User`s guide

CHAPTER 6 Components
User’s Guide 99
Building Lookup rules
To set up Lookup rules open the Tabular Tab of the Data Calculator window. If
Lookup ports are available an additional Lookup column is displayed.
You must provide the following information for each lookup rule:
• Key Expression — This is the value to search for in the first column of the
lookup list. You enter the key expression (for example IN.PR_ID) as the
Transformation Rule.
• Return Value — Since lookup lists can have more than one return value
columns you have to specify which value to return, if the key has been
found. This is done by selecting the associated port attribute from the pop-
up menu on the Lookup column (for example
LOOKUP1>>LOOKUP1.PR_NAME).
Note Although the return values are selected and displayed by name, the
lookup internally uses the column number. This means you will need to
review your lookup rules whenever the lookup port structure is modified,
especially after adding or removing attributes.
Note The key column is always returned as Unicode.
• Output Variable — The Lookup return value is assigned to this variable.
You can select a variable from the pop-up menu on the Output Port column
(for example,
OUT>>OUT.PR_NAME).
• Default Expression (optional) — A Lookup will return Null if the given
key value is not found. To return a different default value you can enter an
expression in the Lookup Options window (for example, “key not found”).
Without Lookups, there is no impact on a simulation sequence. With Lookups,
all data is read into the Lookup ports before the data at the Main port is
processed.
Character Mapper
Use the Character Mapper component to replace characters or strings in the
input record. The mapping of the replacement will be applied to all or selected
attributes, and mapping definitions can be saved into files.
Use this component for replacement of characters or strings (for example,
German Umlaut ä to ae or Unicode characters).