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Creating General Lookup/Validation Tables

iMIS enables you to create and add to validation and expansion tables for many fields of the iMIS interface. iMIS comes with built in links between many of the its standard fields, and you can create validation tables for any of your user-defined demographic or list-string fields.

Guidelines for Populating Tables

When working with lookup/validation and expansion tables, keep the following guidelines in mind:

The value that is saved is the value that is displayed in the window that calls the drop down list or select window.

The following are exceptions to the values that will display in a drop-down list:

Tables that Provide Validation

The table validation feature enables you to assure that everyone within your organization uses the same codes to designate the same thing by either checking entered values against a list of approved values (validation) or by providing a fixed list of values from which users must choose (lookup).

For example, the STATE_PROVINCE table comes preloaded with state and regional two-character abbreviations, and iMIS rejects entries in the St/Prov field that fail to match those in the table. While you are entering or editing a field linked to a table, you can view a selection window of the available table values through the lookup feature.

Tables that Provide Expansion

Expansion tables provide input replacement for specified fields. With this keystroke-saving technique, the user enters an abbreviation for a field, and the table look-up replaces it with the associated replacement text. This feature is useful for fields that commonly contain the same text. For example, the Prefix field can expand abbreviations in data entry according to the PREFIX table: entering m expands to Mr., entering p in the Title field expands to President, entering vp expands to Vice President.

How you use the expansion table differs with each field. For example, the STATE_PROVINCE validation table has no values in the expansion area of the table, and any values you put in the expansion area will be ignored by iMIS. Likewise, list string fields will only validate against a table if and when a general table is linked to the field. With a few fields, iMIS uses the table for expansion only (in which case the table associates abbreviations and expanded text) but does not restrict the text that users can enter. For example, the TITLE table will expand vp to Vice President but it won't keep you from entering a new title that is not in the table, such as Sales Representative.

Tables that Expand and Validate

Some fields are set to use a table for both expansion and validation. For example, the PREFIX table provides abbreviated entries and restricts the text to one of the field values (or blank). When using combination tables, be sure to enter both the valid abbreviations and the full field values as codes so that both types of text entries will be accepted (validated).

When setting up tables on the Set up general lookup/validation window to provide lookup choices and validation during data entry for coded fields such as Prefix, you should enter values for Expansion or Description that are different from the specified Code to prevent duplicate values from displaying in your drop-down lists. For example, if you enter Dr. as the Code and Dr as the Expansion, you will have a duplicate in your list.

Note: Leave the Expansion values blank for lookup/validation tables that you create unless you are sure that you need expansion. Entering expansion values when they are not necessary may cause problems with some lookup/validation fields in the iMIS interface.

Note: Most lookup and validation fields limit input to values defined in their associated tables. Be sure to define all of the codes that your users will need when you set up lookup/validation tables.

In This Section

Set up general lookup/validation window

See Also

General Lookup/Validation Tables

Reference to General Lookup/Validation Tables


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