Parse Date not working

[Djmiles]

I'm trying to future proof my dashboard. I've created a First Day of Current Year text parameter and entered the value 2024-08-07.
Then I have tried to create a field with PARSE_DATE('%Y-%m-%d', First Day of Current Year), but I get an error Argument is of an unsupported type.

Everything I've read suggests my format is correct. Is this an issue with using a parameter?
How do I resolve this?

[marcwo]

Hi @Djmiles

when you look at the error in detail, it states that PARSE_DATE requires a field as the second argument, so parameters dont work.

What are you trying to achieve, do you just need a field that serves as a fictious first day of the current year as a date field?

[Djmiles · Accepted solution]

Thanks @marcwo. I eventually learned that I had to pull it into a field on its own, then I could parse the field.

What I'm doing is working with multiyear student enrolment data. I needed to define the first day of the year so we can see what enrolment is on Day 1, and then how it changes over the year.

And I want to be able to easily update the dashboard in the future, so wanted to define a parameter rather than hardcode it into a filter

[marcwo]

Understood- so you got it working?

[Djmiles]

Yes, thanks 🙂