SQLBI Newsletter #320

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NEW ARTICLE

A slicer cannot filter a measure. This article analyzes this common request by explaining how to use a slicer to filter a measure, after discussing the real meaning of using a measure with a slicer.
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COMICS

AI BI Blunders

This comic has been generated by Grok using so many prompts...

COURSES IN 2026

North America: last call!

Book your seat for the last Mastering DAX classroom course in North America until this fall. The refreshed course includes user-defined functions and calendar-based time intelligence.

» Baltimore, MD May 27-29, 2026: Hurry!

#320 · May 2026

LEARNING

Course calendar

DATA MODELING - 3 DAYS

	Jul 21-23 - Amsterdam

Mastering DAX - 3 DAYS

	May 27-29 - Baltimore
	Jun 10-12 - Zürich
	Jun 15-17 - Berlin
	Jun 30-Jul 2 - Amsterdam

video courses

	Introducing DAX
	Mastering DAX
	Optimizing DAX
	Intro to Data Modeling
	Data Modeling for Power BI
	Mastering Tabular
	DAX Tools Video Course
	DAX Patterns
	Power BI Dashboard Design

See beyond the charts - Synoptic Panel for Power BI by OKVIZ

BI-WEEKLY NEWS DIGEST

Latest news

	• Power BI April 2026 update Many updates to reporting and Copilot, and one earth-shattering piece of news in the modeling space for calculated columns, which can now be defined as context-aware and unmaterialized. This enables calculated columns and calculated tables for Direct Lake on OneLake. Still in preview, still limited to Power BI Desktop, and so many implications. A few other news items about that in this newsletter, expect a SQLBI article coming soon. Apr 22, 2026 · Microsoft
	• Power BI unmaterialized columns It's the same feature: user context calculated columns are also unmaterialized. But also, standard calculated columns are unmaterialized in certain storage modes. To get a taste of the differences, this short article gives you an overview. Translation (e.g. product names) is one possible scenario. But if you think about the consequences for role-level security, performance, report compatibility, and language switching... You realize why we need a bit of time before writing a SQLBI article about it! Apr 27, 2026 · Teo Lachev
	• Goodbye dataflows, for some? Just to keep the timeline in mind, this blog post was published 4 days before the update described in the next piece of news. Certainly not the one that triggered the Microsoft response, but a good recap if you didn't follow the drama. Apr 16, 2026 · Ben Gribaudo
	• Updates about Dataflows Gen1 retirement (or should we find a different word?) 18 days after the original announcement, Microsoft published an important update about Gen1 retirement. The important update is at the beginning of the article. The big news is that Dataflow Gen1 remains supported, but it won't receive future innovation. Therefore, "Legacy" no longer means "Deprecated" but rather, "it just works, we would like you to use the new stuff, but you can continue to use the existing one". Hey, it sounds familiar, kind of like Outlook, but the Office teams chose "Classic" instead of "Legacy". Nice. What would we laugh about when it comes to product naming, without Microsoft? Apr 20, 2026 · Microsoft
	• Power BI semantic model refresh warnings Increasing awareness makes people concerned. Power BI now displays warnings that don't stop the update in the refresh history. We like this, we like more information. But people who like all green lights could suffer from that. But please, don't ask for a button to hide the warnings, your CEO shouldn't see the refresh history! Apr 19, 2026 · Chris Webb

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