Best Resources to learn DAX

I was sitting here in my home thinking about what to write for my next article on my blog. I thought about what could be most helpful for my readers. When I was in my initial learning days I found that DAX is the most important language in PowerBI. With the help of DAX, you can get the most out of the Power BI.  

In this article, I will be helping you by providing the best resources to learn DAX. Well, the Best Choice varies from person to person but still, there are always a few important resources that can not be neglected.  

Along with DAX, if you are interested in knowing some of the best resources to learn Power BI, you can check our article Ultimate Guide to learn Power BI. The article consists of step by step approach to learning Power BI which I have used and found really helpful.  Also, I have mentioned some of the important books for learning Power BI in the article “6 Best Power BI Books for Self Learning”  If you ask me, What are the best resources to learn DAX? 

• Introduction to DAX Video Course
• The Definitive Guide to DAX
• DAX Fridays
• Microsoft Power BI Community

Introduction to DAX Video Course – SQLBI

The Introduction to the DAX Video Course is provided by SQL BI. SQL BI is run by Marco Russo and Alberto Ferrari. They have expertise in DAX and are sharing their knowledge all around the world through the sessions. They also have a youtube channel SQL BI which can be a very good source to learn DAX for free. SQL BI has also launched multiple tools which can help you to optimize the Power BI reports, you can learn about the tools on SQL BI. 

The Introduction to DAX Video Course is free of Cost and very valuable for beginners. This course will help you learn the basics of DAX from Marco Russo and Alberto Ferrari who are experts in DAX. They also offer a lot of paid video courses as well related to Data Modeling, Power BI Dashboard Design, DAX Tools, etc so if you are interested you can check out SQL BI Training Page. You will not regret it even if you pay for their courses. Once you get hold of DAX and want to learn further, You can check out Mastering DAX Video Course.  

The Definitive Guide to DAX

If you ask me what is the ultimate resource to learn DAX then I will recommend this book “The Definitive Guide to DAX“. This book is amazing and extremely helpful. Every topic explained in this book is explained with the help of the example so that it’s easy to understand.  According to me, a simple measure and calculated column can be created by anyone but if someone really wants to understand DAX then you must read this book. This book is pure gold for people who are interested to work in Power BI. The Definitive Guide to DAX is written by Marco Russo and Alberto Ferrari who are also founders of SQL BI. I recommend you to learn the context transition topic from this book as it is explained very beautifully in this book.     

DAX Fridays

Curbal has been one of my favorites Youtube Channel for learning Microsoft Power BI. DAX Fridays is an initiative from Curbal Youtube Channel by posting videos every Friday explaining the DAX Function with the help of Example. Now, almost every DAX function has been explained by her. You can check out her videos as they are very useful and interesting. Curbal Youtube Channel has videos covering all the topics related to Power BI. You can learn Data Modelling, M Query, and Power BI Functionality in her Channel.  

Microsoft Power BI Community

You must be wondering how does Microsoft Power BI Community help us in learning DAX. Does it provide any articles related to DAX?  The answer is NO.  An important aspect of learning is not only to read books or articles. The most important thing is to practice. If you don`t practice then your learning will be useless and you will soon forget everything.  

So, You must be thinking that Where can I practice DAX after reading all the articles and watching all the Videos? You can practice DAX while working on a report in your project but sometimes the scenario which we use in reports is very straightforward, easy and we are not able to use all the formulas which we have learned through our reading. 

For Example, Let’s suppose you are working on a  report where you have to find some count of the record later filter it based on some dimension column and you are getting almost similar kind of scenario in your project what will you do? Will, you just wait and time will pass and you will not able to learn anything?  The Best way to practice DAX is to go to Microsoft PowerBI Community which is an excellent place to help people with DAX and other Power BI-related problems and increase our learning. There are various forums where we can go and find the problem asked by people from all over the world. Below are some of the Categories in the Microsoft Power BI Community 

• Desktop
• Service
• Report Server
• Power Query
• Mobile Apps
• Developer
• DAX Commands and Tips

You can go directly to DAX Commands and Tips Section and find appropriate Questions which you can answer and help other fellow Power BI developers. In fact, I have recently started a DIY article series on my blog where I solve a problem using DAX in a step-by-step manner so that readers can follow along with me and practice on his/her own. I have learned a lot by helping people in this section of the Microsoft Power BI Community. 

Some of the blogs from the DIY article series are mentioned below. 

Difference between the sum of values for recent date and 2nd most recent date.

DIY4: Learn to use LOOKUPVALUE DAX Function in Power BI using Example

DIY 3: Learn to achieve Conditional Running Total in PowerBI using Example

DIY2: How to achieve Relative Date filtering in Power BI

DIY1: How to do Conditional Formatting using field value in Power BI 

How to format the DAX Code?

Dax Formatter is an online tool provided by SQLBI which is very useful and beautifies your DAX code in an elegant manner. Formatting DAX code is extremely important for easy reading and as per best practices. 

Using DAX FORMATTER is very easy, You just have to copy your DAX Code from Power BI and paste it into the space provided just by pressing in FORMAT button. Your nonaligned dax code gets aligned properly. Later, You can copy it and paste it into Power BI in order to maintain best practices. Even it provides HTML code so that you can copy DAX code in HTML Web Pages. 

Conclusion

I hope the article provided value and helped you in your journey to learn DAX and Power BI. You can comment and share the article with your friends.