Min error when I am using the MINROW function

[Robbo]

I am trying to create a VC using the following formula and I am getting the error message “The inputs for function ‘MIN’ should be a list of numeric values“. I am not using MIN, so what am i doing wrong?

MINROW(“Menus”,“Menu Key”,[Category] = [_THISROW].[Category])

[Suvrutt_Gurjar]

What kind of column “Menu Key” is.

It should be a numeric column.

Even MINROW() requires a numeric column to select the row having the minimum value for that particular columns values

[Robbo]

Thanks, Suvrutt, for your input but it seems unclear to me.

I don’t see in the documentation where it says it requires a numeric, it merely says “Name of the column of the named data set in which to find the minimum value” which I would have thought would capture an alpha order. The documentation gives the following example “MINROW("Sales", "Close Date", ([City] = "Madrid")) : returns the row for the oldest sale in Madrid.“ I assume it works with numerics and dates, just not alpha

That said, why is it referring to function ‘MIN’ not ‘MINROW’ in the error message - is that because it is a variant of the MIN function?

Finally, if it is meant to be numeric, is there an alternative I can use?

To explain a little deeper, I am using this to debug, but the VC I am trying to create is actually a yes/no field. The only way I could get it to work is as follows but it seems like an overkill

[Menu Key] = INDEX(
ORDERBY(
FILTER(“Menus”, [Category] = [_THISROW].[Category]),
[Menu Key],
TRUE
),
1
)

[Suvrutt_Gurjar]

The MINROW() expression certainly requires a numeric value column. Please take a look at the following definition in the help article.

As we can appreciate a minimum ( or even maximum value) can be found only for a numeric type column ( date, datetime, number , decimal etc.)

Also please see each of the examples in the help article as highlighted below

In all the above examples, each of the underlined columns used in the MINROW() expressions above is a numeric column. There cannot be a minimum ( or maximum) value for non numeric (text , name, etc.) columns.

Now about your requirement, it is not exactly clear by which minimum value you are looking for to find the record. Could you elaborate what exactly menu key contains, its column type and /or how it is sequenced in the “Menus” table and we could help you with a proper expression.

@Robbo

That said, why is it referring to function ‘MIN’ not ‘MINROW’ in the error message - is that because it is a variant of the MIN function?

Here I agree that if it is showing the above error message, the message needs a bit of correction. I believe you are correct in your assumption that since it is variant of MIN() function, probably, the same error message has been used but it can definitely be refined.

@Jose_Arteaga , @Adam-google : May we request you to look into the error message for the MINROW() function.

[Steve]

@Robbo

why is it referring to function ‘MIN’ not ‘MINROW’ in the error message

Because MINROW(table, column, match) is translated to:

ANY(
  FILTER(
    table,
    AND(
      match,
      (
        [column] = MIN(
          SELECT(
            table[column],
            match
          )
        )
      )
    )
  )
)

[Robbo]

Thanks Suvrutt and Steve. I knew it had to be my misunderstanding. I really appreciate your support.

[AYUSH_CHAUHAN1]

You’re not using MIN() directly, but MINROW() internally calls MIN(), and since your Menu Key is not numeric, AppSheet throws that error.

[Robbo]

Yes, my mistake. I thought that the documentation said “…that contains the mininmum value found…” it would apply to alpha as well, since technically A is less than Z, and there was no specific mention of it being numeric. I now understand. Thanks for the added clarification