Rules / DAX Expressions

Measure references should be unqualified

error DAX_MEASURES_UNQUALIFIED · ported · model layer · scope: Measure, CalculatedColumn, CalculatedTable, CalculationItem

What it checks

Measures, calculated columns, calculated tables, and calculation items that refer to a measure with a table prefix, 'Table'[Measure].

Each finding names the object that holds the expression, not the measure it refers to: a measure as [Average Price], a calculated column as 'Sales'[Margin], a calculated table as 'Top Products', a calculation item by its name with its calculation group in the detail.

Example

Fires the rule

table Sales
	column Amount
		dataType: decimal
		sourceColumn: Amount
	column Quantity
		dataType: int64
		sourceColumn: Quantity
	measure 'Total Sales' = SUM(Sales[Amount])
		formatString: #,0
	measure 'Average Price' = DIVIDE('Sales'[Total Sales], SUM(Sales[Quantity]))
		formatString: #,0.00

After the fix

table Sales
	column Amount
		dataType: decimal
		sourceColumn: Amount
	column Quantity
		dataType: int64
		sourceColumn: Quantity
	measure 'Total Sales' = SUM(Sales[Amount])
		formatString: #,0
	measure 'Average Price' = DIVIDE([Total Sales], SUM(Sales[Quantity]))
		formatString: #,0.00

Why it matters

A measure belongs to the model, not to the table it sits in; the table is only its home in the field list. Writing 'Sales'[Total Sales] makes it look like a column, which changes what the next reader expects it to do, and it breaks the moment someone moves the measure to a measure table, which is a routine tidy-up.

How to fix it

Delete the table name from the reference and leave the brackets:

Average Price = DIVIDE ( [Total Sales], SUM ( Sales[Quantity] ) )

In Power BI Desktop, select the measure in the Data pane and edit it in the formula bar; the same goes for a calculated column, a calculated table, and a calculation item, each selected in the model view or the Data pane. In the TMDL file, edit the expression after measure 'Average Price' =, after column Name = for a calculated column, after source = in a calculated table's partition, or after calculationItem Name = in the calculation group. A finding that only the measure's KPI raises is fixed in the TMDL file, after targetExpression =, statusExpression =, or trendExpression = in the measure's kpi block, an edit Power BI Desktop keeps.

When to ignore it

There is no case for the table prefix on a measure. If a finding surprises you, check whether the table really does hold a measure of that name: pbiplint resolves 'Table'[Name] to a column first and only calls it a measure when the table has no column of that name, so a finding here means the reference bound to a measure.

To ignore this rule on one object, add annotation pbiplint.ignore = DAX_MEASURES_UNQUALIFIED under the object in its TMDL file. Power BI Desktop keeps the annotation. To turn the rule off for a whole project, set "DAX_MEASURES_UNQUALIFIED": "off" under rules in pbiplint.config.json.

Quirks

DAX is read token by token, so a qualified measure reference inside a comment or a string literal, such as a field parameter's "'Sales'[Total Sales]", is not reported.
A measure's dynamic format string and its KPI's target, status, and trend expressions are read together with its expression, so 'Sales'[Total Sales] written in any of them reports the measure that carries it, once however many of them hold one. Tabular Editor reports a reference in a KPI's expression on the KPI, named like [Total Sales].KPI, so a measure whose own expression and KPI both hold one gets two findings there and one here: pbiplint has no KPI object, so it names the measure.
The reference has to resolve. 'Sales'[Total Sales] written where the model has no table called Sales, or where Sales has no measure of that name, is not reported by this rule at all.
Row-level security filters are out of scope, so a qualified measure reference inside a role's table filter is never reported.
The table name may be written bare or in single quotes; both forms are matched.

DAX_COLUMNS_FULLY_QUALIFIED is the opposite convention on the other kind of reference: a column must carry its table name, a measure must not, and the two rules never report the same reference.
MEASURES_SHOULD_NOT_BE_DIRECT_REFERENCES_OF_OTHER_MEASURES reports a measure whose whole expression is a bare [Other Measure]. Write the same alias with a table prefix and that rule stops matching, while this one starts.