Lookup Flow Step

Use the Lookup step to get data from an app cache on the AppNetwork.

This is useful when additional data is required before performing the next flow steps. This could be because related data is required for the flow or to validate source data before making a change in the target system.

Step Inputs

In the Edit Step menu, you can add details about the step configuration as needed for your flow. 

Step Details

• Connector: Select the app (the third-party system) you want to retrieve data from. The list of apps populates with all of the third-party systems involved in the integration.

Configuration

• Object: Use the dropdown list to select the data being looked up, as defined in the service. 

• Fail the Step if: Choose the condition for step failure based on lookup results.

  • N/A: Default. The number of results is irrelevant to the failure of the operation.

  • Exactly one result isn’t found: The step fails if it does not return precisely one matching record. Only lookups containing one matching record pass.

  • More than one result is found: The step fails if multiple results are returned. Lookups containing zero or one matching records pass.

Note: If something other than N/A is selected and the step fails, there is no way to evaluate or make additional decisions based on the step result. To troubleshoot while maintaining step failure criteria, select N/A, and follow the Lookup step with a Conditional step to inspect the output for the number of results and stop the flow if the Conditional step fails.

• Include Metadata: Enable this option to include supplementary information about the lookup results, such as record IDs, timestamps, and other system-generated details. If you include metadata, you must adjust your expressions to access values from the lookup result, as metadata nests the data. For example, flow.step('MyLookupStepNameHere').output[0].MyProperty; becomes flow.step('MyLookupStepNameHere').output[0].Data.MyProperty;.

Filter Expressions

Select Add Item to add a filter expression to limit the records displayed during a lookup operation. If you add multiple properties, the Lookup step includes all of them in the flow. In Figure 1, the Lookup step evaluates both the ID and the cache ID in the filter expression. 

• Property Name: Choose which available cached data will be used for the flow. 

• Operator: Choose the operator to use to compare the property and the value. 

• Value: Enter the result to compare to the property name.

Properties

Select Add Item to define which properties to select from the records found during the lookup. If no properties are selected, the flow will return all properties.

• • Properties to Select: Enter the exact fields to retrieve. This is used to narrow down the data.

Step Outputs

This step returns an array containing only the data objects that matched the specified criteria. If no objects matched, the array will be empty. To access a property within a matched object, use its index (e.g., [0] for the first matching object, [1] for the second matching object, and so on). 

You may see one of the following step statuses after running the Lookup step: 

• Successful: Occurs in the following scenarios.

  • Data is successfully returned from the service (even if empty).

  • The specified Expected Results conditions are met.

• Failed: Occurs in the following scenarios.

  • You expect exactly one result and zero or more than one result is returned.

  • You expect exactly zero or one result and more than one result is returned.

If your flow step failed and you didn’t choose N/A, there is no way to evaluate or make additional decisions based on the step result.

Example Use Cases

A common use case for the Lookup step is to acquire additional data before performing the next flow steps. For example, you can use this step if you need to retrieve required vendor data before posting an invoice.

The Lookup step can also be used to validate source data before attempting to make changes in the target system. For example, you can use this step to ensure that a particular job isn’t locked or doesn’t have inactive phases in the source system before making budget updates in the target system.

Figures 2a and 2b show a Lookup step being used to look up a company’s headquarters information. This is useful if you want to confirm that an employee has the same address in each of two systems. This flow step would be followed by a Conditional flow step to confirm its results or stop the flow.

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