Some visuals (gauge, bar) disregard measure format strings, when our calculation groups has one

[jaap_olsthoorn]

The problem is that when you give one of your items in your calculation group a format strings, your format strings for other items like report measures, are disregarded in some visuals (Bar, gauge), but not others (card, table).

Steps to reproduce:

Create a document with a measure, and set that measure to be a percentage.
Add a gauge visual, and put your percentage in the visual, and confirm that it is formatted like a percentage.

Open Tabular Editor, create a calculation group.

Add a new calculation item to the calculation group, and give it a format string, like "0.00%;-0.00%;0.00%", the one that PowerBI uses for percentages.

Apply your changes to the data model.

You will now see that the gauge visual no longer displays your percentage as a percentage.


Percentage bug with calc groups

And here are the files for reference, one without a calculation group with a format string, and one with a calculation group with a format string:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1VIlCBsKTgzo4W5xdVVhnLIRL6WVVUZJL?usp=sharing

It basically means that assigning format strings to calculation groups is currenty unusable, unless you have no other bar charts and gauges in your report that display measures as percentages.

[ryan25r9]

Is this fixed yet? This issue has existed for over 2 years...

[jaap_olsthoorn]

Yes and no.

In the april release, I think they fixed the fact that percentages weren't showing as percentages. However, what is not fixed, is that adding a format string to a calculation groups has a big impact in your formatting options in powerBI desktop. I just tested it, and it's a real mess. When I havea calculation group with a format string, I can no longer edit the format string of measures from within powerBI desktop. It just disregards any changes I make there. 

So in short, I still don't think we can use format strings in calculation groups. It has way too much impact outside it's scope.

[jaap_olsthoorn]

Thanks Charlotte! 

[v-zhangti · Accepted solution]

Hi, @jaap_olsthoorn 

This issue has been submitted internally.   Internal ICM ID: 283002769.   Please be patient to wait for fixing. If there is any news, I will update it here.

Best Regards,

Community Support Team _Charlotte

If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.