Circular Dependency Error

[rachelbabcock]

Hello,

I am having an issue with a Circular Dependency error. I unfortunately cannot share my dataset due to company policy, but am hoping I can explain enough here that someone might be able to help. If you need me to provide any additional info, send screenshots, etc., let me know.. I've been trying to figure this out for DAYS. 

Dataset is a merge of 2 different tables. The merge takes place at the Power Query level so everything is already in 1 table when it loads into desktop.

I'm simply trying to add 2 pieces of information together in a calculated column. One is a measure (Amt CF SPLIT), the other is a column (Distribution) from the original dataset. 

COLUMN = [Amt CF SPLIT] + Distribution. For some reason, I get an error that says: "Circular dependency was detected. Amt CF SPLIT, Column, Amt CF SPLIT."

I cannot figure out why this is happening and what I should do to fix this. I've read about 5 pages worth of posts and responses on circular dependencies and haven't found a solution.

For reference -- the measure in the column is the average of another column in the dataset. For some reason, if I try to do a column that averages that column, my values don't show up correctly. however, if i do a measure, it works. I've narrowed it down to the measure being the issue here; if I try to do the same thing with another random column instead of my measure, the error goes away. 

Any help would be MUCH appreciated!!!

[TomMartens · Accepted solution]

Hey @rachelbabcock ,

you should never use a measure inside a calculation of a calculated column, here it is also responsible for the circular dependency as the measure tries to average rows whereas the calculated column just wants to resolve the row context (please be aware that this explanation is very simplified).

if you already spend days, spend some additional hours and create sample data, that allows understanding your requirement. From my understanding, you just need to create a single table, because everything happening in power query is not relevant to understand the problem. Make sure that you recreate the same calculated columns if any are existing. Just enter data, upload the pbix to onedrive or dropbox, and share the link.

Regards,

Tom

[rachelbabcock]

Hey Tom,

I think I just needed to look at it with fresh eyes and fresh data. When I built a sample data set to post here, the process actually worked fine. I went back into my original dataset and initially just started from scratch. Not quite sure what was wrong before but just glad to have it working. Thanks!