Bill Pearson


Stairway to DAX and Power BI

Stairway to DAX and Power BI - Level 12: Function / Iterator Function Pairs: The DAX CountA() and CountAX() Functions

Business Intelligence Architect, Analysis Services Maestro, eight-year Microsoft Data Platform MVP and author Bill Pearson introduces the DAX CountA() and CountAX() functions, discussing the syntax, uses and operation of each. He then provides hands-on exposure to CountA() and CountAX(), in counting non-empty cells in a column, and in counting nonblank results when evaluating the result of an expression over a table, respectively.

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2017-11-29

5,391 reads

Stairway to MDX

Stairway to MDX - Level 3: The Order() Function

The Order() function provides the 'hierarchized' sorts you need for reports and applications using MDX. In this Step, Business Intelligence Architect Bill Pearson explores using the versatile Order() function for providing dataset sorts that respect dimensional hierarchies.

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2017-11-22 (first published: )

13,052 reads

Stairway to MDX

Stairway to MDX - Level 2: The Ordinal Function

Business Intelligence Architect Bill Pearson introduces the MDX Ordinal Function, as a means for generating lists and for conditionally presenting calculations. He also demonstrates the use of the function in creating datasets to support report parameter picklists.

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2017-11-15 (first published: )

19,947 reads

Stairway to DAX and Power BI

Stairway to DAX and Power BI - Level 11: Function / Iterator Function Pairs: The DAX Concatenate() and ConcatenateX() Functions

Continuing his examination of the evolving DAX “Function / Iterator Pairs,” Business Intelligence Architect, Analysis Services Maestro, Microsoft Data Platform MVP and author Bill Pearson introduces the DAX Concatenate() and ConcatenateX() functions, discussing the syntax, uses and operation of each. He then provides hands-on exposure to Concatenate() and ConcatenateX(), in joining two text strings into a single text string, and in returning the concatenation of an expression evaluated for each row in a table, respectively.

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2016-09-21

5,767 reads

Stairway to DAX and Power BI

Stairway to DAX and Power BI - Level 10: Function / Iterator Function Pairs: The DAX Product() and ProductX() Functions

As a part of his “Function / Iterator Pairs” mini-series, Business Intelligence architect, Analysis Services Maestro, and author Bill Pearson introduces the DAX Product()and ProductX() functions, discussing the syntax, uses and operation of each. He then provides hands-on exposure to Product()and ProductX(), respectively, in returning the product of numbers in a column and in returning the product of an expression evaluated for each row in a table.

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2016-03-17

5,860 reads

Stairway to MDX

Stairway to MDX - Level 12: : MDX Time/Date Series Functions: OpeningPeriod() and ClosingPeriod() Functions

BI Architect Bill Pearson continues with the second of a set of articles surrounding a group of MDX functions specialized to support the analysis of data within the context of time / date. In this article, we will explore the OpeningPeriod() and ClosingPeriod() functions, and get hands-on practice with each in meeting sample business requirements.

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2015-07-22

4,887 reads

Stairway to MDX

Stairway to MDX - Level 11: MDX Time/Date Series Functions: PeriodsToDate() and Derivative Shortcut Functions

BI Architect Bill Pearson launches a set of articles surrounding a group of MDX functions specialized to meet the pervasive business need to analyze data within the context of time / date. In this article, we will overview the PeriodsToDate() function, and then we will introduce "shortcut" functions that are based upon it.

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2015-06-17

9,857 reads

Stairway to DAX and Power BI

Stairway to DAX and Power BI - Level 9: Function / Iterator Function Pairs: The DAX MAX() and MAXX() Functions

As a part of his "Function / Iterator Pairs" mini-series, Business Intelligence architect, Analysis Services Maestro, SQL Server MVP, and author Bill Pearson introduces the DAX MAX() and MAXX() functions, discussing similarities and differences. He then provides some hands-on exposure to the use of each, particularly in combination with other DAX functions, in generating "largest numeric values" to meet differing needs within our PowerPivot model designs.

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2015-01-14

7,307 reads

Stairway to DAX and Power BI

Stairway to DAX and Power BI - Level 8: The DAX COUNT() and COUNTX() Functions

As a part of his “Function / Iterator Pairs” mini-series, Business Intelligence architect, Analysis Services Maestro, and author Bill Pearson introduces the DAX COUNT() and COUNTX() functions, discussing similarities and differences. He then provides some hands-on exposure to the use of each, particularly in combination with other DAX functions, in generating counts to meet differing needs within our PowerPivot model designs.

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2015-01-07

5,758 reads

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The Empty Aggregate

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Question of the Day

The Empty Aggregate

I have this table in a SQL Server 2025 database:

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[CustomerOrder]
(
[OrderID] [int] NULL,
[CustomerID] [int] NULL,
[total] [money] NULL
) ON [PRIMARY]
GO
What is returned from this code? (answers are for the sum and then the count)
SELECT SUM(total) AS sum,
       COUNT(total) AS count
FROM dbo.CustomerOrder;



See possible answers