# Migrating Looker Measures to Holistics

> A practical guide on how to migrate your Looker measures to Holistics measures

## Overview

Looker measures and Holistics measures serve similar purposes but have some key differences in syntax and capabilities:

![Measure Comparison](https://cdn.holistics.io/product/modeling-loooker-measure-migration-20250225-659.png)

1. **Definition Approaches**
   - Looker uses only SQL definitions
   - Holistics supports both SQL and [AQL](/as-code/aql/) definitions

2. **Measure Types**
   - **Looker** has [three measure type categories](https://cloud.google.com/looker/docs/reference/param-measure-types#measure_type_categories):
     - *Aggregate*: `average`, `count`, `count_distinct`, `list`, `percentile`, `percentile_distinct`, `sum`
     - *Non-aggregate*: `string`, `number`, `date`, `yesno`
     - *Post-SQL*: `percent_of_total`, `running_total`, `percent_of_previous`
   - **Holistics** uses a unified measure type with flexible definitions (`text`, `number`, `date`, `datetime`, `truefalse`, `json`)

## Step-by-Step Migration

### Step 1: Set Up Your Environment
1. Open your Looker view file containing the measures
2. Create a new Holistics [model file](/reference/aml/model)
3. Have the [type mapping reference](#type-mapping) ready

### Step 2: Migrate Measures

```tsx title="Basic Aggregations"
// highlight-next-line
// Looker
view: view_name {
  dimension: sale_amount {}

  measure: total_sales {
    type: sum
    sql: ${sale_amount} ;;
  }

}

// highlight-next-line
// Holistics - SQL Definition
Model model_name {  
  dimension sale_amount {}

  measure total_sales {
    type: 'number'
    definition: @sql sum({{ sale_amount }});;
  }

}

// highlight-next-line
// Holistics - AQL Definition
Model model_name {
  dimension sale_amount {}

  measure total_sales {
    type: 'number'
    definition: @aql sum(model_name.sale_amount);;
  }
}
```

```tsx title="Distinct Counts"
// highlight-next-line
// Looker
view: view_name {
  dimension: customer_id {}

  measure: unique_customers {
    type: count_distinct
    sql: ${customer_id} ;;
  }
}

// highlight-next-line
// Holistics
Model model_name {
  dimension customer_id {}

  measure unique_customers {
    type: 'number'
    definition: @aql count_distinct(model_name.customer_id);;
  }
}
```

```tsx title="Conditional Aggregations"
// highlight-next-line
// Looker
view: view_name {
  dimension: state {}

  measure: customers_by_state {
    type: count
    filters: [state: "California, Nevada, Washington, Oregon"]
  }
}

// highlight-next-line
// Holistics
Model model_name {
  dimension state {}

  measure customers_by_state {
    type: 'number'
    definition: @aql 
      count(model_name.customer_id) 
      | where(model_name.state in ["California", "Nevada", "Washington", "Oregon"]);;
  }
}
```

```tsx title="Running Totals"
// highlight-next-line
// Looker (post-query calculation)
view: view_name {
  measure: sale_amount {}

  measure: running_total {
    type: running_total
    sql: ${sale_amount} ;;
  }
}

// highlight-next-line
// Holistics (in-query calculation)
Model model_name {
  measure sale_amount {}

  measure running_total {
    type: 'number'
    definition: @aql running_total(model_name.sale_amount) ;;
  }
}
```

```tsx title="Percent of Previous"
// highlight-next-line
// Looker (post-query calculation)
view: view_name {
  measure: mrr {}

  measure: count_growth {
    type: percent_of_previous
    sql: ${mrr} ;; 
  }
}

// highlight-next-line
// Holistics (in-query calculation)
Model model_name {
  dimension date {}
  measure mrr {}

  measure count_growth {
    type: 'number'
    definition: @aql 
      ( model_name.mrr - previous(model_name.mrr, order: model_name.date) ) 
      / 
      previous(model_name.mrr, order: model_name.date)
      ;;
  }
}
```

```tsx title="Percent of Total"
// highlight-next-line
// Looker (post-query calculation)
view: view_name {
  measure: total_gross_margin {}

  measure: percent_of_total_gross_margin {
    type: percent_of_total
    sql: ${total_gross_margin} ;;
  }
}

// highlight-next-line
// Holistics (in-query calculation)
Model model_name {
  measure total_gross_margin {}

  measure percent_of_total_gross_margin {
    type: 'number'
    definition: @aql 
      (model_name.total_gross_margin) * 1.0 
      / 
      (model_name.total_gross_margin | of_all(model_name)) 
      ;;
  }
}
```

### Step 3: Test and Validate
1. Check all measure types are correctly mapped
2. Verify aggregations produce expected results
3. Test measures in simple reports
4. Compare results with original Looker measures

## Reference Manual

### Type Mapping {#type-mapping}

| Looker Type | Holistics Definition | Notes |
|-------------|---------------------|-------|
| `sum` | `sum()` | Direct mapping |
| `average` | `average()` | Direct mapping |
| `count` | `count()` | Direct mapping |
| `count_distinct` | `count(distinct: true)` | Use AQL syntax |
| `list` | `unique()` | Returns array of values |
| `percent_of_total` | AQL expression | Use [percent_of_total](/as-code/aql/cookbook/aql-percent-of-total) |
| `running_total` | AQL expression | Use [running_total](/reference/aql/running_total) |

## Detailed Feature Comparison

| LookML Parameter | Purpose | Support | Holistics Equivalent & Implementation |
|-----------------|---------|----------|-----------------------------------|
| **Structural Parameters** | | | |
| `measure` | Creates a measure field | ✅ | Holistics [measure](/reference/aql/type-measure) and [metric](/reference/aml/dataset-field#metric) |
| **Action and Linking Parameters** | | | |
| `action` | Creates clickable actions on measure values | ✔️ (partial) | Holistics [Actions](/docs/actions)  Note: Holistics Actions can only be defined in Dashboard layer |
| `drill_fields` | Specifies fields to show when drilling into measure | 🛠️ (will support soon) | Holistics [Drill Down](/docs/interactions/drill-down) |
| `tags` | Adds text that can be passed to other applications | ❌ | No direct equivalent |
| `link` | Creates links to other Looker content or external URLs | ✅ | Can be solved with Holistics [Actions](/docs/actions) |
| **Display Parameters** | | | |
| `alias` | Creates alternate names for backward compatibility | ❌ | No direct equivalent |
| `description` | Adds explanatory text for the measure | ✅ | Uses `description` parameter |
| `group_label` | Groups measures together under a heading | ❌ | No direct equivalent |
| `group_item_label` | Specifies label for field under its group label | ❌ | No direct equivalent |
| `hidden` | Controls visibility in the UI | ✅ | Uses `hidden` parameter with true/false |
| `label` | Changes how the measure appears in the UI | ✅ | Uses `label` parameter |
| `order_by_field` | Sorts measure by values of another field | ❌ | No direct equivalent |
| `view_label` | Changes how measure's view appears in field picker | ❌ | No direct equivalent |
| **Filter Parameters** | | | |
| `can_filter` | Lets you prohibit a measure from being used as a filter | ❌ | No direct equivalent |
| `filters` (for measure) | Restricts a measure's calculation based on dimension limitations.  Only with the following measure types that perform aggregation: - `count` - `sum` - `average` - `count_distinct` | ✅ | Using AQL [**`where` function**](/reference/aql/where).  Unlike Looker, this function can work with all type of [aggregate functions](/reference/aql/aggregator-functions) |
| **Filter Suggestion Parameters** | | | |
| `suggest_dimension` | Bases suggestions on values of different dimension | ❌ | No direct equivalent |
| `suggest_explore` | Bases suggestions on values of different explore | ❌ | No direct equivalent |
| `suggestable` | Enables or disables suggestions for a field | ❌ | No direct equivalent |
| **Query Parameters** | | | |
| `convert_tz` | Controls timezone conversion | ❌ | No direct equivalent |
| `datatype` | Specifies the type of time data you are providing to a field | | | 
| `required_access_grants` | Controls access based on user attributes | ❌ | No direct equivalent in basic AMQL, but Holistics handles access control differently |
| `required_fields` | Requires additional fields when this field is chosen | ❌ | No direct equivalent |
| `sql_distinct_key` | Defines the unique entities over which a measure of `type: sum_distinct` or `type: average_distinct` will be calculated | ✅ | Check how Holistics handles [Fanout issue](/docs/joins/troubleshooting-fanout) | 
| **Value and Formatting Parameters** | | | |
| `direction` | Determines the direction that a measure of `type: percent_of_total` or `type: running_total` is calculated when pivots are used | ✅ | Holistics supports native [Percent of Total calculation](/docs/percent-of-total) | 
| `html` | Modifies HTML output using Liquid templating | ✅ | Holistics supports [HTML Format](/docs/data-format#1-text) |
| `list_field` | Declares the dimension from which a measure of `type: list` will be calculated | ✅ | Using AQL [unique](/reference/aql/unique) function |
| `percentile` | Specifies the fractional value (the Nth percentile) for a measure of `type: percentile` or `type: percentile_distinct` | ❌ | Not supported yet. |
| `type` (for measure) | Specifies the type of measure   Measure type categories: - **Aggregate measures** (average, count, sum, etc.) - **Non-aggregate measures** (date, number, string, etc.) - **Post-SQL measures** (Percent of Total, Running Total, etc.) | ✅ | In Holistics, type for: - **Aggregate Meaasure** is supported via [SQL definition](/reference/aql/type-measure#sql-definition-of-measure) or [AQL definition](/reference/aql/expression) - **Non-aggregate measures** are supported via `type` in measure/metric - **Post-SQL Measures** are supported via AQL Expression (e.g., [Percent of Total](/as-code/aql/cookbook/aql-percent-of-total)), but we will perform the calculation in the query, instead of after generating the query like Looker |
| `value_format` | Formats the output of a field using Excel style options | ✅ | Holistics supports [Data Format](/reference/aml/data-format) |
| `value_format_name` | Formats the output of a field using a built-in or custom format | ❌ | Not supported custom format yet. |