
This has turned out to be a great tool for inventorying which fields are used in any report: http://radacad.com/power-bi-helper
It does not examine which fields are used in measures or calculated columns, but DAX Studio can do that for you: https://daxstudio.org/
RE: List of used fields in visuals (and in calculated fields and measures)
This would be very handy. Some of our files are enormous, and can be drastically reduced in size by removing unused columns. This is currently very time consuming.
RE: List of used fields in visuals (and in calculated fields and measures)
Would love a right click "Where used List" showing any other measures or a list of the Visual names that the field/measure is used in
RE: List of used fields in visuals (and in calculated fields and measures)
agree, this is a very manual process as it stands right now. This would also help with new hires that need to be trained on reporting. Would give a good documentation of how the report is built.
RE: List of used fields in visuals (and in calculated fields and measures)
Fortunately Reza Rad also thought this would be very useful. Check out http://radacad.com/power-bi-helper
RE: List of used fields in visuals (and in calculated fields and measures)
This is a very grand feature to be available in Power BI service/desktop. It helps to identify the unused attributes and leverages the Power BI model simplification.