Add testing knowledge: UI handlers, table relations, asserterror, fixtures (P1+P2)

Six BC-specific testing-domain knowledge articles in community/knowledge/testing/, each with .good.al/.bad.al samples:

- ui-calls-require-test-handlers
- tablerelation-requires-prerequisite-records
- handlers-enqueue-never-assert
- handlerfunctions-attribute-must-match-ui-path
- asserterror-needs-expectederror-and-code
- use-library-codeunits-for-test-fixtures

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
This commit is contained in:
Jesper Schulz-Wedde 2026-06-29 16:10:17 +02:00
parent 24e62f5ec8
commit 6c02d68b4e
18 changed files with 500 additions and 0 deletions

View file

@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
---
bc-version: [all]
domain: testing
keywords: [asserterror, expectederror, expectederrorcode, negative-test, error-code]
technologies: [al]
countries: [w1]
application-area: [all]
---
# Pin asserterror to a specific error with ExpectedError and ExpectedErrorCode
## Description
`asserterror` passes when the guarded statement raises any error at all. That is too permissive for a negative test: a typo, a missing setup record, or a permission failure all raise errors, so a bare `asserterror` can go green while never exercising the rule it claims to verify — false confidence that the validation works. Constrain it. `Assert.ExpectedError(text)` checks the message of the error that was actually raised, and `Assert.ExpectedErrorCode(code)` checks its error code. Together they assert that the specific failure occurred, turning "something went wrong" into "the right thing went wrong for the right reason".
## Best Practice
Follow every `asserterror` with a verification of the error it expects: assert the action raises, then `Assert.ExpectedError` with the message — or a stable substring of it — and, where the code is known, `Assert.ExpectedErrorCode` (for example `'TestField'` for a mandatory-field check). Prefer matching on a code or an invariant fragment over the full localized sentence so the test survives caption changes without going blind to the wrong error.
See sample: `asserterror-needs-expectederror-and-code.good.al`.
## Anti Pattern
`asserterror DoInvalid();` with nothing after it. The test asserts only that the call failed somehow; swap the validation for a different bug and the test still passes, certifying a guard that may no longer fire. A negative test that cannot tell one error from another verifies almost nothing.
See sample: `asserterror-needs-expectederror-and-code.bad.al`.