User Guide > Data Generation Techniques and Parameters > Reference Lookup Generation
  

Reference Lookup Generation

A reference lookup generation rule is an ad hoc rule that generates data from a reference table. You can create reference lookup rules with the string, numeric, and date data types.
Create a reference lookup generation rule to generate column data using data from an existing table. Specify the parent table and assign the parent columns to child columns in the target database.
You must assign a parent table and parent column to the target column that you create the rule for. When you create the rule you can also assign parent columns from the same parent table to other target child columns.
The following image shows the reference lookup generation parameters:
The reference lookup parameters are minimum value, maximum value, data source, parent table, child column, parent column, lookup condition, parent records wtithout children, and child records without parent.

Reference Lookup Generation Example

You want to generate customer identification numbers in a column. You want to use the same customer identification numbers that exist in a different table. You create a reference lookup generation rule that references the column in the other table and generates the values from that table.

Reference Lookup Generation Parameters

Create reference lookup rules for string, numeric, and date data types.
The following table describes the parameters that you can configure to generate data from a reference lookup table:
Parameter
Description
Minimum Value
The minimum number of child records for a parent record. Default is 1.
Maximum Value
The maximum number of child records for a parent record. Default is 3.
Data Source
The connection to the parent table.
Parent Table
The parent table that you can get the data from.
Child Column
The column name on which you create the rule. You cannot remove the first child column. To enter additional child columns, you can add more rows.
Parent Column
The parent column for the corresponding child column. You add more rows to enter additional child and parent columns. You can also assign parent columns from the same parent table to the other target child columns.
Parent Table Filter
A conditional expression that you enter to extract the data. The data you extract from the parent table must conform to this condition.
Parent records without children
The percent of parent records without a child.
Child records without a parent
The percent of child records without a parent. You can enter a value greater than 0. If you enter 0, you must provide a default value instead of null values.
Default Value
The default value that you want to generate in the target column instead of null values. The default value can be one of the values present in the parent table if the tables are in a parent-child relationship. Required if the percent of child records without a parent is set to 0. Optional if the percent of child records without a parent field is blank. Disabled if you enter a non-zero value in the percent of child records without parent field to generate null values.