Circular Reference in COUNTA

[jagostinhoCT]

Hello,

I have a column filled with values of 2 types "Dated" and "Recent"

Skills[Review Status]

the following is working

Reviews Total Dated = CALCULATE(COUNTA(Skills[Review Status]),Skills[Review Status]="Dated")

I wanted to create another calculated column for the Recent values

Reviews Total Recent = CALCULATE(COUNTA(Skills[Review Status]),Skills[Review Status]="Recent")

But it returns the error

"A circular dependency was detected: Skills[Reviews Total Recent], Skills[Reviews Total Dated], Skills[Reviews Total Recent]."

Why is this happening and how can I fix it? And hopefully how to learn not to do it wrong next time?

Thank you

[kcantor · Accepted solution]

@jagostinhoCT

Perhaps you should change it slightly.

Total Reviews = COUNTA(Skills[Review Status])

Reviews Total Dated = CALCULATE([Total Reviews], Skills[Review Status] = "Dated")

Reviews Total Recent =CALCULATE([Total Reviews], Skills[Review Status] = "Recent")

That way you are building on the first measure by filtering instead of doing different measures.

[wonga]

@jagostinhoCT

This should work, because I have a similar situation and I don't get that error.

Usually a "circular dependency" means you are referencing something that you are trying to change.

Are you sure you should be using a calculated column for this? Wouldn't a measure be more appropriate since it's returning a number?

In my case, I have them both as measures and NOT calculated columns.