Getting Started with DAX
DAX studio is an excellent tool to author DAX queries and analyse the performance of Power BI or Power Pivot Data models. It can support PowerPivot in Excel, Power BI Desktop / SSDT Integrated Workspaces, Analysis Services Tabular and Azure Analysis Services. This blog is aimed at getting started with the DAX studio tool.
Table of Contents
What is DAX Studio?
- Power BI Desktop
- Power Pivot for Excel
- Tabular Servers
- Visual Studio
Useful Features of DAX Studio
- Optimize your model performance with the VertiPaq Analyzer integrated with DAX Studio.
- Visualize the result of DAX formulas that contain ‘tables’ including ‘table expressions’. You can’t see the result of such measures while working it in Power BI Desktop, whereas in DAX studio you can explore what are the results being produced.
- Authoring DAX measures
- A support for learning DAX language.
- Query Building.
An important thing to note is that query run in DAX Studio ALWAYS returns a table, unlike a measure created in Power BI, which returns a scalar value.
Downloading and Installing DAX Studio
The latest version of DAX studio is available at: https://daxstudio.org/
It’s a free tool and you can trust its source.
Operating system requirements
Following are the operating system requirements for running DAX Studio.
- Windows 10 (Recommended)/Windows 8 / Windows 8.1/Windows 7)
- 32 bit or 64-bit operating system
- Operating system supports the .Net Framework 4.7.1 or later.
All Users | Current User | |
Requires Admin rights | Yes | No |
Available for all users on the current machine | Yes | No |
Excel Add-in available | Yes | Yes |
Power BI External Tools integration | Yes | No |
To install DAX Studio:
- Open https://daxstudio.org/
- Click on DAX Studio (Installer)
- Run exe
A pop-up menu appears.
- Click on Install for all users (Recommended).
5. Click on Allow access. Please note to review the agreement.
6. Select “I accept the agreement”
7. Click Ok.
- 8. Select Destination location.
- 9. Click Next.
10. Select Excel Add on.
11. Click Next.
12. Click on Next.
13. Select “Create a desktop shortcut”.
14. Click Next.
15. Click Finish.
DAX studio has now been installed on your local pc.
Power BI Advanced DAX Scenarios with DAX Studio
Here’s a list of some business problems which are easier to solve using DAX studio then a regular DAX environment:
- Analysing top ‘N’ products and customers by sales revenue
- To get the top three products by each subcategory by sales revenue
- To find high value sales by product or customers by month
For a step by step guide on solving these problems: Power BI Advanced DAX Scenarios with DAX Studio | Power BI Training Australia
Conclusion
DAX Studio is considered as the ultimate tool for analyzing DAX queries. DAX Studio will scan the local machine for any running instances of Power BI Desktop or SSDT Integrated Workspaces. This makes it easy to write and analyze queries in DAX studio. This blog post enlists the procedure to download an install DAX studio for running queries in Power BI desktop.
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