Defining Look Up Options

Some special fields have values that are defined by the base-package development group. For example:

• The navigation option usage field has potential values of Favorites, Go To and Menu. On the database, these values are represented by the values of FAV, GOTO and MENU, respectively.
• The access mode (used by application security) defines the actions that are available on various application services, for example Add, Change, Delete, Complete and Cancel. On the database, these values are represented by the values of A, C, D, CO, and CA respectively

We call these types of fields "lookup fields" (because we have to "look up" the descriptions on the "look up" table when they are displayed on a transaction).

The two examples described above represent the two different types of lookup fields.

• The first example (navigation option usage) is a lookup field where you cannot add, remove or change the valid values.
• The second example (access mode) is a lookup field where you are allowed to add valid values.

We differentiate between these two types of lookups because the first type of lookup field (e.g., navigation usage option) controls logic in the system and if you change the valid values, the system will not work and if you add valid values, they will not be used by any system logic. For the second type of lookup field (e.g., access mode), your implementation may define additional values to be used by your customer modifications.