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3 AL/BC testing patterns from an external BC testing expert's blog (Luc van Vugt, fluxxus.nl) (#159)
* Add 4 more AL/BC testing patterns from Luc van Vugt's fluxxus.nl blog Fourth batch from CURABIS ApS, mined from an external BC/NAV testing expert's blog archive (fluxxus.nl). Confirm+StrSubstNo interaction with ConfirmHandler, Table Relation Test's OnAfterRemoveTableRelation exclusion hook (verified against BCApps source, codeunit 134926), committing shared lazy-Initialize fixture data, and Assert.IsFalse vs asserterror for boolean checks. * Address Jesper Schulz-Wedde's review on PR #159 - transactionmodel-attribute-governs-test-transactions.md: the "Commit causes an error" behavior is specific to an explicitly declared AutoRollback attribute. A test method with no TransactionModel attribute at all is a distinct, valid shape — BCApps' own codeunit 134915 "ERM Online Mapping Setup" commits inside a lazy Initialize() with no attribute declared, cleaning up via a manual asserterror at the end. Evidence for commit-shared-test-fixture- inside-lazy-initialize.md (this PR), which is correct as submitted. - confirm-needs-strsubstno-before-confirmhandler-sees-substituted-text.md: reframe as a known, unconfirmed-fix platform defect (microsoft/ALAppExtensions#23935) rather than designed behavior; add the Message/MessageHandler asymmetry as supporting evidence. - table-relation-test-exclude-known-invalid-relations-via-event.md: note the test-app-only consumer dependency; correct "walks every TableRelation field property in the app" to the actual tenant-wide Table Relations Metadata scope across installed apps. - Wire confirm-needs-strsubstno, commit-shared-test-fixture-inside- lazy-initialize, and table-relation-test-exclude-known-invalid- relations-via-event into al-testing-review.md's candidate-selection cues. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com> * Address second round of Jesper Schulz-Wedde's review on PR #159 - commit-shared-test-fixture-inside-lazy-initialize.md: fundamentally rewritten. AutoCommit is the documented default TransactionModel, not AutoRollback. Explains the real mechanism (Commit() protects a fixture from the test method's own later deliberate rollback, per Codeunit.Run/ TransactionModel-property semantics) and the TestIsolation dependency (Disabled/Codeunit survive across methods, Function does not). Fixtures rewritten to demonstrate the actual failure/success shape. - transactionmodel-attribute-governs-test-transactions.md: now states the AutoCommit default explicitly and agrees with the article above, closing the contradiction Jesper flagged between the two testing articles. - Deleted confirm-needs-strsubstno-before-confirmhandler-sees-substituted-text (.md/.good.al/.bad.al): the underlying platform bug (microsoft/ ALAppExtensions#23935) was closed as completed in Feb 2024; cannot be reproduced or bc-version-pinned on any currently supported version. - table-relation-test-exclude-known-invalid-relations-via-event.md: added the [Scope('OnPrem')] boundary verified against BCApps' Table Relation Test codeunit. - use-assert-isfalse-not-asserterror-for-boolean-checks.md: added a Scope section resolving the overlap with asserterror-needs-expectederror-and-code. - al-testing-review.md: fixed the shared-fixture cue to catch the actual anti-pattern instead of the compliant shape, added the missing cue for use-assert-isfalse-not-asserterror-for-boolean-checks, wired precedence between it and the generic asserterror rule, and removed the cue for the deleted article. - Added in-file Source provenance (specific fluxxus.nl post per article, with what was independently verified vs. taken from the post) to the three surviving externally-inspired articles, per Jesper's request that provenance live in the knowledge file itself, not only the PR description. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com> * Fix remaining correctness issues from Jesper's 2026-09-15 re-review - commit-shared-test-fixture-inside-lazy-initialize: three sub-issues. Recommended TestIsolation = Codeunit instead of listing Disabled as an equal option - Disabled never rolls back at all ("tests are not isolated from each other" per the property's own docs), so a fixture this pattern commits under Disabled is permanent database contamination unless something else tears it down; Disabled is now only mentioned alongside that explicit teardown requirement. Added precedence in al-testing-review.md so the deliberate end-of-test asserterror Error(...) rollback sentinel isn't also flagged by the generic asserterror-needs-expectederror-and-code rule. Rewrote both fixtures to actually demonstrate the pattern: persisted fixture data (an Item record) instead of an empty comment, a second [Test] method that depends on the fixture surviving into it, and an explicit Subtype = TestRunner / TestIsolation = Codeunit runner codeunit. - table-relation-test-exclude-known-invalid-relations-via-event: the length/type rule was stated as one global requirement. Verified ValidateFieldRelation in codeunit 134926 directly (BCApps reference clone) and split it into the two branches the source actually has: a field with any unconditional relation needs exact length and exact resolved type; a field whose relations are all conditional only fails on being shorter (longer is fine) than the largest related field, and when the required type is specifically Code, a Text source passes too - a tolerance that does not apply on the unconditional side and does not extend to a required Text. Rebased onto upstream/main (one conflict in transactionmodel-attribute-governs-test-transactions.md - upstream had already linked its sample references via the READ convention, ours added a Source section; merged both). Also converted the 3 remaining plain-backtick sample references in this PR to the READ-convention markdown-link form, same fix as #156/#157/#158. * Fix four merge-critical issues from Jesper's 2026-09-22 review - al-testing-review.md: the generic ExpectedError cue's asserterror Assert.IsTrue/IsFalse exclusion was unconditional, but the specialized rule it deferred to only claims the pure-inversion shape. A test expecting the guarded Boolean-returning call itself to raise fell through both routes. Narrowed the exclusion to the same inversion-only condition the specialized cue already uses. - asserterror-needs-expectederror-and-code.md: the rollback-sentinel exception (a trailing asserterror Error(...) used purely to force a fixture rollback, not to verify a specific failure) previously lived only in skill routing prose. Encoded it directly in the article's Anti Pattern section so every consumer of the knowledge base sees it, not just this one skill. - commit-shared-test-fixture-inside-lazy-initialize.good.al/.bad.al: replaced hand-rolled Item.Init()/Insert(true) with LibraryInventory.CreateItem, so the canonical fixture doesn't itself trigger use-library-codeunits-for-test-fixtures. - table-relation-test-exclude-known-invalid-relations-via-event.good.al/ .bad.al: declared minimal "Sample Setup"/"Sample Header" tables inline instead of referencing undefined symbols, matching this repo's own convention that every fixture is self-contained. * Give the table-relation-test fixtures a real relation to exclude and one to protect The "Category Code" field had no TableRelation at all, so the good subscriber's RemoveTableRelation call targeted metadata that never existed - a no-op. Added a real TableRelation to "Sample Setup" on that field (the one known exception to exclude) and a second, ordinary self-referencing relation ("Parent No." -> "Sample Header"."No.") with no exception. The good fixture now removes only the first; the bad fixture's table-wide removal (field/related table/field all 0) now demonstrably also strips the second, showing the actual anti-pattern instead of removing nothing meaningful. --------- Co-authored-by: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Co-authored-by: Jesper Schulz-Wedde <jesper.schulzwedde@microsoft.com> Co-authored-by: Copilot App <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
This commit is contained in:
Michael Dieringer
GitHub
parent
f63943dcfd
commit
830eaff68f
12 changed files with 394 additions and 4 deletions
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@ -23,4 +23,6 @@ See sample: [`asserterror-needs-expectederror-and-code.good.al`](asserterror-nee
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`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.
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Not an instance of this anti-pattern: a trailing `asserterror Error(SomeLabel)` used purely as an end-of-test rollback sentinel to undo a lazily-initialized shared fixture's scratch changes (see `commit-shared-test-fixture-inside-lazy-initialize.md`). That `Error` call exists to force a rollback, not to verify that a specific failure occurred — the sentinel's own text is not meant to be asserted against, and adding an `ExpectedError` there would just duplicate the label without checking anything the test doesn't already control.
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See sample: [`asserterror-needs-expectederror-and-code.bad.al`](asserterror-needs-expectederror-and-code.bad.al).
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@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
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codeunit 50142 "Sample Test Library"
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{
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Subtype = Test;
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var
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LibraryInventory: Codeunit "Library - Inventory";
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Initialized: Boolean;
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SharedItemNo: Code[20];
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RollBackMsg: Label 'Revert back the tables to their original state.';
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local procedure Initialize()
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begin
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if Initialized then
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exit;
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CreateSharedFixtureData();
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// BUG: no Commit() here. The fixture below is still inside this
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// test method's own transaction.
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Initialized := true;
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end;
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local procedure CreateSharedFixtureData()
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var
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Item: Record Item;
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begin
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LibraryInventory.CreateItem(Item);
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SharedItemNo := Item."No.";
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end;
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[Test]
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procedure FirstTestUsesSharedFixture()
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var
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Item: Record Item;
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begin
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Initialize();
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Item.Get(SharedItemNo);
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Item.Description := 'Scratch change this test makes and does not need to keep.';
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Item.Modify();
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asserterror Error(RollBackMsg);
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// The deliberate rollback above also erases the never-committed
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// fixture from CreateSharedFixtureData(). Initialized still reads
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// true on the next test, but the row it points at is gone.
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end;
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[Test]
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procedure SecondTestStillFindsSharedFixture()
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var
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Item: Record Item;
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begin
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Initialize();
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// Fails here: Initialize() saw Initialized = true and returned
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// immediately, so it never recreated the fixture - and the first
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// test's rollback took the original row with it.
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Item.Get(SharedItemNo);
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end;
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}
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codeunit 50143 "Sample Test Runner"
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{
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// Codeunit isolation alone does not save this fixture: TestIsolation
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// only controls whether committed changes survive between methods, and
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// this fixture was never committed in the first place.
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Subtype = TestRunner;
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TestIsolation = Codeunit;
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trigger OnRun()
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begin
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Codeunit.Run(Codeunit::"Sample Test Library");
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end;
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}
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codeunit 50142 "Sample Test Library"
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{
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Subtype = Test;
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var
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LibraryInventory: Codeunit "Library - Inventory";
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Initialized: Boolean;
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SharedItemNo: Code[20];
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RollBackMsg: Label 'Revert back the tables to their original state.';
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local procedure Initialize()
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begin
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if Initialized then
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exit;
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CreateSharedFixtureData();
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Commit();
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Initialized := true;
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end;
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local procedure CreateSharedFixtureData()
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var
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Item: Record Item;
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begin
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LibraryInventory.CreateItem(Item);
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SharedItemNo := Item."No.";
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end;
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[Test]
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procedure FirstTestUsesSharedFixture()
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var
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Item: Record Item;
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begin
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Initialize();
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Item.Get(SharedItemNo);
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Item.Description := 'Scratch change this test makes and does not need to keep.';
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Item.Modify();
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asserterror Error(RollBackMsg);
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// Rolls back the Modify() above, but not the fixture: that was
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// already committed inside Initialize().
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end;
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[Test]
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procedure SecondTestStillFindsSharedFixture()
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var
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Item: Record Item;
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begin
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// Runs after FirstTestUsesSharedFixture's deliberate rollback.
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// Initialize() sees Initialized = true and does nothing, but the
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// committed fixture it created earlier is still there to Get().
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Initialize();
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Item.Get(SharedItemNo);
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end;
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}
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codeunit 50143 "Sample Test Runner"
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{
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// Codeunit isolation: everything this codeunit's tests commit,
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// including the shared fixture, survives from one test method to the
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// next, and rolls back only once every method in the codeunit has run.
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Subtype = TestRunner;
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TestIsolation = Codeunit;
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trigger OnRun()
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begin
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Codeunit.Run(Codeunit::"Sample Test Library");
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end;
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}
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@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
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---
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bc-version: [all]
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domain: testing
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keywords: [initialize, isinitialized, shared-fixture, commit, autocommit, asserterror, testisolation, lazy-initialization]
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technologies: [al]
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countries: [w1]
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application-area: [all]
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---
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# Commit shared fixture data created inside a lazy Initialize(), or later tests lose it
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## Description
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A test method with no `[TransactionModel(...)]` attribute defaults to `AutoCommit` (see `transactionmodel-attribute-governs-test-transactions.md`): a method that completes without error commits automatically at its own boundary, with no explicit `Commit()` needed. So a lazy/shared `Initialize()` — guarded by an `IsInitialized` flag, creating master/setup data once to avoid repeating expensive setup across many `[Test]` methods — does not need `Commit()` just to survive into the next test method; under the default model it already will. (Declaring `[TransactionModel(AutoRollback)]` instead is not compatible with this pattern at all: `AutoRollback` assumes the code under test never commits, and a `Commit()` call under it raises a runtime error.)
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What an early `Commit()` inside `Initialize()` actually guards against is the test method's *own later, deliberate* rollback — the BCApps cleanup idiom of ending a test with `asserterror Error(SomeLabel)` to undo demo-data mutations that method made, so the run doesn't permanently dirty the database. Per the documented `Codeunit.Run` transaction semantics, changes are committed at the end of an execution "unless an error occurs" — an unhandled error rolls back whatever wasn't already committed. `Commit()` closes out the fixture's own transaction immediately, so it is unaffected by whatever the rest of that method does afterward, including that end-of-test error. Without the early `Commit()`, the same deliberate rollback wipes out the fixture too, even though `IsInitialized` still reads `true` on the next test, since it's a plain variable, not persisted data. BCApps' `codeunit 134915 "ERM Online Mapping Setup"` shows exactly this shape: no `TransactionModel` attribute, `Commit()` inside a lazy `Initialize()`, and the test itself ends with `asserterror Error(RollBackMessage)`.
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Protecting the fixture from that same-method rollback is necessary but not sufficient for the fixture to reach a *later* test method — that also depends on the executing test runner's `TestIsolation`. Under `Disabled` (the property's own documented default) or `Codeunit` (used by BCApps' own `TestRunner`, `CLITestRunner`, and `SnapTestRunner` codeunits), nothing rolls back until the whole test codeunit finishes, so the already-committed fixture survives across every method run before then. These two are not interchangeable, though: `Codeunit` rolls back everything once the codeunit's last method completes, so the environment is clean afterward; `Disabled` never rolls back anything at all — "tests are not isolated from each other" is the property's own description — so a fixture this pattern commits stays in the database permanently unless something else explicitly deletes it. Under `Function`, the runner rolls back all database changes — explicitly including ones already committed via `Commit()` — after every single test method; no amount of committing inside `Initialize()` makes a fixture shared across methods survive that regime, because the whole premise of a lazy, once-per-codeunit fixture doesn't hold when every method is isolated from every other.
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## Best Practice
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When a test method's own cleanup relies on ending in a deliberate error to roll back its scratch changes, call `Commit()` once, inside the lazy `Initialize()` guard, right after the shared fixture is created — before that cleanup-triggering error can run. This pattern only delivers a fixture shared across test methods when the executing runner's `TestIsolation` is `Disabled` or `Codeunit`; do not recommend it, or pair it with, a `Function`-isolated runner — that configuration undoes the committed fixture after every method regardless. Recommend `TestIsolation = Codeunit`: it gives every method in the codeunit the same shared, committed fixture and still leaves the database clean once the codeunit finishes. Recommend `Disabled` only alongside an explicit, verified teardown step that removes the fixture data at the end of the run — without one, the committed fixture is permanent contamination, not a controlled trade-off.
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See sample: [`commit-shared-test-fixture-inside-lazy-initialize.good.al`](commit-shared-test-fixture-inside-lazy-initialize.good.al).
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## Anti Pattern
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A shared `Initialize()` guarded by `IsInitialized` that creates fixture records without committing, in a test method that ends with a deliberate `asserterror Error(...)` to undo its own scratch changes, run under a `Disabled`- or `Codeunit`-isolated test runner. That rollback also erases the never-committed fixture; the next test still finds `IsInitialized = true` but the rows it depends on are gone. (Under a `Function`-isolated runner the fixture is lost regardless of `Commit()`, for the unrelated reason above — that is a runner-configuration problem, not this anti-pattern.)
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See sample: [`commit-shared-test-fixture-inside-lazy-initialize.bad.al`](commit-shared-test-fixture-inside-lazy-initialize.bad.al).
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## Source
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The shared/lazy `Initialize()` pattern and its `Commit()` call are drawn from Luc van Vugt's "Let's talk about Shared Fixture and how to profit from this with the Dynamics NAV Test Toolkit": https://www.fluxxus.nl/index.php/bc/let39s-talk-about-shared-fixture-and-how-to-profit-from-this-with-the-dynamics-nav-test-toolkit/. That post shows the `Commit()` call in its `Initialize()` example but does not explain the transaction mechanics behind it; the `AutoCommit`-default, `Codeunit.Run`-error, and `TestIsolation`-level analysis above is this article's own, verified independently against Microsoft's TransactionModel/TestIsolation documentation and BCApps' `codeunit 134915 "ERM Online Mapping Setup"` source, not taken from the post.
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table 50144 "Sample Setup"
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{
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fields
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{
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field(1; "Primary Key"; Code[10]) { }
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field(2; "Default Category Code"; Code[20]) { }
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}
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keys
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{
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key(PK; "Primary Key") { Clustered = true; }
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}
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}
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table 50145 "Sample Header"
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{
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fields
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{
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field(1; "No."; Code[20]) { }
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field(10; "Category Code"; Code[10])
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{
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TableRelation = "Sample Setup"."Primary Key";
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}
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field(11; "Parent No."; Code[20])
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{
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TableRelation = "Sample Header"."No.";
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}
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}
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keys
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{
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key(PK; "No.") { Clustered = true; }
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}
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}
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codeunit 50141 "Sample Table Relation Test Ext"
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{
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[EventSubscriber(ObjectType::Codeunit, Codeunit::"Table Relation Test", 'OnAfterRemoveTableRelation', '', false, false)]
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local procedure ExcludeSampleFieldFromTableRelationTest(var TableRelationsMetadata: Record "Table Relations Metadata" temporary)
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var
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TableRelationTest: Codeunit "Table Relation Test";
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begin
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// Removes every relation on the whole table (field/related table/
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// related field all 0), not just the one known exception - this
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// also strips "Parent No." -> "Sample Header"."No.", which had no
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// exception and should have stayed covered by the standard test.
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TableRelationTest.RemoveTableRelation(TableRelationsMetadata, Database::"Sample Header", 0, 0, 0);
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end;
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}
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table 50144 "Sample Setup"
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{
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fields
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{
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field(1; "Primary Key"; Code[10]) { }
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field(2; "Default Category Code"; Code[20]) { }
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}
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keys
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{
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key(PK; "Primary Key") { Clustered = true; }
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}
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}
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table 50145 "Sample Header"
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{
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fields
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{
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field(1; "No."; Code[20]) { }
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// A known exception: "Category Code" predates "Sample Setup" and
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// can carry a value that no longer resolves to a real row there,
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// so the standard Table Relation Test would otherwise reject it -
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// excluded via OnAfterRemoveTableRelation below.
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field(10; "Category Code"; Code[10])
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{
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TableRelation = "Sample Setup"."Primary Key";
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}
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// An ordinary relation with no exception - ExcludeSampleFieldFrom
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// TableRelationTest below must leave this one checked.
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field(11; "Parent No."; Code[20])
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{
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TableRelation = "Sample Header"."No.";
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}
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}
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keys
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{
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key(PK; "No.") { Clustered = true; }
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}
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}
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codeunit 50141 "Sample Table Relation Test Ext"
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{
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[EventSubscriber(ObjectType::Codeunit, Codeunit::"Table Relation Test", 'OnAfterRemoveTableRelation', '', false, false)]
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local procedure ExcludeSampleFieldFromTableRelationTest(var TableRelationsMetadata: Record "Table Relations Metadata" temporary)
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var
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TableRelationTest: Codeunit "Table Relation Test";
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begin
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// Removes only the one known exception. "Parent No." -> "Sample
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// Header"."No." is untouched and stays covered by the standard test.
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TableRelationTest.RemoveTableRelation(TableRelationsMetadata, Database::"Sample Header", 10, Database::"Sample Setup", 1);
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end;
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}
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---
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bc-version: [all]
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domain: testing
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keywords: [table-relation-test, tablerelationsmetadata, onafterremovetablerelation, field-length, field-type]
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technologies: [al]
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countries: [w1]
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application-area: [all]
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---
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# Exclude a known-valid TableRelation exception via OnAfterRemoveTableRelation
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## Description
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Codeunit 134926 "Table Relation Test" (shipped in BCApps' test app — only consumers that depend on the BC test libraries can subscribe to it) reads Table Relations Metadata tenant-wide across every installed app, not just the current one, and validates each field's type and length against what its relations require — but the exact rule depends on whether that field has an *unconditional* relation (a `Table Relations Metadata` row with `Condition Field No. = 0`) among its relations, or only *conditional* ones:
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- If any relation is unconditional, the field's length must equal *exactly* the largest related field's length, and its type must exactly match the required type — resolved to `Text` when the related fields themselves mix `Code` and `Text`.
|
||||
- If every relation for that field is conditional, the requirement relaxes: the field only needs to be *at least* as long as the largest related field (longer is accepted; only shorter fails), and when the required type is specifically `Code`, both a `Code` and a `Text` source field pass. That `Code`/`Text` tolerance is conditional-only — it does not apply on the unconditional side, and it does not extend to a required type of `Text` (a `Code` source field does not satisfy a required `Text`).
|
||||
|
||||
A field with a legitimate, intentional relation shape outside both of these tolerances has no per-field override in its own object definition; the check runs with no built-in escape hatch beyond them. The validation test method itself is `[Scope('OnPrem')]`: it only runs from an on-premises test surface, not from a cloud-targeted test app, so this whole exception mechanism — and the check it works around — is only reachable where that test can actually execute.
|
||||
|
||||
## Best Practice
|
||||
|
||||
Subscribe to `OnAfterRemoveTableRelation` and call the codeunit's own `RemoveTableRelation(TableRelationsMetadata, TableID, FieldID, RelatedTableID, RelatedFieldID)` to strike the one known-valid relation before the test evaluates it, scoped as narrowly as the exception actually is. Because the test itself is `[Scope('OnPrem')]`, do not recommend subscribing to it as a way to guard a cloud-targeted app's test suite — the subscription has no effect where the test never runs.
|
||||
|
||||
See sample: [`table-relation-test-exclude-known-invalid-relations-via-event.good.al`](table-relation-test-exclude-known-invalid-relations-via-event.good.al).
|
||||
|
||||
## Anti Pattern
|
||||
|
||||
Excluding an entire table's relations (or disabling the whole test codeunit) to work around one known exception. This discards the check's coverage for every other relation on that table, or in the app, not just the one that needed an exception.
|
||||
|
||||
See sample: [`table-relation-test-exclude-known-invalid-relations-via-event.bad.al`](table-relation-test-exclude-known-invalid-relations-via-event.bad.al).
|
||||
|
||||
## Source
|
||||
|
||||
The `OnAfterRemoveTableRelation` exclusion technique is drawn from Luc van Vugt's "How-to: Test your Table Relations (2)": https://www.fluxxus.nl/index.php/bc/how-to-test-your-table-relations-2/. The codeunit/event signature, the `[Scope('OnPrem')]` boundary, and the tenant-wide `Table Relations Metadata` scope described above were verified directly against BCApps' `codeunit 134926 "Table Relation Test"` source, not taken from the post.
|
||||
|
|
@ -11,16 +11,20 @@ application-area: [all]
|
|||
|
||||
## Description
|
||||
|
||||
`[TransactionModel(...)]` declares how a test method interacts with the database's write transaction. The attribute applies only to methods inside a codeunit with `SubType = Test` and takes one of three values: `AutoRollback`, `AutoCommit`, or `None`. The choice must match the code being exercised — in particular, whether that code calls `Commit()`. Per the platform reference, "if the code that you test includes calls to the COMMIT Method, then set the TransactionModel property on the test method to AutoCommit." Applying `AutoRollback` to a test that drives code which calls `Commit` produces a runtime error on the first Commit, not a meaningful assertion failure — the test does not complete, and the reviewer sees an infrastructure error instead of a business-logic verdict.
|
||||
`[TransactionModel(...)]` declares how a test method interacts with the database's write transaction. The attribute applies only to methods inside a codeunit with `SubType = Test` and takes one of three values: `AutoRollback`, `AutoCommit`, or `None`. **`AutoCommit` is the documented default** — a test method with no `[TransactionModel(...)]` attribute at all runs under `AutoCommit`, not `AutoRollback` and not `None` (Microsoft's TransactionModel property reference states this explicitly: "AutoCommit is the default value"). The "a call to `Commit` produces a runtime error" behavior is specific to the *explicitly declared* `AutoRollback` attribute. BCApps' own canonical pattern for a lazily-initialized shared fixture (see `codeunit 134915 "ERM Online Mapping Setup"`) declares no `TransactionModel` attribute at all — so it runs under the `AutoCommit` default — calls `Commit()` inside its `Initialize()` helper, and cleans up manually with a deliberate `asserterror Error(...)` at the end rather than relying on automatic rollback; this is a legitimate, common pattern, not a bug. Per the same reference, under `AutoCommit` an error, even one caught by `asserterror`, still rolls back the transaction — but "only to the point at which `Commit` was called" if the code being tested committed first. When a test method *does* declare `AutoRollback` explicitly, the choice must match the code being exercised: per the platform reference, "if the code that you test includes calls to the COMMIT Method, then set the TransactionModel property on the test method to AutoCommit." Applying `AutoRollback` to a test that drives code which calls `Commit` produces a runtime error on the first Commit, not a meaningful assertion failure.
|
||||
|
||||
## Best Practice
|
||||
|
||||
Default to `AutoRollback`: it opens a write transaction at the start of the test, runs the test body, and rolls back at the end, leaving the database in its original state. Pick `AutoCommit` only when the code under test genuinely calls `Commit` — posting routines, job-queue handlers, integration flows — and make the test exercise that commit path. Pair the test codeunit with a `TestIsolation`-enabled test runner so committed changes are reverted at a higher scope. Pick `None` only for read-only tests or tests that drive UI code without writing from the test method itself.
|
||||
Leave `[TransactionModel(...)]` undeclared to get the `AutoCommit` default when the codeunit's own tests rely on that default's behavior — for example a lazily-initialized shared fixture that commits once and cleans up its own scratch changes with a manual `asserterror`-based rollback (see `commit-shared-test-fixture-inside-lazy-initialize.md`); do not treat that absence as equivalent to declaring `AutoRollback`. When declaring `[TransactionModel(...)]` explicitly instead, pick `AutoRollback` for a test whose own logic and the code it exercises make no `Commit` call, `AutoCommit` when the code under test genuinely calls `Commit` — posting routines, job-queue handlers, integration flows — and make the test exercise that commit path, and `None` for a read-only test or one that drives UI code without writing from the test method itself. Pair an intentional, suite-wide reliance on `AutoCommit` with a `TestIsolation`-enabled test runner so committed changes are reverted at a higher scope.
|
||||
|
||||
See sample: [`transactionmodel-attribute-governs-test-transactions.good.al`](transactionmodel-attribute-governs-test-transactions.good.al).
|
||||
|
||||
## Anti Pattern
|
||||
|
||||
Applying `AutoRollback` to every test method without checking whether the tested business logic calls `Commit`. The test throws at the first Commit, leaving no verdict on the behavior it intended to verify; in a CI run this looks like a flake or a setup bug, not a specification mismatch. The mirror-image anti-pattern is defaulting to `AutoCommit` across the suite "to avoid the error" — without a `TestIsolation` runner this permanently dirties the test database between runs and produces order-dependent test outcomes.
|
||||
Declaring `[TransactionModel(AutoRollback)]` explicitly on a test method without checking whether the tested business logic calls `Commit`. The test throws at the first Commit, leaving no verdict on the behavior it intended to verify; in a CI run this looks like a flake or a setup bug, not a specification mismatch. The mirror-image anti-pattern is defaulting to `AutoCommit` across the suite "to avoid the error" — without a `TestIsolation` runner this permanently dirties the test database between runs and produces order-dependent test outcomes. Flagging a `Commit()` call in a test method that declares no `TransactionModel` attribute at all is not this anti-pattern — that shape does not error, and is BCApps' own documented pattern for shared lazy fixtures.
|
||||
|
||||
See sample: [`transactionmodel-attribute-governs-test-transactions.bad.al`](transactionmodel-attribute-governs-test-transactions.bad.al).
|
||||
|
||||
## Source
|
||||
|
||||
The `AutoCommit`-is-default claim and the exact rollback-to-last-`Commit` mechanics are quoted from Microsoft's TransactionModel Property reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/dynamicsnav-2018-developer/TransactionModel-Property. The current AL [TransactionModel attribute](https://learn.microsoft.com/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/developer/attributes/devenv-transactionmodel-attribute) page describes the same three values but never states a default; this older property reference is the citable source for that fact.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
|
|||
codeunit 50143 "Sample Doc Amount Test"
|
||||
{
|
||||
Subtype = Test;
|
||||
|
||||
[Test]
|
||||
procedure DocAmountIsNotVerifiedWhenLinesAreMissing()
|
||||
var
|
||||
Assert: Codeunit Assert;
|
||||
PurchHeader: Record "Purchase Header";
|
||||
begin
|
||||
asserterror Assert.IsTrue(VerifyDocAmount(PurchHeader), 'Doc. amount should not verify with no lines.');
|
||||
end;
|
||||
|
||||
local procedure VerifyDocAmount(var PurchHeader: Record "Purchase Header"): Boolean
|
||||
begin
|
||||
exit(false);
|
||||
end;
|
||||
}
|
||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
|
|||
codeunit 50143 "Sample Doc Amount Test"
|
||||
{
|
||||
Subtype = Test;
|
||||
|
||||
[Test]
|
||||
procedure DocAmountIsNotVerifiedWhenLinesAreMissing()
|
||||
var
|
||||
Assert: Codeunit Assert;
|
||||
PurchHeader: Record "Purchase Header";
|
||||
begin
|
||||
Assert.IsFalse(VerifyDocAmount(PurchHeader), 'Doc. amount should not verify with no lines.');
|
||||
end;
|
||||
|
||||
local procedure VerifyDocAmount(var PurchHeader: Record "Purchase Header"): Boolean
|
||||
begin
|
||||
exit(false);
|
||||
end;
|
||||
}
|
||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
bc-version: [all]
|
||||
domain: testing
|
||||
keywords: [assert, isfalse, istrue, asserterror, boolean-check, negative-test]
|
||||
technologies: [al]
|
||||
countries: [w1]
|
||||
application-area: [all]
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
# Use Assert.IsFalse to check a boolean result, not asserterror around Assert.IsTrue
|
||||
|
||||
## Description
|
||||
|
||||
`asserterror` exists to assert that a statement raises a runtime error; it is not a general-purpose way to invert a boolean check. Wrapping `asserterror Assert.IsTrue(SomeFunc(), Msg)` to verify that `SomeFunc()` returns `false` tests whether `Assert.IsTrue`'s own error-raising behavior fired, not the value `SomeFunc()` actually returned.
|
||||
|
||||
## Best Practice
|
||||
|
||||
When the code under test returns a `Boolean` rather than raising an error, assert the value directly with `Assert.IsFalse(SomeFunc(), Msg)` (or `Assert.IsTrue` for the positive case). Reserve `asserterror` for statements expected to actually raise an error.
|
||||
|
||||
See sample: [`use-assert-isfalse-not-asserterror-for-boolean-checks.good.al`](use-assert-isfalse-not-asserterror-for-boolean-checks.good.al).
|
||||
|
||||
## Anti Pattern
|
||||
|
||||
`asserterror Assert.IsTrue(SomeFunc(), Msg);` to verify `SomeFunc()` is `false`. It passes today because `Assert.IsTrue` happens to raise an error on failure, but it verifies the assertion helper's error-raising behavior, not the value under test.
|
||||
|
||||
See sample: [`use-assert-isfalse-not-asserterror-for-boolean-checks.bad.al`](use-assert-isfalse-not-asserterror-for-boolean-checks.bad.al).
|
||||
|
||||
## Source
|
||||
|
||||
Drawn from Luc van Vugt's "TDD in NAV – ASSERTERROR or IsFalse": https://www.fluxxus.nl/index.php/bc/tdd-in-nav-asserterror-or-isfalse/. The post's own example and reasoning — reserve `asserterror` for the product code actually raising an error, use `Assert.IsFalse`/`Assert.IsTrue` to check a boolean the test framework itself computes — carries over directly; the overlap with `asserterror-needs-expectederror-and-code.md` below is this repository's own addition, not from the source.
|
||||
|
||||
## Scope
|
||||
|
||||
This rule and `asserterror-needs-expectederror-and-code.md` can both match `asserterror Assert.IsTrue(SomeFunc(), Msg);` with nothing after it — the generic rule sees a bare `asserterror`, this one sees `asserterror` wrapping an `Assert.IsTrue`/`Assert.IsFalse` call used to invert a boolean. This rule wins for that shape: the fix is to replace the construct with a direct `Assert.IsFalse`/`Assert.IsTrue` call, not to add `Assert.ExpectedError`/`Assert.ExpectedErrorCode` after it. `asserterror-needs-expectederror-and-code.md` still applies on its own to every other bare `asserterror`, including one guarding `Assert.IsTrue`/`Assert.IsFalse` where the intent genuinely is to assert that the guarded call itself raises an error (for example, asserting that a validation helper errors before it can even return a boolean).
|
||||
Loading…
Add table
Add a link
Reference in a new issue