May 2020 RS New DAX Function COALESCE doesn't work

[EdWatson]

I was excited to see when we upgraded to the May 2020 version that we can finally use coalesce as a dax function.  I loaded it right in tabular and deployed. Doesn't work. "Failed to resolve name COALESCE" even though SSAS tabular model correctly calculates it before deployment.  A friend said oh no it works inside of Power BI, ummm ok let me try that.  I typed in a new measure:  TESTMeasure = COALESCE (1,2) and immediately I see the red squiggly lines of terror. When I hover over them it says Cannot find name 'COALESCE' and 'COALESCE' is not a function.  So what happened to the May 2020 new features (Power BI Report Server May 2020 Feature Summary | Microsoft Power BI Blog | Microsoft Power BI)?

Ed Watson

[Alex_PBI · Accepted solution]

Maybe you are connected to a SSAS Tabular Model like I was. It does not work then. My SSAS Model is Compatability level is 1500.

[EdWatson]

I am connected to tabular. That should be noted in the documentation. Also shouldn't tabular work better than import lol.

[Alex_PBI]

Yeah, it is frustrating.
I only found out because my colleague pointed me to https://dax.guide/coalesce/ and on the right side there is a menu called "Compatability" and at the end of it there is an option to "Show verified builds".

When you click that you will notice there is no build version mentioned at SSAS Tabular.

[Anonymous]

In File | About, my version of Power BI Desktop states it is version "Version: 2.100.1381.0 64-bit (January 2022)" but does not mention the build number.

How can you find out the build number of an installed version of Power BI Desktop?

Edit:

According to Change log for Power BI Report Server - Power BI | Microsoft Docs, Version 2.100.1381.0 is associated with Power BI Report Server build number 15.0.1108.159, which falls outside the range of verified builds.

The Verified Builds on the DAX Guide site is currently showing "Power BI: v15.1.25.30  - v16.0.30.29". So I cannot use COALESCE yet.

I was hoping that with the May 2022 release of PBI Report Server would allow COALESCE to work, but that build number 15.0.1108.297 is still outside the range.

Oh well!

But very useful info about the verified builds on DAX Guide - thanks.

[Alex_PBI]

How can you find out the build number of an installed version of Power BI Desktop?

I looked around a bit, but cannot find that build number anywhere. 
It is not this:
https://sqlserverbuilds.blogspot.com/2021/04/power-bi-report-server-versions.html

[EdWatson]

And that is frustrating as well because the default picture makes it appear that it does work which is misleading. I don't think I've ever clicked the verified builds before (but I will now).

[Alex_PBI]

[KBO]

Hi @EdWatson ,

I can't say why it won't work in youre case. I test it and it works perfectly fine in May2020 Desktop for Power BI Report Server

Maybe deinstall and install it again 🙂

Best,

Kathrin

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