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bcquality/microsoft/knowledge/testing/use-library-codeunits-for-test-fixtures.md
Jesper Schulz-Wedde 373ec31e2e Address review: merge handler articles, adopt enqueue-driven pattern 
Respond to @nikolakukrika's review on #62:

- Merge ui-calls-require-test-handlers, handlerfunctions-attribute-must-match-ui-path
  and handlers-enqueue-never-assert into a single ui-handlers-in-tests article.
- Adopt the enqueue-from-test / dequeue-and-assert-in-handler pattern using
  Assert.ExpectedConfirm/ExpectedMessage (substring match), with Initialize()
  clearing LibraryVariableStorage and AssertEmpty() proving exact call counts.
- asserterror sample now uses Assert.ExpectedTestFieldError + FieldCaption instead
  of hardcoded message/code; article text points to the library helpers.
- Drop the tablerelation article and fold its test-relevant ordering point
  (relations checked on Validate/Insert(true); build parents first) into
  use-library-codeunits-for-test-fixtures.

Article count 198 -> 195.

Co-authored-by: Copilot App <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
2026-07-07 09:29:32 +02:00

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bc-version domain keywords technologies countries application-area
all
testing
library-codeunits
fixtures
test-data
number-series
prerequisite
al
w1
all

Build fixtures with the test Library codeunits, not hand-rolled Init/Insert

Description

BC ships a layer of test Library codeunits — LibrarySales, LibraryPurchase, LibraryERM, LibraryInventory, LibraryRandom and many more — whose job is to create valid records. CreateCustomer assigns a number from the customer number series, fills the mandatory fields, and satisfies the table relations the platform enforces; CreateItem does the same for items. Hand-rolling Customer.Init/Customer.Insert with invented values skips the number series and any field a future app version adds as mandatory, so the fixture is invalid the moment it is created and rots silently as the schema evolves. The library codeunits also encode fixture ordering: because a TableRelation field is checked on Validate and Insert(true), every parent a foreign key points to must already exist when the dependent record is built. Assemble fixtures top-down — customer and item before the sales line that references them — or the relation check aborts the test at runtime with a data error rather than an assertion. Prefer the Library codeunits for prerequisite data: they encode the setup the platform requires and are maintained alongside the base app.

Best Practice

Reach for the matching Library codeunit before writing manual record setup: LibrarySales.CreateCustomer, LibrarySales.CreateSalesHeader/CreateSalesLine, LibraryInventory.CreateItem, LibraryERM.CreateGLAccount, and LibraryRandom.RandInt/RandDec for values. Create the prerequisite parents first and reference their primary keys from dependent records, and Validate the foreign-key field so the TableRelation — and any field-validation logic — runs exactly as it would in production. Pass the records they return into the code under test. The fixtures stay valid across upgrades because the library — not your test — owns the knowledge of what a well-formed record requires.

See sample: use-library-codeunits-for-test-fixtures.good.al.

Anti Pattern

Customer.Init(); Customer."No." := 'X'; Customer.Insert(); — a record with a hand-picked primary key, no number-series entry, and none of the mandatory fields a real customer needs. It compiles and may even insert, but it bypasses setup the production code assumes, and it breaks the first time the schema gains a required field the test does not know about.

See sample: use-library-codeunits-for-test-fixtures.bad.al.