bcquality/microsoft/knowledge/privacy/error-direct-substitution-safe-for-telemetry.md
Jesper Schulz-Wedde a9f3c50863 Regenerate microsoft/knowledge from upstream BCApps instructions
The previous LLM-generated knowledge files contained factual
hallucinations. The most visible was the claim that `FindFirst` /
`FindLast` "forces a full-table scan" on an unfiltered record - it does
not; those APIs return a single row via the current key.

Other inaccuracies the audit found and fixed:

* `FindSet(true)` was described as "taking a LockTable". The correct
  upstream phrasing is that `FindSet(true)` sets
  `ReadIsolation::UpdLock` on the read. UpdLock and LockTable are
  related but distinct mechanisms.
* The list of production-scale tables had been invented beyond the
  upstream source (e.g. "Detailed Cust. Ledg. Entry") without a
  citation. The regenerated list matches the ten tables upstream lists
  with their P95 row counts.
* `SetLoadFields` guidance had been augmented with an extra mechanism
  claim ("the database resolves the filter using the index without
  hydrating the value") not present in upstream.

Approach: full regeneration of `microsoft/knowledge/` from the six
upstream BCApps Code Review instruction files, with Microsoft Learn /
the AL language reference as a secondary source. Every claim in every
regenerated file is anchored to a verbatim upstream quote (or a Learn
URL); the audit trail lives in artifacts/trace-<domain>.json on the
session workspace.

The PR #11 transaction/error-handling cluster is preserved verbatim:

* performance/understand-implicit-transaction-boundary.md
* performance/codeunit-run-as-atomic-sub-operation.{md,good.al,bad.al}
* performance/codeunit-run-requires-prior-commit-inside-transaction.{md,good.al,bad.al}
* performance/use-tryfunction-for-error-catching-not-rollback.{md,good.al,bad.al}
* performance/avoid-commit-inside-loops.{md,good.al,bad.al}
* security/commitbehavior-attribute-scopes-explicit-commits.{md,good.al,bad.al}
* testing/transactionmodel-attribute-governs-test-transactions.{md,good.al,bad.al}

These articles already cite Microsoft Learn and were carefully
cross-referenced; the regeneration skips their topics rather than
duplicating them.

File counts after regeneration:

  performance   35 .md  (5 preserved + 30 new)
  privacy       17 .md
  security      18 .md  (1 preserved + 17 new)
  style         33 .md
  testing        1 .md  (preserved)
  ui            19 .md
  upgrade       18 .md

Total 141 atomic knowledge files, each strictly one rule. All pass
.github/scripts/validate_frontmatter.py with 0 errors and 0 warnings.

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
2026-05-21 09:53:09 +02:00

1.6 KiB

bc-version domain keywords technologies countries application-area
all
privacy
error
strsubstno
direct-substitution
telemetry
classification
label
al
w1
all

Error() with direct substitution parameters is always safe for telemetry

Description

When Error() is called with a format string and direct substitution parameters (%1, %2, …), the BC platform intercepts the call, inspects each parameter individually, and applies the DataClassification of the source field — stripping or masking sensitive data before writing the message to telemetry. This is true regardless of whether a parameter is a record field reference, a local variable, a function return value, or any other expression. Patterns such as Error('Invalid email: %1', Customer."E-Mail") are therefore safe even when the parameter is PII: the platform sees Customer."E-Mail" as a CustomerContent field reference and handles it correctly.

Best Practice

Pass values to Error() as direct substitution parameters — either inline or via a Label with Comment = '%1 = …' placeholders. Let the platform do the per-parameter classification. This works equally well for record fields, local text variables, and document IDs.

See sample: error-direct-substitution-safe-for-telemetry.good.al.

Anti Pattern

Treating any Error() call that mentions PII as a leak. A review skill that flags Error('Invalid email: %1', EmailAddress) is wrong; the platform handles that pattern correctly. The only Error() shape that genuinely leaks PII to telemetry is the pre-built StrSubstNo form covered in avoid-strsubstno-prebuild-before-error.md.