What is the preferred method for using referenced/lookup data?

[stucork]

here are some relevant threads about row_ids

Get_id() is a remote call?

@woodpav is right – get_id() still costs a few ms, even on the server. We are definitely working on this one – there’s a lot of architectural preparation needed before we can make the shift, but once we’ve got it in place we’ll have a lot more elbow room to improve data table performance. (Comparison: It’s like implementing hierarchical form packages on the client side. The actual UI switch was pretty straightforward, but preparing the Python interpreter, designer, form-navigation system etc t…

and - don’t rely on its formatting:

Short, Unique ID Values

is there any reason I couldn’t use the result from get_id() on a data table record? Please don’t do this! We make no guarantees about the makeup of that string, and if (when!) it changes, we don’t want your code to break…