Virtually every table in an application has a primary key. The primary key is unique per record and can be used to refer to the record. For instance, the table Person can use a number as primary key. However, when a person is referenced in the application, we do not want to see this number. When we are referring to a person, we want to see the name of the person.
The name of the person is said to be the display value of the person. The display value of a person could be variable, depending on the context of where this person is referenced. The display value might even be stored in another table, especially when dealing with link tables. Obtaining a set of keys and display values and translating a key into a display value is called a look-up.
This blog is about look-up display values and how to use them effectively.
TerminologyIn the example with persons, the Person table is used as a look-up tab