Information Management IBM InfoSphere Master Data Management, Version 11.3

Creating lookup tables

You can create a lookup table and save lookup values to the primary spec so that users can select the lookup values from a drop-down list. Lookup tables are useful for quick information retrieval and for storing small amounts of data. You can update lookup tables without needing to do mass update for all the items with the value that you need to update.

Before you begin

Ensure that you have created the lookup spec which is required to create a lookup table.

About this task

Lookup tables can be used:
  • to store auxiliary data during aggregations,
  • to populate output fields during syndications,
  • as an attribute type in the primary spec, secondary spec or subspec,
  • for quick information retrieval,
  • to store small amounts of data,
  • to create standard tables, for example units of measure (UOM, unit of measure), currencies, or countries,
  • to store values that can be assigned to IBM® InfoSphere® Master Data Management Collaboration Server attributes including attributes of the Global Data Synchronization feature, and
  • to validate data contained in specific item or category fields. For example, you might need to create a lookup table for storing long financial values of foreign-exchange department of a bank.
Lookup tables can hold content for:
  • Standard tables like units of measure (UOM), currencies or countries.
  • Custom replacements tables (for example, BK = Black and BL = Blue).

Procedure

Create a lookup table by using any one of the following methods: user interface, Java™ API, or script API. You need to specify attributes and values when you create the lookup table. To create a lookup table, provide details such as lookup spec and the lookup table name.
Option Description
User interface
  1. Click Product Manager > Lookup Tables > Lookup Table Console.
  2. Click the new icon.
  3. From the Select Type drop-down list, select Single String Key and click Select.
  4. Select the lookup table spec to use.
  5. Provide a name and other required details for the lookup table.
  6. Click Next.
Java API The following sample Java API code creates a lookup table.
Context ctx = PIMContextFactory.getCurrentContext();

LookupTableManager lookupTableMgr = ctx.getLookupTableManager();

SpecManager specMgr = ctx.getSpecManager();

LookupSpec lkpSpec = (LookupSpec)specMgr.getSpec("LookupSpec");

LookupTable lookupTable = lookupTableMgr.createLookupTable(lkpSpec, "MyLookupTable");

lookupTable.save();
Script API The following sample script API creates a lookup table.
var lookupSpec = getSpecByName("Default_LookUp_Spec");
var lookuptable = new LookupTable(lookupSpec, "TestLookupTable");
The lookup table is created. The users can create, delete, and modify attributes and values of the lookup tables from the Lookup Table console.
Parent topic: Creating data model objects

Last updated: 8 Mar 2016