A lookup table or lookup file holds static data and is used to look up a secondary value based on a primary value. It can be used to translate encoded information into a user-friendly description, to validate input values by matching them to a list of valid items, or to translate a shorthand entry into something more detailed.
A lookup action retrieves values from a related table. Specify the starting item, where to locate its value, and the column whose value is to be retrieved.
For example, using the following table, if you want to display the name of a sales manager for a particular sales team, specify the name of the sales team as the primary value, for example, Rhode Island, and the lookup table returns the name of the sales manager, Mike Lucas, as the secondary value.
Typically, a lookup table is one of the following file types:
- Text file (*.txt)
- Lookup table (*.tbl)
- Tab delimited file (*.tab)
- Lookup table (*.lup)
See also: