Emulation of code-description tables on SQL databases using Enum data type

A method and apparatus for converting code-description table data to an enumerated data type in a schema record referencing the code-description table. A record of a table is identified that references the code-description table, and a portion of a schema describing the record is updated to include the relevant data of the code-description table as an enumerated type of the record schema. The enumerated type schema element includes data elements of the code-description table relevant to the record, each element having its own type. As additional records of the same table that are related to the code-description table are called, the enumerated type schema element may be updated to include additional code-description table data elements.