Problems with calculation groups in Power BI connected to SSAS (tabular)

Question

Hi guys,
 
I'm trying to use calculation groups in Power BI that is connected to SSAS (tabular) but I'm having a few problems.
 
First problem is processing the calculation group, I'm adding the items in Tabular Editor & VS19 and processing in SSMS. I've tried both process default and process full. Yet I cannot get the calculation items to come through. I get an error in Power BI (even after a refresh there):
"The query referenced Calculation Group Table 'CalculationGroup 1' which does not hold any data because it needs to be recalculated or refreshed. " . The calculation group is still a table of 0 rows even after process (COUNTROWS returns blank). 
I have to "Process Database" in SSMS (not just the calculation group) to get it working. This process all the tables in the data model. This can take a long time, i'm sure there must be a way of processing the particular calculation group. 
 
Second problem is that "Format String" property does not seem to do anything. I've tried "0.00%" for example which Marco Russo uses in his online articles. Doesn't seem to do a thing.
 
Really keen to use calculation groups.

Answer 1

I have to "Process Database" in SSMS (not just the calculation group) to get it working. This process all the tables in the data model. This can take a long time, i'm sure there must be a way of processing the particular calculation group.

If you just do a ProcessRecalc at the database level this should work and should not take too much time as a recalc will not fetch any data from the data sources it will just re-calc any calculated columns/tables and calc groups.

Second problem is that "Format String" property does not seem to do anything. I've tried "0.00%" for example which Marco Russo uses in his online articles. Doesn't seem to do a thing.

Did you include the quote characters in your expression? In calculation groups there is no FormatString property it is actually a FormatStringExpression so the value you use needs to be a valid DAX expression. So it could be "0.00%" but it cannot just be 0.00% (you can have any DAX logic you like in a FormatStringExpression include IF or SWITCH statements)