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lookup helper

Tom Santiago
Updated

The {{lookup}} helper retrieves data from lookups you define in the same flow step, but cannot reference lookups from other steps. In the AFE 2.0 screen, you can open the Create/manage lookup drawer to configure these lookups. The drawer supports two types:

  • Dynamic search: You define the search in the destination application, and then also the single string field value from search results that you want to return.

  • Static: value-to-value: You define the value to value mappings (e.g., “apple” → “banana”).

You must give each lookup a unique alphanumeric name that will be used to reference it in your Handlebars template.

Usage

For a dynamic search lookup, reference the lookup name without quotes in your template:

{{lookup.myDynamicLookup}}

For a static: value-to-value lookup, wrap the lookup name in quotes and supply the value to match:

{{lookup “myStaticLookup” record.someField}}

Use these exact naming conventions (with or without quotes) based on how you created the lookup in the same flow step. 

Examples

  1. Dynamic search lookup 

    Suppose you created a dynamic search lookup called shippingLookup, which retrieves the first shipping method from your destination application (shipping[0].method). To use it in your handlebars template:

    {{lookup.shippingLookup}}

    If the dynamic search returns "Overnight" as the method, then {{lookup.shippingLookup}} yields "Overnight".

  2. Static value-to-value lookup 

     Imagine you set up a static lookup named stateAbbreviation that maps full state names to abbreviations, for example:

    • "California" -> "CA"

    • "New York" -> "NY"

    • "Texas" -> "TX"

    When building your import record, you can convert a user’s address state to its abbreviation:

    {{lookup “stateAbbreviation” record.shippingAddress.state}}

    If record.shippingAddress.state is "Texas", the helper returns "TX".

Tip

  • Make sure your lookup’s alphanumeric name in the handlebars matches exactly what you defined in the Create/manage lookup drawer (static lookups require quotes, dynamic do not).

  • For dynamic lookups, verify your JSON path in the destination application’s response is valid (e.g., products[0].name).

  • Previewing from the AFE step will only show placeholder results, but when you run the flow the lookups will execute as expected.