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Move canonical knowledge for Microsoft-owned review domains into the Microsoft layer and document the skill/knowledge co-location policy. Co-authored-by: Copilot App <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Copilot-Session: 2a6ea875-d38e-4f30-aadb-0d606f9be231
38 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
38 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
---
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bc-version: [all]
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domain: data-modeling
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keywords: [validatetablerelation, table-relation, rename, onrename, propagation, dangling-reference, soft-relation]
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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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# `ValidateTableRelation = false` suppresses rename propagation, not just input validation
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## Description
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Renaming a record updates it in all other locations that reference it through a `TableRelation`, with no code. That guarantee has **two** preconditions, and a field failing either one is silently left holding a key that no longer exists.
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First, a `TableRelation` must exist. A field whose value is constructed or computed — a composite key, or a value derived from several fields of the target — cannot declare one, so nothing propagates. The field is still a foreign key in intent, but the platform treats it as an opaque value.
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Second, and far less obvious: the relation must not carry `ValidateTableRelation = false`. The property name implies it only governs *input validation*, so it looks safe to disable on a field populated by code that already knows the target is valid. It is not. **Disabling it also switches off rename propagation.** The relation still documents intent and still drives lookups, but it no longer keeps the stored value correct.
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Both failures are quiet: no error at rename time, and in the first case no input validation either, so a wrong value is never rejected on write.
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This is verified behaviour, not inference. A parent renamed once against a child holding three fields — a normal relation, the same relation with `ValidateTableRelation = false`, and a field with no relation — updates only the first.
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See also `owning-table-must-delete-dependents-in-ondelete.md` for the delete half of this asymmetry, and `xrec-is-a-before-image-only-in-some-triggers.md` for why `OnRename` is the one trigger where a hand-written fix-up is reliable.
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## Best Practice
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Leave `ValidateTableRelation` at its default wherever the stored value must stay correct across a rename. When it must be disabled, or when the relationship cannot be expressed as a `TableRelation` at all, the table owning the referenced key carries an explicit `OnRename` that repoints the dependents itself.
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See sample: `validate-table-relation-false-suppresses-rename-propagation.good.al`.
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## Anti Pattern
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`ValidateTableRelation = false` added to silence a validation error, on a field expected to keep tracking its target. The field stops being maintained on rename, and the defect surfaces much later as a reference to a key that no longer exists.
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Detection signal: any `ValidateTableRelation = false` on a field that also declares a `TableRelation`. Ask what repoints the value when the target is renamed; if the answer is "the platform", the finding stands.
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See sample: `validate-table-relation-false-suppresses-rename-propagation.bad.al`.
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