mirror of
https://github.com/microsoft/BCQuality.git
synced 2026-10-06 23:26:55 +01:00
Address second round of Jesper Schulz-Wedde's review on PR #156
- dimension-management-wiring.md/.good.al: split into the two distinct
models the article was conflating - master data (Default Dimension
records via ValidateDimValueCode/SaveDefaultDim) vs. transactional/
document data (a single Dimension Set ID assembled via AddDimSource +
GetDefaultDimID, verified against BCApps' ExchRateAdjmtProcess.Codeunit.al).
Added a compiling document-table example alongside the existing master
table one.
- Deleted api-page-flowfields-must-be-calcfields (.md/.good.al/.bad.al):
Microsoft's own FlowFields documentation states a FlowField used as a
control's direct source expression is automatically calculated on any
page - no API-page exception is documented, and none could be
reproduced.
- prefer-email-module.bad.al/.md: Codeunit Mail has no Send/GetErrorDesc
members; fixed to the real current 7-argument CreateMessage signature,
and corrected the claim that the legacy path "still runs" - its base
implementation no longer sends anything, only raises integration events.
- check-post-line-batch-pattern.md/.good.al: reframed from a universal
invariant to the standard shape, naming the real Gen./Item/CA/Res./Job/
Insurance/Mfg. Item/FA Jnl.-Check Line/-Post Line/-Post Batch codeunits
it's based on. Added the missing Check Line companion codeunit so the
good fixture is internally complete.
- test-data-must-be-random-and-complete.good.al: removed leftover
"collision-free" wording contradicting the already-corrected article text.
- fixed-choice-set-must-use-enum-not-integer.md: removed the reintroduced
state-count heuristic ("the line is the state count"), aligned with
binary-choice-must-be-boolean.md's semantics-based distinction.
- namespace-must-be-verified-from-source.md: removed the false claim that
the compiler and AL Language Server use different namespace-resolution
rules.
- intrinsic-al-functions-must-use-modern-casing.md: removed the unverified
claim that PascalCase is the VS Code formatter's default output.
Worklist completeness: added cues for the 8 rules in data-modeling,
testing, performance, and web-services that had none (Jesper's explicit
ask), plus the same gap in all 7 style rules from this PR (not explicitly
named this round, but the identical systemic issue) - 15 cues total across
al-data-modeling-review.md, al-testing-review.md, al-performance-review.md,
al-web-services-review.md, and al-style-review.md.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Michael Dieringer
parent
fa3d04c56c
commit
a28ba1a1d7
18 changed files with 98 additions and 94 deletions
|
|
@ -1,13 +1,9 @@
|
|||
codeunit 50103 "Order Confirmation Notifier"
|
||||
{
|
||||
procedure Send(FromName: Text; ToAddress: Text; Subject: Text; Body: Text)
|
||||
procedure Send(ToAddress: Text; Subject: Text; Body: Text)
|
||||
var
|
||||
Mail: Codeunit Mail;
|
||||
MailSent: Boolean;
|
||||
begin
|
||||
Mail.CreateMessage(FromName, ToAddress, '', Subject, Body, true);
|
||||
MailSent := Mail.Send();
|
||||
if not MailSent then
|
||||
Message(Mail.GetErrorDesc());
|
||||
Mail.CreateMessage(ToAddress, '', '', Subject, Body, false, false);
|
||||
end;
|
||||
}
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -23,6 +23,6 @@ See sample: `prefer-email-module.good.al`.
|
|||
|
||||
## Anti Pattern
|
||||
|
||||
Calling `Codeunit Mail`'s `CreateMessage`/`Send`/`GetErrorDesc`. It still runs, but it is hard-coupled to whatever SMTP setup exists, and leaves no queryable record of what was sent.
|
||||
Calling `Codeunit Mail`'s `CreateMessage`. It still compiles and runs, but current `Codeunit Mail`'s own implementation of `CreateMessage` no longer sends anything by itself — it only raises integration events for a legacy subscriber to act on — so building new code on it means depending on whatever compatibility shim happens to still be wired up, with no first-class connector selection and no queryable Sent/Outbox/Draft record. `Send` and `GetErrorDesc` are not current members of `Codeunit Mail` at all; do not reference them.
|
||||
|
||||
See sample: `prefer-email-module.bad.al`.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
|
|||
codeunit 50100 "Meter Jnl.-Check Line"
|
||||
{
|
||||
procedure CheckLine(var MeterJnlLine: Record "Meter Journal Line")
|
||||
begin
|
||||
// Reads setup/dimension data only, shows no UI beyond errors.
|
||||
if MeterJnlLine.Quantity = 0 then
|
||||
Error('Quantity must not be zero.');
|
||||
end;
|
||||
}
|
||||
|
||||
codeunit 50101 "Meter Jnl.-Post Line"
|
||||
{
|
||||
procedure PostLine(var MeterJnlLine: Record "Meter Journal Line")
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ application-area: [all]
|
|||
|
||||
## Description
|
||||
|
||||
Every journal-based posting routine in Business Central is split across three companion codeunits with distinct, non-overlapping responsibilities: `Check Line` validates one line, `Post Line` writes exactly one line to the ledger, and `Post Batch` loops both across the journal. A document posting routine (posting one document at a time) calls `Post Line` directly and skips `Post Batch`. A new posting routine that blurs this split either misses functionality other code expects to call directly, or exposes an interaction surface it shouldn't.
|
||||
Business Central's own journal-based posting routines consistently follow a three-codeunit split with distinct, non-overlapping responsibilities — `Codeunit "Gen. Jnl.-Check Line"` / `"Gen. Jnl.-Post Line"` / `"Gen. Jnl.-Post Batch"` for the general journal, and the same `<Journal>-Check Line` / `<Journal>-Post Line` / `<Journal>-Post Batch` shape repeated for Item, Resource, Job, Fixed Asset, Insurance, and Cost Accounting journals: `Check Line` validates one line, `Post Line` writes exactly one line to the ledger, and `Post Batch` loops both across the journal. A document posting routine (posting one document at a time) calls `Post Line` directly and skips `Post Batch`. This is the standard shape to evaluate a new journal-based posting routine against, not a platform-enforced constraint — a routine with a genuinely different transaction/reuse shape may legitimately organize itself differently. But a new routine that blurs this split without a specific reason either misses functionality other code expects to call directly, or exposes an interaction surface it shouldn't.
|
||||
|
||||
## Best Practice
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
|
|||
// Master data: Default Dimension records, no Dimension Set ID field.
|
||||
table 50100 "Course"
|
||||
{
|
||||
fields
|
||||
|
|
@ -26,3 +27,56 @@ table 50100 "Course"
|
|||
DimMgt.DeleteDefaultDim(Database::Course, "No.");
|
||||
end;
|
||||
}
|
||||
|
||||
// Transactional/document data: a single Dimension Set ID, inherited from the
|
||||
// related master record and overridable via shortcut dimension fields.
|
||||
table 50101 "Course Registration Header"
|
||||
{
|
||||
fields
|
||||
{
|
||||
field(1; "No."; Code[20]) { }
|
||||
field(2; "Customer No."; Code[20])
|
||||
{
|
||||
TableRelation = Customer;
|
||||
|
||||
trigger OnValidate()
|
||||
begin
|
||||
UpdateDimensionSetID();
|
||||
end;
|
||||
}
|
||||
field(10; "Shortcut Dimension 1 Code"; Code[20])
|
||||
{
|
||||
CaptionClass = '1,1,1';
|
||||
TableRelation = "Dimension Value".Code where(
|
||||
"Global Dimension No." = const(1), Blocked = const(false));
|
||||
|
||||
trigger OnValidate()
|
||||
var
|
||||
DimMgt: Codeunit DimensionManagement;
|
||||
begin
|
||||
DimMgt.ValidateShortcutDimValues(1, "Shortcut Dimension 1 Code", "Dimension Set ID");
|
||||
end;
|
||||
}
|
||||
field(480; "Dimension Set ID"; Integer)
|
||||
{
|
||||
Editable = false;
|
||||
TableRelation = "Dimension Set Entry"."Dimension Set ID";
|
||||
}
|
||||
}
|
||||
|
||||
local procedure UpdateDimensionSetID()
|
||||
var
|
||||
Customer: Record Customer;
|
||||
DimMgt: Codeunit DimensionManagement;
|
||||
DefaultDimSource: List of [Dictionary of [Integer, Code[20]]];
|
||||
GlobalDim2Code: Code[20];
|
||||
begin
|
||||
if not Customer.Get("Customer No.") then
|
||||
exit;
|
||||
|
||||
DimMgt.AddDimSource(DefaultDimSource, Database::Customer, "Customer No.");
|
||||
"Dimension Set ID" :=
|
||||
DimMgt.GetDefaultDimID(
|
||||
DefaultDimSource, '', "Shortcut Dimension 1 Code", GlobalDim2Code, "Dimension Set ID", 0);
|
||||
end;
|
||||
}
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -13,11 +13,18 @@ application-area: [all]
|
|||
|
||||
## Description
|
||||
|
||||
Adding dimension support to a custom master or document table is not just a matter of adding a `Code[20]` field. Business Central expects a specific set of hooks into `Codeunit "Dimension Management"` so a dimension value is validated, persisted as a Default Dimension record, and flows through to transactions the same way it does for every standard table. Skipping any one hook produces a field that looks correct in the designer but silently fails to save, validate, or carry through to postings.
|
||||
Adding dimension support to a custom table is not just a matter of adding a `Code[20]` field, and master tables and document/transactional tables wire into `Codeunit "Dimension Management"` through two different models — treating them as one mechanism is itself the mistake this article corrects:
|
||||
|
||||
- **Master data** (a custom master table, e.g. "Course") persists **Default Dimension** records: each shortcut dimension field validates through `ValidateDimValueCode`, then the result is saved via `SaveDefaultDim`, and `DeleteDefaultDim` removes them again in `OnDelete`. The master record itself carries no `Dimension Set ID` field.
|
||||
- **Transactional/document data** (a custom document or journal-line table) carries a single **`Dimension Set ID`** field — a pointer to a shared, deduplicated set of dimension values in `Dimension Set Entry`, assembled from whatever the document inherited plus whatever the user overrode. A document does not acquire that ID by calling `SaveDefaultDim`; it builds a source list with `AddDimSource` (naming the related master table and its key, e.g. `Database::Customer`), then calls `GetDefaultDimID` to compute a new `Dimension Set ID` that inherits the master's Default Dimension records. Editing a shortcut dimension field directly on the document validates through `ValidateShortcutDimValues`, which updates the same `Dimension Set ID` in place rather than writing a separate Default Dimension record.
|
||||
|
||||
Skipping the model that actually matches the table's kind produces a field that looks correct in the designer but silently fails to save, validate, or carry through to postings — or, for a document, one that never picks up the customer's/vendor's own dimensions at all.
|
||||
|
||||
## Best Practice
|
||||
|
||||
A master table should validate its dimension fields through `ValidateDimValueCode` (or `ValidateShortcutDimValues` when a `DimSetID` is also needed) and `SaveDefaultDim`, and create/delete the matching Default Dimension records in `OnInsert`/`OnDelete`. A document table should add Shortcut Dimension fields validated the same way, and call `GetDefaultDimID` to pull inherited dimension values from the related master record whenever the field that attaches the document to that master changes.
|
||||
For a master table, validate each shortcut dimension field through `ValidateDimValueCode`, save the result with `SaveDefaultDim`, and delete the matching Default Dimension records in `OnDelete`.
|
||||
|
||||
For a document table, when the field that attaches the document to a master record changes (e.g. `Customer No.`), call `AddDimSource` naming that master table and key, then `GetDefaultDimID` to compute the document's new `Dimension Set ID`, inheriting the master's Default Dimension records. Validate the document's own Shortcut Dimension fields through `ValidateShortcutDimValues`, which updates that same `Dimension Set ID` rather than persisting a separate Default Dimension record.
|
||||
|
||||
See sample: `dimension-management-wiring.good.al`.
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ application-area: [all]
|
|||
|
||||
## Description
|
||||
|
||||
When a variable or field can only take on a fixed set of more than two named, mutually exclusive states — a difficulty level, a document type, a processing status — it should be typed as `Enum` (or `Option` when extending an object that still uses the legacy type). Representing that same state as a plain `Integer` and tracking the meaning of each value in a comment or in a developer's head is a magic-number anti-pattern: the compiler cannot catch an out-of-range value, and branches read as opaque numbers instead of names. This is distinct from a true two-state choice, which should be `Boolean` rather than an enumeration — the line is the state count.
|
||||
When a variable or field represents a fixed set of named, mutually exclusive states — a difficulty level, a document type, a processing status — it should be typed as `Enum` (or `Option` when extending an object that still uses the legacy type). Representing that same state as a plain `Integer` and tracking the meaning of each value in a comment or in a developer's head is a magic-number anti-pattern: the compiler cannot catch an out-of-range value, and branches read as opaque numbers instead of names. This is about semantics, not member count, matching `binary-choice-must-be-boolean.md`'s own distinction: a domain concept that is genuinely a stable true/false predicate belongs in `Boolean` even if someone represents it as a two-value `Enum`, while a domain concept with exactly two current named states is not automatically a Boolean in disguise — it stays an `Enum` when the states are named alternatives rather than a yes/no flag, or when it needs to implement an interface, preserve an existing contract, or leave room for a future third value.
|
||||
|
||||
## Best Practice
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ application-area: [all]
|
|||
|
||||
## Description
|
||||
|
||||
AL is case-insensitive, so `MESSAGE(...)`, `ERROR(...)`, `CONFIRM(...)`, and `STRSUBSTNO(...)` compile and run identically to `Message(...)`, `Error(...)`, `Confirm(...)`, and `StrSubstNo(...)`. Modern AL — the VS Code tooling's default formatter output, Microsoft's own current samples, and current reference codebases — writes intrinsic/built-in function calls in the casing Microsoft assigns to the function's declared name, typically PascalCase. ALL-CAPS calls are a holdover from classic C/AL and signal code that has not been modernized, even though it compiles and runs correctly. Reserved keywords such as `if`, `begin`, and `for` are a separate, already-tooled concern; intrinsic function names are identifiers, not keywords, so that tooling does not catch ALL-CAPS intrinsic function calls.
|
||||
AL is case-insensitive, so `MESSAGE(...)`, `ERROR(...)`, `CONFIRM(...)`, and `STRSUBSTNO(...)` compile and run identically to `Message(...)`, `Error(...)`, `Confirm(...)`, and `StrSubstNo(...)`. Modern AL — Microsoft's own current samples and current reference codebases — writes intrinsic/built-in function calls in the casing Microsoft assigns to the function's declared name, typically PascalCase. This is a codebase-convention claim, not a claim about what the VS Code formatter enforces: the formatter normalizes particular syntax but is not a mechanism for recasing every intrinsic function call, so do not cite formatter behavior as the reason to follow this convention. ALL-CAPS calls are a holdover from classic C/AL and signal code that has not been modernized, even though it compiles and runs correctly. Reserved keywords such as `if`, `begin`, and `for` are a separate, already-tooled concern; intrinsic function names are identifiers, not keywords, so that tooling does not catch ALL-CAPS intrinsic function calls.
|
||||
|
||||
## Best Practice
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ application-area: [all]
|
|||
|
||||
## Description
|
||||
|
||||
Since Business Central 2024 release wave 1, Microsoft's own objects are organized under a deep `Microsoft.*` namespace tree that has been renamed and restructured repeatedly. When adding a `using` directive for an existing AL object (table, codeunit, page, enum, interface, etc.), guessing its namespace from the object's name, from an older codebase, or from general familiarity produces a statement that can look plausible, compile in isolation, and still resolve to the wrong object or fail in the AL Language Server that VS Code actually uses to report errors. The reliable sources are the object's own source file (its `namespace` declaration) or, for a dependency without accessible source, its AL symbol package — not the object's name or a remembered convention.
|
||||
Since Business Central 2024 release wave 1, Microsoft's own objects are organized under a deep `Microsoft.*` namespace tree that has been renamed and restructured repeatedly. When adding a `using` directive for an existing AL object (table, codeunit, page, enum, interface, etc.), guessing its namespace from the object's name, from an older codebase, or from general familiarity produces a statement that can look plausible and still resolve to the wrong object, or fail to resolve at all, once checked against the object's actual current namespace. The reliable sources are the object's own source file (its `namespace` declaration) or, for a dependency without accessible source, its AL symbol package — not the object's name or a remembered convention.
|
||||
|
||||
## Best Practice
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -23,6 +23,6 @@ See sample: `namespace-must-be-verified-from-source.good.al`.
|
|||
|
||||
## Anti Pattern
|
||||
|
||||
Writing a `using` statement from memory, from an incomplete path, or from a plausible-looking guess. It can compile in one build environment while still failing to resolve in VS Code, because the two use different namespace resolution.
|
||||
Writing a `using` statement from memory, from an incomplete path, or from a plausible-looking guess. It can appear correct while actually resolving to the wrong object, or fail to resolve, once checked against stale or mismatched symbols, a different build configuration, or the object's actual current source — not because the compiler and the AL Language Server apply different namespace-resolution rules; they don't.
|
||||
|
||||
See sample: `namespace-must-be-verified-from-source.bad.al`.
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ var
|
|||
Customer: Record Customer;
|
||||
SalesHeader: Record "Sales Header";
|
||||
begin
|
||||
// Random, collision-free customer — no assumption about what exists.
|
||||
// Freshly created customer, owned by this test — no assumption about what exists.
|
||||
LibrarySales.CreateCustomer(Customer);
|
||||
LibrarySales.CreateSalesHeader(
|
||||
SalesHeader, SalesHeader."Document Type"::Order, Customer."No.");
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
@ -1,24 +0,0 @@
|
|||
page 50100 "Item Availability API"
|
||||
{
|
||||
PageType = API;
|
||||
APIPublisher = 'contoso';
|
||||
APIGroup = 'inventory';
|
||||
APIVersion = 'v1.0';
|
||||
EntityName = 'itemAvailability';
|
||||
EntitySetName = 'itemAvailabilities';
|
||||
SourceTable = Item;
|
||||
|
||||
layout
|
||||
{
|
||||
area(content)
|
||||
{
|
||||
repeater(General)
|
||||
{
|
||||
field(itemNo; Rec."No.") { }
|
||||
field(quantityOnHand; Rec.Inventory) { }
|
||||
// No OnAfterGetRecord CalcFields — Inventory is a FlowField
|
||||
// and returns 0 to every consumer.
|
||||
}
|
||||
}
|
||||
}
|
||||
}
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,27 +0,0 @@
|
|||
page 50100 "Item Availability API"
|
||||
{
|
||||
PageType = API;
|
||||
APIPublisher = 'contoso';
|
||||
APIGroup = 'inventory';
|
||||
APIVersion = 'v1.0';
|
||||
EntityName = 'itemAvailability';
|
||||
EntitySetName = 'itemAvailabilities';
|
||||
SourceTable = Item;
|
||||
|
||||
layout
|
||||
{
|
||||
area(content)
|
||||
{
|
||||
repeater(General)
|
||||
{
|
||||
field(itemNo; Rec."No.") { }
|
||||
field(quantityOnHand; Rec.Inventory) { }
|
||||
}
|
||||
}
|
||||
}
|
||||
|
||||
trigger OnAfterGetRecord()
|
||||
begin
|
||||
Rec.CalcFields(Inventory);
|
||||
end;
|
||||
}
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,28 +0,0 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
bc-version: [all]
|
||||
domain: web-services
|
||||
keywords: [api-page, flowfield, calcfields, odata]
|
||||
technologies: [al]
|
||||
countries: [w1]
|
||||
application-area: [all]
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
# Explicitly Calculate FlowFields on API Pages
|
||||
|
||||
> Contributions welcome — open a PR to refine or extend this article.
|
||||
|
||||
## Description
|
||||
|
||||
FlowFields are not stored in the database — Business Central computes them on demand. Regular pages trigger that calculation automatically while rendering, but API pages do not. A FlowField referenced in an API page's layout returns an empty value to external consumers unless it is calculated explicitly, producing a silent data gap in OData responses that is easy to miss in review.
|
||||
|
||||
## Best Practice
|
||||
|
||||
Call `CalcFields` for every FlowField referenced in the page layout from the `OnAfterGetRecord` trigger, combining multiple fields into a single call.
|
||||
|
||||
See sample: `api-page-flowfields-must-be-calcfields.good.al`.
|
||||
|
||||
## Anti Pattern
|
||||
|
||||
Relying on the implicit calculation that regular pages perform. Any FlowField left out of the `CalcFields` call returns a blank value to every API consumer with no visible error.
|
||||
|
||||
See sample: `api-page-flowfields-must-be-calcfields.bad.al`.
|
||||
Loading…
Add table
Add a link
Reference in a new issue