Look-up table - Walkthrough

Examples of Look-up table use

One way of working with the look-up items is to use them for items that are common to a wide range of products.

For example, if for most products the back material is 8mm MDF (medium density fibre board) this can be set up for each product in the product library as follows.

BOOKCASE /073

Small Bookcase

Width:

Height:

Depth:

Part code Qty Description Material        Length   Width

PT/101     1  Back panel  MDF08           =X-35      Y

The problem with this definition is that to change the code of the back material, for example, if there was policy to use a different standard or if the supplier changed then every part in every product which uses back material has to be manually changed. For example, from MDF08 to MDF06.

This problem is solved by using the look-up table and setting up an entry for the back material code

The Back material can be set up in the product library as follows.

BOOKCASE /073

Small Bookcase

Width:

Height:

Depth:

Part   Qty Description   Material          Length   Width

PT/101   1  Back panel  $BACKMATERIAL$    =X-35      Y

The $ symbols mark the entry as an item from the look-up table. Note that it can also make the product definition clearer to use a look-up item with a name like BACK_MATERIAL rather than the actual material code.

When the back material code is changed this is now a single change in the look-up table.

Wide range of uses - the look-up items have a wide range of uses as well representing standard items and settings because they give more flexibility when defining products. The following is just one example of the flexibility. Suppose there are several ranges of products.

TUDOR

RURAL

REGENCY

MODERN

But the back material for each cabinet is either 4mm hardboard for the RURAL range or 6mm MDF for the other ranges. One way of dealing with this is to use the look-up table. The back material is defined by the expression.

$@STYLE@BACK$

Part code Qty Description          Material

BACK/01    1  Back material  $@STYLE@BACK$

The item @STYLE@ is product variable which is entered at the order / product requirements stage and is TUDOR, RURAL, REGENCY, or MODERN.

So the back material is either: TUDORBACK, RURALBACK, REGENCYBACK or MODERNBACK.

The actual material is then looked-up in the table.

Name          Description                     Text

TUDORBACK     Tudor back material            MDF06

RURALEBACK    Cottage back material          MDF06

REGENCYBACK   Regency back material          MDF06

MODERNBACK    Modern back material           HBD04

A single material definition can deal with a wide range of different products.

This principle can easily be extended so that a relatively small number of general product definitions can be used to cover a wider range of products, styles and sizes.

Machining example -  The look-up table can also act as pop-up list to help with selecting different items.

For example at the Tool box in machining it can be difficult to remember the tool choices and numbers. Enter the choices and numbers in the table and this is then available for selection at the tool box (from the $ button).

Name           Description                     Text

DR1            5mm chamfered                   402

DR2            5mm counter sunk                321

DR3            5mm standard                    204

Note -  text $DR1$ etc. is entered in the tool box - this is converted to the correct tool box number when transferring the part drawings.

The value of the Lookup can also include variables and other functions.

For example, the text manipulation

Lookup table

The variable can include text manipulation functions or the Cell function which gets a value from an external table.

It value can also use the Text manipulation variables to alter the value.

Lookup table

Lookup table

See the topics below for details of each item in the table.