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Lead with a complete plugin quick start and add task-oriented usage, troubleshooting, customization, and contribution guides. Preserve the broader plugin framing, correct conflicting contract guidance, support Agents folder reviews, and align repository validation. Convert existing sample references to clickable links without changing knowledge rules. Co-authored-by: Jesper Schulz-Wedde <jesper.schulzwedde@microsoft.com> Co-authored-by: Copilot App <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
32 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
32 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
---
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bc-version: [all]
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domain: ui
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keywords: [showmandatory, notblank, mandatory-field, red-asterisk, delayedinsert, testfield, page-field]
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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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# Mark code-required page fields with ShowMandatory
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> Contributions welcome — open a PR to refine or extend this article.
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## Description
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`ShowMandatory` draws the red asterisk on a page field and, per the platform documentation, enforces no validation. The reverse is not reliable: code that enforces a value — `TestField` in `OnInsert`/`OnModify`, a `NotBlank` table field, a mandatory setup value — does not guarantee that the page field renders as mandatory. Because the two halves are independent, it is easy to ship a field that the code requires but the UI presents as optional. Microsoft documents that `NotBlank` can mark primary-key fields, but current client behavior does not do so consistently; on non-primary-key fields, a value that was never entered is not validated at all. `ShowMandatory` also overrides any marking `NotBlank` would contribute, so set it explicitly when the page must communicate a requirement. The gap is widest on a list page with `DelayedInsert = true`, where the enforcing error surfaces only when the user leaves the row — after the rest of the line is typed, with nothing having indicated which field was missing.
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## Best Practice
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Set `ShowMandatory = true` on every visible, editable page field whose value the user must supply before the record can be committed or an action can complete, and leave the enforcement in place: the property is presentation, `TestField`/`Error` is the guarantee, and the two belong together in the same change. When the requirement is conditional, bind `ShowMandatory` to a Boolean variable or field that mirrors the condition the enforcement checks — the base application drives `Vendor Invoice No.` on the Purchase Invoice page from an `Ext. Doc. No. Mandatory` setup flag this way. Two expression limits are worth knowing: the property cannot call an AL method, so compute the value into a variable first, and a numeric field that has a default value counts as filled, so it never shows the asterisk. See sample: [`showmandatory-on-code-required-page-fields.good.al`](showmandatory-on-code-required-page-fields.good.al).
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## Anti Pattern
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A required field with no mandatory marker: the table's `OnInsert` or the page's `OnInsertRecord` calls `TestField` on a field, or `NotBlank` is expected to force entry, while the page field bound to it carries no `ShowMandatory`. On a `DelayedInsert = true` list page the user fills the row, leaves it, and gets an error naming a field that never looked different from the optional ones. Reviewer signal: code on the relevant commit or action path requires the user to supply a field, the corresponding page control is visible and editable, and its `ShowMandatory` property is missing or does not mirror the same condition. A `TestField` or `Error` elsewhere in `OnValidate` or `OnModify` is not sufficient evidence: the field may be populated by code, non-editable, or required only for another path. Setting `ShowMandatory = false` on a field that is unconditionally required on the current path is the same defect stated explicitly, and per the documentation it also overrides any marking `NotBlank` would otherwise contribute. See sample: [`showmandatory-on-code-required-page-fields.bad.al`](showmandatory-on-code-required-page-fields.bad.al).
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## See also
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`ShowMandatory` property — https://learn.microsoft.com/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/developer/properties/devenv-showmandatory-property
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`NotBlank` property — https://learn.microsoft.com/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/developer/properties/devenv-notblank-property
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Review finding this article generalizes — https://github.com/microsoft/BCApps/pull/9315#discussion_r3568817946
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