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Problems with Locale

Hi

 

I have a few issues with the application language in Power BI desktop. I would like to know if there is some solution or if there is something I am doing incorrectly.

 

I am a swedish speaker working in sweden, thus I want to have Swedish locale for visual output (Swedish date format YYYY-MM-DD in visuals, swedish number format etc).

 

The only way I know to get swedish display dates/numbers in Power BI desktop is by installing the "swedish" version of the application, which I definitely do not want. I hate reading the Swedish version of menu names that are poorly translated and the cognitive taxation of translating DAX code between swedish and english syntax is horrible. Try finding tips/blogs/etc in Swedish regarding powerBI/DAX content and you will find very little content.

 

The setting "Locale for import" does not seem to influence these matters at all (which I also believe it shouldn't). Though I must admit that I don't fully grasp the difference between "English (Sweden)" and "English (United States)". 

 

In the online documentation there is mentioning of a "Model Language" (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/supported-languages-countries-regions) but I can't find this option in my version of power BI desktop (latest, version 2.70.5494.761 on windows 10).

 

Basically I want control of the following different languages:

 

* Display Locale - In my case my local Swedish language with dates/numbers in swedish format, correct decimal character etc

 

* Application language - In my case English, since all documentation is more intuitive, more frequently updated etc. It really doesn't make sense to have automatically translated documentation in Swedish, it feels more or less like gibberish when trying to interpret it. This setting can currently be somewhat controlled by choosing the version that I download and install. I have had issues previously with minute differences between the app in the windows store and the downloaded version so I avoid the app. I also would like to not have the application language be implicitly set by my default system language.

 

* Import locale - I would presume that the import locale setting is working as intended. In my personal case I never run into big problems with this. The nature of our business exposes me to different locales regularly so I still have to account for it. I don't see any better way than the current setting.

 

All said, I believe what I really need is a way to control the display locale.

PLEASE gods, hear my prayer and include this in the July release...

 

One quite troubling issue surfaced connected to this today though. In a currently used pbix file I have the DAX code snippet "DATE(2011,12,31)", which has worked for some time.

 

Today I open the file change two unrelated measures in a minor way and expand the dax code editor for a measure containing the code above. This code now is marked as incorrect and does not work. I can get the syntax to work if I change the syntax to "DATE( 2011 , 12 , 31 )" -> I am adding extra space characters after each number. I belive the problem here is that my import locale setting "Swedish(Swedish)" is being applied when the dax expression is being parsed, thus my inserted space characters "solve" the problem. I cannot believe that this is the intended behavior though.

Best Regards

Magnus

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
dm-p
Super User
Super User

Hi @MagnusRosenPBI,

This is a pretty interesting use-case and I'm not aware of a feature-based way to do it in terms of granular locale setup.

As an English-speaker, I often find myself after something similar so that I can test internationalisation of custom visuals when I develop them, so that I can verify number formatting etc. in different locales without getting stuck in a UI I can't always get back out of easily if I change the language as a workaround.

I had a quick read through the ideas site but nothing has been raised, so perhaps it could be worth creating this as an idea for future development? If so, let me know and I'll vote on it 🙂

For now, if you want to specify dates in a particular format, while using an application locale that doesn't have these as standard, then I think that custom formatting strings are going to be your best option as a workaround (if you haven't already considered them):

I'm not sure if this will solve your particular requirements, but might give you an alternative approach to consider.

Good luck!

Daniel


If my post solves your challenge, then please consider accepting as a solution to help other forum members find the answer more quickly 🙂





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View solution in original post

2 REPLIES 2
dm-p
Super User
Super User

Hi @MagnusRosenPBI,

This is a pretty interesting use-case and I'm not aware of a feature-based way to do it in terms of granular locale setup.

As an English-speaker, I often find myself after something similar so that I can test internationalisation of custom visuals when I develop them, so that I can verify number formatting etc. in different locales without getting stuck in a UI I can't always get back out of easily if I change the language as a workaround.

I had a quick read through the ideas site but nothing has been raised, so perhaps it could be worth creating this as an idea for future development? If so, let me know and I'll vote on it 🙂

For now, if you want to specify dates in a particular format, while using an application locale that doesn't have these as standard, then I think that custom formatting strings are going to be your best option as a workaround (if you haven't already considered them):

I'm not sure if this will solve your particular requirements, but might give you an alternative approach to consider.

Good luck!

Daniel


If my post solves your challenge, then please consider accepting as a solution to help other forum members find the answer more quickly 🙂





Did I answer your question? Mark my post as a solution!

Proud to be a Super User!


My course: Introduction to Developing Power BI Visuals


On how to ask a technical question, if you really want an answer (courtesy of SQLBI)




Thanks for that video with guy-in-cube, it helped. I wasn't aware that you could set column/measure format in the model view. I was always working in the report view and changed format there.

However, I did notice a few inconsistent behaviours in the client.
I have a datetable defined as:

 

TimeLine - Report = 
var basecalendar = SELECTCOLUMNS(dates,"ReportDate",[Date])
return
 GENERATE(
 basecalendar,
 var integerdate = FORMAT ( [ReportDate], "YYYYMMDD" )
RETURN ROW("DateAsInteger", integerdate)

 

 

When I edit the columns for this table in "report view" I get the problems I initially described, using the new ribbon prohibits me from choosing the date format "yyyy-MM-dd".

 

When I edit the columns in "model view" I do have the option to choose "yyyy-MM-dd" but when client finishes executing the change, the format is still listed as "*yyyy-MM-dd". I can fight all I want, it still switched back. I am able to use custom option here though.

 

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