Text to time

[hansbogaert]

Looking for the best way to convert a text column to a time column, allowing me to calculate the sum, average, ...

Data comes in looking like time, but is formatted as text. For most only the time is visible, for those going over 24 hours, you'll see the days as well.

[aj1973]

Hi @hansbogaert 

change the type of the column to Date/Time, then change it into Time...In Power query

[hansbogaert]

Hi @aj1973 ,

Thanks for your fast reaction.

When I try to do this, I get the message that I need to convert my data to Import Mode instead of DirectQuery. 

[aj1973]

Oh yes, you can't do it in DQ mode connection. you need to do the cleaning directly to the source. Is the source an excel file?

[hansbogaert]

It's linked to a huge SQL database.

I imported it, and indeed the steps work, but with an error. For those who go over 24 hours. They are indicated with the date:

One row looks like this: 2/01/1900 8:15:00

After converting it to Date/Time it stays the same

And when I move to Time again, it is 8:15:00, but it should be 56:15:00

[aj1973]

"but it should be 56:15:00"  why!? is this a Duration type?

[hansbogaert]

Yes, it is in fact the amount of time people followed a training (classroom + self study). The idea is to get a sum or average per department/team/...

[aj1973]

Sorry but I don't really understand how 8:15:00 should be 56:15:00? 

Do you have a column for start time and another column for end time in your table?

[hansbogaert]

No, it's an automatic report containing the learning time from our platform. It contains the time a person has been learning a specific course. Can be classroom or e-learning.

For some topics this is over 24 hours and in the automatic report it is, just like in Excel, converted to a date/time format. 25 hours = 01/01/1900 01:00:00. But imported in the SQL it defines it as text (tried to change, but doesn't work well, probably because the fields are different, some with the date, others without - depending if >24)

In Excel you can easily say [h]:mm:ss to calculate over 24 hours, but doesn't seem to be an option in PowerBI

[v-kkf-msft]

Hi @hansbogaert ,

Does your problem have been solved? If it is solved, please mark a reply which is helpful to you.

If the problem is still not resolved, please provide detailed error information or the expected result you expect. Let me know immediately, looking forward to your reply.

Best Regards,
Winniz

[aj1973 · Accepted solution]

Hey @hansbogaert 

this was something new for me and I thank you for making me discover it.

Here are the steps:

let's say your column looks like this in your DB

You need to add a custom column and convert that column to Sum of seconds

here is the formula Duration.TotalSeconds([Duration] - #datetime(1899,12,31,0,0,0))

Change the Column Type to number

Then add a Dax formula like this:

And here is the DAX

Total Duration =

var vSeconds=SUM(Sheet1[Dur])

var vMinutes=int( vSeconds/60)

var vRemainingSeconds=MOD(vSeconds, 60)

var vHours=INT(vMinutes/60)

var vRemainingMinutes=MOD(vMinutes,60)

var vDays=INT(vHours/24)

var vRemainingHours=MOD(vHours,24)

return

vDays&" D : "&

vRemainingHours&" H : "&

vRemainingMinutes&" M : "&

ROUND(vRemainingSeconds,0)& " S "

Hope it works for you.

Attached the Sample Pbix

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wU_VFfS69XSIPeYkT2v12-r1s84QQb3G/view?usp=sharing