Selecting a false filter on a BIT field includes blanks

[ramit-rulz]

I have imported a BIT field from Sql Server to my PowerBI model. The possible values for this field in the database are true, false or blank (null).

The imported field is in PowerBI has type true/false.

When this true/false field is used in a filter for a visual all 3 values (blank, true and false) appear in the filter pane. But, selecting false filter value filters the data to include both false and blank values (screenshot below)

 As the only selected value in the filter is "false", and the "filters affecting this visual" also displays only "false", I would expect data to be filtered to include only false values and not blanks.

Is this the expected behavior in PowerBI or is this a bug?

The same behavior is observed in PowerBI Desktop as well as PowerBI Service.

PowerBI Desktop Version: 2.79.5768.1082 64-bit (March 2020)

[Greg_Deckler]

Fairly certain this is by design. 0, blank, null all tend to be considered "false" (think on or off) in lots of different languages or contexts. Not sure I can point you to a definitive source for this.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dax/dax-overview

[ramit-rulz]

The developer in me agrees with you, but this looks misleading to the business user using the report. If 3 values are displayed in the filter, its expected that the data will be filtered only for the selected value(s). 

It would be more intuitive if the filter displayed just 2 values (true/false) if that is how the filter is getting applied.

[v-chuncz-msft · Accepted solution]

@ramit-rulz 

You may take a look at the post below.

https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Issues/Slicer-for-boolean-value-also-shows-quot-Blank-quot-entries-...