Values you define once in a Declarative Automation Bundle, under variables, and reuse anywhere as ${var.<name>}. A variable can carry a fallback value, fetch an object's ID by lookup, or be declared type: complex, and everything is filled in when you deploy.
Also called bundle variables.
Read more: Microsoft Learn
In the Ultra Transcenders books
Each book explains Custom variables in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.
Terms in this definition
- VALUES
Returns in DAX the distinct column values, or table rows, still visible after filters are applied, sometimes with an extra blank entry. CALCULATE often takes the result as a table filter.
- DEFINE
An optional keyword at the start of a DAX query, placed before the first EVALUATE, for declaring things such as measures and variables that exist only for that query. A measure declared this way replaces a model measure with the same name just while the query runs.
- Once flow
A flow that executes a single time and repeats only if the pipeline is fully refreshed. It's a common choice for a first full load ahead of a change feed, and that refresh becomes dangerous once the original files no longer exist.
- Declarative
Describing the result wanted (as Terraform configurations and Bicep files do) and letting tooling work out the steps. Microsoft favours this over imperative scripting.
- VAR
Names an expression's result, scalar or table, so a later RETURN can use it. Variables make measures quicker, clearer and simpler to debug, and remove any need for EARLIER or EARLIEST.
- Fallback
When a request fails with an error like 429 or 5xx, this Unity Gateway option tries alternative destinations one after another in the order configured. Only the first choice of destination comes from traffic splitting; retries ignore the split.
- LOOKUP
Inside a visual calculation, this DAX function retrieves a value from the visual matrix using whatever filters you supply, and works out any you omit from the context it is evaluated in.