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 2026-09-08 20:40:21 +02:00
parent fa3d04c56c
commit a28ba1a1d7
18 changed files with 98 additions and 94 deletions

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@ -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

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@ -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

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@ -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`.