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Dynamic calculated column

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Greg Galloway on 30 Jun 2017 02:23:23

Calculated columns are computed at model load time. I would like to request a feature that lets you mark a calculated column to be dynamically evaluated in every query. For example, I may have a calculated column which categorizes a product as "Low Sales Volume" vs. "High Sales Volume". But that calculated column doesn't change depending on the date range selected by a user in a slicer. If I could mark that calculated column as "dynamic" then I could recalculate the categorization in the context of user slicer selections.

Comments (9)
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Darren Gosbell on 05 Jul 2020 23:48:41

RE: Dynamic calculated column

This would also give us the ability to create a TOP N list with an "Other" category for anything not in the top n list.

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Luke Walker on 05 Jul 2020 23:41:08

RE: Dynamic calculated column

Why couldn't you use a measure for this?
IF(HASONEVALUE(item_table[item]),
FN () , //Insert high/low function here
BLANK ()
)

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Johannes M on 05 Jul 2020 23:40:53

RE: Dynamic calculated column

I guess calculated columns are meant to be static and independent of filter context. If you want a dynamic calculation based on filter context, a measure might be more suitable?

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Luigi Neri on 05 Jul 2020 23:38:19

RE: Dynamic calculated column

This is a very basic feature. I cannot have a truly dynamic dashboard without this very basic basic feature. I suppose MS is not even considering this given that the feature of input data after more than 1k vote is still not there.
I thought MS changed a bit but Tableau will be always better. Sure you got right the management of row context but the tool is simply not good for dynamic dashboards. This is simply ridiculous!!!!!

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Power BI User on 05 Jul 2020 23:32:11

RE: Dynamic calculated column

This is a VERY basic feature in Tableau. This NEEDS to be a feature in Power Bi!

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Justin Hylton on 05 Jul 2020 23:23:47

RE: Dynamic calculated column

I can think of how this could be used to make certain visuals very dynamic. For example, if you click on a row in a matrix, the waterfall chart will show you the activity at the next level down from what you clicked on.

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Alaeddin on 05 Jul 2020 23:17:16

RE: Dynamic calculated column

yup, especially with what-if measures, we need the ability to make the calculated columns dynamic with the what-if measures, very useful for forecasting scenarios

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David Winson on 05 Jul 2020 23:03:29

RE: Dynamic calculated column

Agreed, this is necessary.
Our use case is calculation of a histogram that changes dynamically when you use slicers to filter the data. The way to do a histogram is to have a table of 'buckets' with a calculated column that counts the rows in your base data that fall into each bucket. Because this is calculated only at data load time, you cannot then filter the base data and have the histogram reflect this.

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Warren Willits on 05 Jul 2020 23:03:09

RE: Dynamic calculated column

This is a necessity. We need to allow the user the ability to change the data in a calculated column based on a parameter selection on the dashboard. We are calculating forecasted values at the row level for components based on a termination future date. We need to give the user a "what if" ability to change the termination date and see what the new calculated value will be for the specific component. This must be accomplished at a row level, which means that the column needs to be recalculated using the new date. Unfortunately this can't be accomplished currently with Power BI.

I realize that this will have an impact on system speed but the user would definitely prefer a slow response vs. no response.