Passing Filters to a Measure differently in DAX

Hi folks, I came across an unusual syntax for passing filters to a measure differently in DAX and want to share that with you.

Let’s start with following basic measure:

Revenue =
SUM ( FactRevenue[Rev.] )

Using this measure, you could calculate a YTD value by passing the DATESYTD() function to the CALCULATE function like this:

RevenueYTD_conventional =
CALCULATE ( [Revenue]; DATESYTD ( DimCalendar[Date] ) )

But there is another syntax you can use:

RevenueYTD_unconventional =
[Revenue](DATESYTD ( DimCalendar[Date] ) )

This version looks like no CALCULATE is needed, but CALCULATE always is added to a measure call. For this reason the conventional and the unconventional version internally are the same thing.

All my code above was formatted using daxformatter.com. When I tried to format the unconventional version, it automatically got converted into the conventional version. So I had to format it manually. For this reason I am pretty sure, Marco and Alberto have good reason not to use this kind of syntax. Anyway: I found it interesting that it works and wanted to share this observation with you 🙂

Regards from Germany,

Lars

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