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Six carried-over threads: - api-page-least-privilege-write-access fixtures: added the mandatory EntityName/EntitySetName properties (AL0485). - pages-must-not-contain-business-logic fixtures: Sales Line has no "Total Amount" field; replaced with the real "Line Amount" (field 103). - test-feature-scenario-tags.good.al and test-one-when-per-test.good.al: CreatePriceHeader leaves a price list in Draft status, which price calculation ignores. Added Validate(Status, Active) + Modify before the sales line that depends on it. Verified Status field/enum against PriceListHeader.Table.al and PriceStatus.Enum.al in the BCApps clone. - exposed-objects-must-be-in-a-permission-set.md: a published codeunit is a SOAP endpoint (SOAP is deprecated), not OData - Page/Query are the OData object types. Corrected and pointed new integrations at API pages/queries instead. - al-error-handling-review.md: the log-writes-must-survive-rollback cue selected on Session.StartSession, which only appears in the compliant fix, never in the anti-pattern - the bad fixture could never be worklisted. Recued on the actual risk shape (log insert around a failed TryFunction/GetLastError* path, then raise/propagate), with StartSession as an explicit compliant discriminator instead. - page-design-must-match-bc-page-type-conventions.md: the enum value is NavigatePage, not Navigate; noted the type list is a selected subset, not an exhaustive PageType catalogue (PromptDialog, ConfigurationDialog, UserControlHost, XmlPort also exist, out of this article's scope). Four new correctness gaps: - release-must-update-app-version.md: "the version is the only identity" was backwards - id is the app's stable identity, version identifies a release/code-state of it. - defensive-vs-offensive-code-must-match-blast-radius.good.al: the "low blast radius" example had no else branch, so a failed Customer.Get() left the field at its prior/default value instead of the explicit chosen fallback the article claims to demonstrate. Added the else. - bcpt-scenarios-must-be-app-specific.good.al: InitTest and both measured StartScenario/EndScenario sections were empty/comment-only, so the "app-specific" fixture measured no actual work. Filled in a real, self-contained header+line creation path. - upgrade-tag-logic-must-not-nest-deeply.good.al: the flattened version dropped both safety conditions the bad fixture had (Discount % = 0, nonblank posting group), silently changing behavior instead of just removing nesting. Extracted the guarded update into a helper with both conditions preserved as early exits. Also converted this PR's remaining plain-backtick "See sample:" sample references (16 articles) to the READ-convention markdown-link form, matching the fix already made on #156/#158. Rebased onto upstream/main (conflicts in al-ui-review.md, al-style-review.md, al-upgrade-review.md against merged upstream PRs - all additive, both sides' worklist cues retained).
30 lines
1.7 KiB
Markdown
30 lines
1.7 KiB
Markdown
---
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bc-version: [all]
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domain: style
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keywords: [comments, verbosity, self-documenting, restate, tutorial-style]
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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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# Comments must not restate what the code already shows
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## Description
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A comment above nearly every statement that just narrates what the statement already says (`// Validate the customer number` above `SalesHeader.Validate("Sell-to Customer No.", CustomerNo)`) adds noise without adding information. Production AL — the Base Application, mature partner codebases — is comment-sparse by comparison: identifiers do the explaining, and a comment appears only when the code alone can't carry the reason.
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A comment earns its place only when it captures something the code cannot: a non-obvious business rule, a workaround for a specific platform limitation, or a constraint that would surprise the next reader. If removing the comment would leave the reader no worse off, the comment should not have been written.
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This does not override required structural documentation — feature/scenario test tags and XML-doc summaries on public library procedures remain required where they apply; those are structural markers, not narrative comments.
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## Best Practice
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Let the code speak for itself; reserve comments for the reason a reader could not otherwise infer.
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See sample: [`al-comments-must-not-restate-what-code-already-shows.good.al`](al-comments-must-not-restate-what-code-already-shows.good.al).
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## Anti Pattern
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A comment line before every statement, repeating in English what the statement's own identifiers already say.
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See sample: [`al-comments-must-not-restate-what-code-already-shows.bad.al`](al-comments-must-not-restate-what-code-already-shows.bad.al).
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