2. Muhammad Anas Khan
Overview
• A lookup is a small form we use to
select a value for a control
• A lookup can list the values in a grid or
a form
• Often shows several fields that help us
find and select the correct record
• For example, lookup for customer
account number will also show
customer name
• We can bind a lookup form to a field in
the form datasource or a control in the
form design
3. Muhammad Anas Khan3
Controls
• Following are the controls which can be bound to a
lookup form:
– DateEdit
– GuidEdit
– Int64Edit
– IntEdit
– RealEdit
– ReferenceGroup
– StringEdit
– TimeEdit
4. Muhammad Anas Khan4
Types of Lookup Forms
• Standard Lookup Forms
• EDT Lookup Forms
• Runtime Lookup Forms
• Enum Lookup (Not exactly a lookup form)
7. Muhammad Anas Khan
Insight
• A standard lookup form is a system generated form
• To add a standard lookup form:
– you bind a control to a field
– from the main table of the form data source
– that references the ID of a record in related table
• It uses a grid to list the records
• Field displayed in the control is dictated by the AutoIdentification field
group of the related table
8. Muhammad Anas Khan
Insight
• Fields appearing in the lookup form are specified by a field group or
another set of fields from the related table
– Lookup bound to surrogate/natural foreign key
• shows fields in the AutoLookup field group by default
• shows fields used in TitleField1, TitleField2 properties of the table if AutoLookup is empty
• shows the first natural key of the table if AutoLookup, TitleField1, TitleField2 all are empty
• Use it whenever possible because:
– Consistent experience across forms
– Easier to maintain as lookup forms get synced with field groups changes
9. Muhammad Anas Khan
Lab Activity
• In AOT, navigate to
– Forms>>Form>>Data Sources>>Table>>Fields
• Open Fields node in a new window
• In the AOT that shows the form, navigate to
– Designs>>Design
• Drag the field1 from the Fields list to the Design node of the form
• As a consequence, a control will be added to the Design node
• Check the properties of the newly added control
• Following above steps you will successfully build a standard lookup
form
10. Muhammad Anas Khan
Lab Activity
ReferenceGroup control
• Name
• DataSource
– Should be the intended table from
the form data source
• Label
• ReferenceField
– Should be the intended surrogate
foreign key field from the
DataSource table you want to bind
the control to
Other controls
• Name
• DataField
– Should be the intended foreign key
field in the DataSource table
• DataSource
– Should be the intended table from
the form data source
• Label
• LookupButton
– Should be set to Auto
After finishing lab activity, make sure the following fields have been set correctly
14. Muhammad Anas Khan
Insight
• EDT can be used to bind a lookup form, from the AOT, to
– A field in a form data source table
– A control in a form design. The control can be unbound
• Style property, of the AOT form to be used as a lookup form,
should be set to Lookup1
• Code must be added to the form that updates the value of the
control when you select a record. For example, onClose
method may be returning a record
• Use whenever the lookup form layout is complex
15. Muhammad Anas Khan
Lab Activity
• To add an EDT lookup form:
– To a field, set the ExtendedDataType property of that field to the name of
the EDT
– To a control, set the ExtendedDataType property of that control to the
name of the EDT
– Finally, set the FormHelp property of the EDT to the name of the AOT
form you want to use as a lookup
19. Muhammad Anas Khan
Insight
• It is a custom form you create with X++ code
• It can be added to a field in the form data source or a control in the
form design
• To add a runtime lookup form to a field, override lookup or
lookupReference method
• To add a runtime lookup form to a control, override lookup or
lookupReference method
• Difficult to maintain because changes to the lookup require updates to
the X++ code. Therefore use only when you need it
• Runtime lookup has higher precedence over standard and EDT lookups
25. Muhammad Anas Khan
Insight
• Not exactly a lookup form
• Useful to know how to filter values in an enum lookup
• Possible in case of unbound controls
29. Muhammad Anas Khan
• Consistent experience across different forms
• Easier to maintain as they get auto synced with
changes in field groups
• Best to show fields from a field group of a related table
Standard Lookups
• Best to use if the lookup form layout is complex
• Performance hit due to form rendering
EDT Lookups
• Best to leverage the power of query
• Difficult to maintain because of the need to update the
code in case of changesRuntime Lookups
