Format DAX


Bravo can format the DAX measures of a Power BI model.

Main features:

  1. Search Measure
    Filters measures by writing a partial name in the textbox.
  2. Current
    Shows the current DAX expressions of the selected measure.
  3. Formatted (Preview)
    hows the preview of the formatted measure.
  4. Panes position
    Changes position of current and preview panes. The button switches between overlapped panes, vertical side-by-side, and horizontal side-by-side.

When the Formatted (Preview) pane is visible, the DAX code must be sent to the DAX Formatter service to be formatted.

The preview requires a manual action because the DAX Formatter service must receive the DAX code. The DAX Formatter service does not store any received DAX code, but users must be aware that they are using a free online service provided by SQLBI.

  1. Preview
    Sends only the DAX measure displayed in the Current pane to the DAX Formatter service, and then displays the formatted code.
  2. Preview All Measures
    Sends all the measures of the model to the DAX Formatter service. The preview is then automatically displayed for any other measure selected for the current model without requiring a confirmation for each measure.
  3. Automatic preview
    By enabling the Automatic preview setting, the preview is automatically enabled for all the measures of any model. The choice can be reverted in the Options dialog box.

When the preview is enabled, the measures that are not formatted are highlighted in the list of the measures. Bravo writes in the Power BI the formatted version only of the selected measures.

  1. Show unformatted measures
    Filters only the measures that are not formatted. This filter only works with measures that have the preview enabled. The same filter also includes measures that cannot be formatted because of a syntax error. The code of the measure cannot be modified in Bravo, the Current and Formatted (Preview) panes are read-only.
  2. Select/unselect all the measures
    Chooses the measures that Bravo writes in Power BI when the user clicks Format Selected.
  3. Select/unselect the measure
    Toggles the selection of the measure in the corresponding line.
  4. Whitespaces
    Shows/hides a placeholder to identify whitespaces in the code.
  5. Auto word-wrap
    Shows the content of a long line within the visible code pane, splitting the code into multiple lines if necessary. When this happens, the line number at the left of the code clarifies the actual lines in the measure. Without Auto word-wrap, the horizontal scrollbar can show the remaining part of the line that is not visible in the code pane.
  6. Zoom
    Changes the font size of the code pane.
  7. Refresh preview
    Updates the formatted preview of a measure by invoking the DAX Formatter service.
  8. Format online with DAX Formatter
    Shows the formatted measure in a browser window using the DAX Formatter website. From that page, the formatted measure can be copied to the clipboard or saved into a file.
  9. Format Selected
    Writes a formatted version of the selected measure in the Power BI model.

IMPORTANT: create a backup of the PBIX file before using Bravo, because it is not possible to “undo” the Format DAX operation!

Last update: Oct 13, 2024