Using %TLOOKUP: An example

Firstly, a disclaimer. The CTDATA definition keyword indicates that an array or table should be loaded at compile time. This is a terrible idea for a whole host of reasons, not least of which is that the data is locked away in the program and that you need a programmer to change the data. It is far, far better to store any and all data outside of the program — physical files, SQL tables and data areas all exist for this purpose.

However, there are times when compile time tables cannot be avoided. These are times that I find myself looking at a really old program which is, inevitably, broken.

%TLOOKUP is weird. The function searches a table for an argument and returns either *ON or *OFF depending on whether or not a match was found. All pretty straightforward so far, if a little pointless. The oddities begin when you include the third, alt-table parameter.

Here’s an example:

        ctl-opt main(Main) dftactgrp(*no) actgrp(*new);

        //---------------------------------------------------------------------
        // Tables
        //---------------------------------------------------------------------
        dcl-s TABA char(3) dim(4) ctdata perrcd(1);
        dcl-s TABB char(2) dim(4) alt(TABA);

        //---------------------------------------------------------------------
        // Program main procedure
        //---------------------------------------------------------------------
        dcl-proc Main;
            dcl-pi *n end-pi;

            dcl-s check ind;


            check = %tlookup('129': TABA: TABB);
            dsply TABB;

            return;

        end-proc;
      * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- *
**  TABA - TABB
112G
113LU
129NL
150B

If I run this program, the tlookup searches table TABA for argument ‘129’. The third element of TABA matches this exactly, so the value of check is set to *ON.

And the value of TABB is set to ‘NL’, which is what we’re looking for.

But TABB is not a real field and cannot, for example, be used as an SQL host variable. For this, you would need to define another standalone field and populate it with TABB.

%TLOOKUP is an odd little function, and one that is very rarely needed. This post goes a very little way towards rectifying the fact that no-one else on the web wanted to provide an example of its use.