This datamodel works... But why?

[Anonymous]

I want to filter Table2 by category column in Table1...  The category columns in the two tables are somewhat different:

Table1[Category] contains "A","B","no category"
Table2[Category] contains "cat A", "cat B", BLANK.

I use the bridge table to connect them. However, I have to leave out the "no category" - BLANK row in the bridge for it to work. I suspect this is because the entries without categories in Table2 are blanks. 

Can I just leave it like this or is it better to assign a value to all the blanks in Table 2 and add a corresponding row in the Bridge Table?
It works... I just don't understand why 🙂

[v-jiascu-msft]

Hi @Anonymous,

Please share the demo if possible. Please mask the sensitive parts first.

That depends on your requirements. If you'd like all the records to show up, you need to match them in the [TableBridge]. 

Why does it work? I think the main reason is the relationship isn't in "the strict mode". For example, 

A    D

B    E

We can create a relationship between the two columns above though there isn't any match. 

Best Regards,
Dale

[Anonymous]

Hello, and thanks for the answer 🙂
I have attatched the model in the file below 🙂 

So the question is why it is possible to filter table2 by category in table1 when "no category" has not been mapped to BLANK in the bridge table.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1QcDo3lzjDrHiTJ9UOx8DR6u-k8dMNbTu

[v-jiascu-msft]

Hi @Anonymous,

Please have a look at the two demos below. I believe you will find the answer. 

1. Delete any one of the relationships. What can we expect? The visual works fine though the result couldn't be the desired one. Because the numeric data have aggregation. 

2. With the relationship and we add one more category. Actually, the relationship isn't clear. 

Best Regards,
Dale