Configuring Automatic ID Lookup

Activating Automatic ID Lookup

The lookup ID feature is disabled by default. You activate it with these methods:

Application Parameter

To use numeric ID fields, enable ID lookup by setting the activity parameter for the project: AbSystemAdministration-EnableIdLookup.

Activity ID	Parameter Name	Values
AbSystemAdministration	EnableIdLookup	0 1

If this parameter is not defined in the database, automatic ID lookup is disabled.

System administrators can change this parameter value and use the "Reload All Parameters" action in the System Administration / ARCHIBUS System Administration / ARCHIBUS Administrator - Application Configuration / Configure Application Parameters view to apply the change. There is no need to restart the application server. Users who are signed in will see the change after reloading their views.

Manage Automatic Lookups view

System administrators can also use the System Administration / ARCHIBUS System Administration / Add-In Manager / Manage Automatic Lookups view to enable ID lookup:

ID lookup field metadata

To automatically add lookup fields and tables to data sources and panels, designate the field in a table that contains lookup values for the ID field.

If the ID field is a primary key, the lookup table is the main table.
If the ID field is a foreign key, the lookup table is the validating table of the foreign key.
The lookup table may only have one lookup field.

For each lookup field, you can specify these preferences:

How to display ID and/or lookup values

displayType=id|lookup|both|concatenate|translate

Value	Description
concatenate	Display concatenated ID and Lookup values
id	Display only the ID field
lookup	Display only the lookup field. This is the default value.
both	Display the ID and Lookup fields
translate	Display the translated lookup field value in reports. Do not display read-only lookup value below the ID field in forms. Use this option if the site does not use Numeric ID lookup for this FK field, but wishes to display translated field values.

How to concatenate ID and lookup values when displayType=concatenate

// displays "02300 - Snow Removal Costs" - this is the default format
displayFormat= "{0} - {1}"
// displays "SMITH, JONAS (3421122)"
displayFormat.em_id= "{1} ({0})"

Placeholder {0} refers to the ID value, {1} refers to the Lookup value.

How to sort records in reports and grids when displayType=concatenate

orderBy=idFirst|lookupFirst

Value	Description
idFirst (or not specified)	Sort by ID values, then by Lookup values.
lookupFirst	Sort by Lookup values, then by ID values.

These preferences are stored in the afm_flds.attributes field for all lookup fields in most common lookup tables (bl, em, bu, dv, dp, rmcat, etc.). All XML attributes are optional.

To mark another field as a lookup field, enter the code below in the afm_flds.attributes field:

To mark a field as a lookup field, and specify optional lookup preferences:

The database defines lookup preferences for following fields:

Tables	Field
dp, dv, bu	name
property, bl, site, city, county, state, ctry, regn	name
rmtype, rmcat, rmstd, emstd, ac, projecttype	description
org	org_name

The V.23 database adds these new fields:

Table	Field	Heading	Size
em	name	Employee Name	96
cost_cat	description	Cost Category Description	96
cost_class	description	Cost Class Description	96

Upgrading the database

If a you changes lookup preferences in afm_flds.attributes, and then use the Database Change Wizard to upgrade the database, the Wizard will notify you about new and old value of the attribute. You will have two options:

Apply Change -- overwrites the old value with the new one,
Keep Changes-- leaves it untouched.