Lookup fields are used in places where the user needs to ask BeCat to get an entry off the database and place it in the field. These are needed because names are entered once, but used in many places. For instance, artist names are used on the Albums and Sideman windows, but only entered in the Personnel window.
There are two kinds of lookup fields: simple and advanced. They work the same way, but the advanced version uses corresponding select lists. Examples below will demonstrate further.
The following example demonstrates the use of the artist name lookup field on the ALBUMS window. This is an advanced lookup field.
The first illustration shows an in progress entry of the album Dear Mr. Cole by John Pizzarelli. The user is entering the artist name for the album and has typed the first 4 characters of the last name.
Notice that "John Pizzarelli" is not typed. BeCat would accept that as an entry for a person whose last name is "John." After entering "pizz," notice that the select list on the right side of the window lists all personnel names in the database that begin with "pizz." The user could then tab out of the artist name field to the next field. This action causes BeCat to look for the first artist whose last name begins with "pizz" and in this case would return "Bucky Pizzarelli" to the artist name field and the arrow nav buttons on the right of the field could be used to advance the lookup to "John Pizzarelli."
But the easier way to handle the selection is to select "John Pizzarelli" from the select list on the right. This will automatically fill in that name into the artist name field as shown above.