---
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`.