FIRST

In a visual calculation, a column's value at the first row along an axis.

A visual calculation works on the table behind a visual: a row for each group on the visual's axes and one for each of their totals. To try one in the OAX view, give a table that shape with DEFINE TABLE ... WITH VISUAL SHAPE: its axes, their groups, the TRUE/FALSE column that marks each group's totals and the order, and with DENSIFY a name for the column that marks rows the shape fills in. Then write the calculation as a COLUMN of that table, as Power BI's own queries do. The examples below are queries of that kind, small enough to check by hand.

Group: Window and visual calculations. Compatible with DAX.

Syntax

FIRST ( <column> [, <axis>] [, <orderBy>] [, <blanks>] [, <reset>] )

Parameter	Type	Description
`column`	Column	A field of the visual, such as `[Liters]`. An expression is not allowed here: make it a visual calculation of its own and name that.
`axis`	Axis optional	Which way to go: `ROWS` or `COLUMNS`, or both, as `ROWS COLUMNS`, which goes down the rows first and then across the columns; `ROWPAGES` for small multiples. Left out, the visual's first axis.
`orderBy`	ORDERBY optional	`ORDERBY ( ... )` to take the rows in another order than the axis has.
`blanks`	Keyword optional	With an `ORDERBY`: where blank values go, `DEFAULT`, `FIRST` or `LAST`.
`reset`	Reset optional	Where it starts again: `NONE` (when left out) never; `HIGHESTPARENT` (or 1, or the axis's top column) at each value of the top group; `LOWESTPARENT` (or -1) at each row's own parent; another whole number, or a column of the axis, at that level.

Returns

Same type as the column. The column's value on the first row along the axis.

Remarks

[Liters] - FIRST ( [Liters] ) shows how far each row has moved from the start.
Each level of the visual is walked on its own: the quarters' rows among the quarters, the years' subtotals among the years, the grand total by itself. With HIGHESTPARENT, each year's quarters compare with that year's first quarter.
It is the visual calculation's counterpart of INDEX ( 1 ) along an axis.
It works only in a visual calculation; in a measure, a calculated column or a plain query it is an error.

Examples

Against the first month

Four months on the rows of a visual.

DEFINE
    TABLE Visual =
        DATATABLE (
            "Month", INTEGER, "Liters", INTEGER,
            { { 1, 100 }, { 2, 150 }, { 3, 120 }, { 4, 90 } }
        )
        WITH VISUAL SHAPE
            AXIS ROWS GROUP [Month] ORDER BY [Month]
            DENSIFY "Added"
    COLUMN Visual[First] = FIRST ( [Liters] )
    COLUMN Visual[Since the first] = [Liters] - FIRST ( [Liters] )
EVALUATE
SELECTCOLUMNS (
    Visual,
    "Month", [Month], "Liters", [Liters],
    "First", [First],
    "Since the first", [Since the first]
)
ORDER BY [Month]

Month	Liters	First	Since the first
1	100	100	0
2	150	100	50
3	120	100	20
4	90	100	-10

The first quarter of each year

DEFINE
    TABLE Visual =
        DATATABLE (
            "Year", INTEGER, "Quarter", INTEGER, "Liters", INTEGER, "All years", BOOLEAN, "All quarters", BOOLEAN,
            {
                { 2025, 1, 100, FALSE, FALSE }, { 2025, 2, 120, FALSE, FALSE }, { 2025, BLANK (), 220, FALSE, TRUE },
                { 2026, 1, 130, FALSE, FALSE }, { 2026, 2, 150, FALSE, FALSE }, { 2026, BLANK (), 280, FALSE, TRUE },
                { BLANK (), BLANK (), 500, TRUE, TRUE }
            }
        )
        WITH VISUAL SHAPE
            AXIS ROWS
                GROUP [Year] TOTAL [All years]
                GROUP [Quarter] TOTAL [All quarters]
                ORDER BY [Year], [Quarter]
            DENSIFY "Added"
    COLUMN Visual[First overall] = FIRST ( [Liters] )
    COLUMN Visual[First of the year] = FIRST ( [Liters], HIGHESTPARENT )
EVALUATE
SELECTCOLUMNS (
    Visual,
    "Year", [Year], "Quarter", [Quarter], "Liters", [Liters],
    "First overall", [First overall],
    "First of the year", [First of the year]
)
ORDER BY ISBLANK ( [Year] ), [Year], ISBLANK ( [Quarter] ), [Quarter]

Year	Quarter	Liters	First overall	First of the year
2025	1	100	100	100
2025	2	120	100	100
2025	(blank)	220	220	220
2026	1	130	100	130
2026	2	150	100	130
2026	(blank)	280	220	280
(blank)	(blank)	500	500	500

LAST, PREVIOUS, INDEX, RUNNINGSUM.

Last updated 3 November 2026 · OpenBI Studio 0.3.74