Hello People!

I was just wondering if anyone would like to comment/share their experience and knowledge on Lookup fields vs. AutoEnter Calculations (of the same field in question).

Which is better or more stable way to go about pulling the associated data?

Thank you!

the main difference is

lookups change whenever the lookup key changes

auto-enter-calcs change only if field is empty

both have their uses, depending on your task.

Christian said it in a nutshell. I'll add that with a lookup, you can also do some interesting things with the "use next higher" options, e.g., for quantity discounts. Using a calc, on the other hand, you can do more elaborate things like:

If(Key::Special = "Yes", SpecialPrice, Price).

"auto-enter-calcs change only if field is empty"

can you elaborate please....how can they change if I leave the associated field empty?

eg.

Select Some_ID:

[some_ID][lookup associated field with this ID]

vs.

[some_ID][auto-calcualtion that = associated field with this ID]

thanx Chris!

If say, the price field is based on some_ID, if price is a lookup, it will change when some_ID changes. If price is an auto-calc, it won't change unless you clear it out before you change some_ID.

Thanx Fitch!

This statement cleared it a bit more:

"Using a calc, on the other hand, you can do more elaborate things like:

If(Key::Special = "Yes", SpecialPrice, Price)."

It is hard to "imagine" what you could do without trying to do it

Thank you guys!

Hi,

"If say, the price field is based on some_ID, if price is a lookup, it will change when some_ID changes. "

Changing the ID would lead to trigger a Re-lookup, that could also be set by a script.

Unless you used a calculation for the lookup.

c_locklookup = Case(not isEmpty(Invoice_Number), Product_ID& " 0", Product_ID).

This way, whatever Re-lookup script you're launching, the price won't change if the Invoice N