bcquality/microsoft/skills/review/al-data-modeling-review.md

kind	id	version	title	description	inputs	outputs	bc-version	technologies	countries	application-area
action-skill	al-data-modeling-review	1	AL data-modeling review	Performs an AL data-modeling review against guidance from BCQuality.	pr-diff file-path folder-path	findings-report	all	al	w1	all

AL data-modeling review

Reviews AL source changes against the data-modeling knowledge domain in BCQuality and emits a findings report. This is a leaf action skill: it invokes no sub-skills. It is one of the skills composed by al-code-review.

An orchestrator invokes this skill with a pr-diff, file-path, or folder-path. Data-modeling findings are narrow by design — they apply when the review scope contains setup or master tables, their card pages, primary keys, number-series assignment, block enforcement, or audit fields. The skill returns not-applicable when none of those apply.

Source

Use READ's Bounded retrieval for review skills workflow with -Domain data-modeling. Consume every catalog page across enabled layers before applying this leaf's Relevance and Worklist; preserve each exact catalog path and open complete bodies only for exact paths selected by the Worklist. If the helper or prepared index is unavailable or invalid, use READ's explicit path-discovery and bounded native-read fallback.

Relevance

Apply the frontmatter matching rules defined in READ (Frontmatter matching semantics) against the task context:

• bc-version — the target BC version from the PR branch's app.json or the orchestrator-supplied version. If unavailable, the dimension is unknown.
• technologies — [al].
• countries — the countries declared in the consuming app's app.json. Default to the orchestrator's configured context; if absent, unknown.
• application-area — the union of application areas declared by the changed objects. Pass the actual set; do not substitute [all]. If the area cannot be determined from the changes, the dimension is unknown.

Discard files that are not applicable. Retain conditionally applicable files (any dimension unknown) only when the orchestrator's configuration permits them; findings derived from those files MUST have confidence no higher than medium, AND the finding's message MUST name the dimension or dimensions that were unknown.

Worklist

Narrow the relevant files to the subset that applies to the changes under review. For each relevant file, compute overlap against:

• The changed AL object names and types — especially * Setup singleton tables and Card pages, custom master tables, tableextensions that add master-data fields, and document or journal lines that reference a master.
• The changed fields, keys, triggers, and procedures, weighted toward Primary Key, No., No. Series, Blocked, Last Date Modified, OnInsert, OnModify, OnRename, reference-field OnValidate, and posting validation.
• Tokens extracted from the diff that relate to data modeling (setup, master, Primary Key, Code[10], Code[20], AutoIncrement, SystemId, No., No. Series, NoSeriesManagement, Codeunit "No. Series", GetNextNo, IsManual, TestManual, Blocked, TestField, Last Date Modified, Today, WorkDate, InsertAllowed, DeleteAllowed, PageType = Card, OnOpenPage, GetRecordOnce, OnInsert, OnModify, OnRename, InitRecord, Round, Precision, Direction, TableRelation, tableextension, enumextension, Media, MediaSet, Item, Count).

A file enters the candidate worklist when its keywords intersect the extracted tokens or its topic (derived from the index entry's path, title, and description) matches a changed object type. Read an article's full file — its ## Best Practice / ## Anti Pattern bodies — only after it makes the worklist; candidate selection uses the index alone. When the diff contains no data-modeling changes by any of the above signals, return outcome: "not-applicable" without evaluating files.

The following targeted checks cover every current data-modeling article. Treat each as a candidate-selection cue: when the signal appears in changed code, add the named article to the worklist and evaluate it in Action.

• A * Setup table or its page changes singleton structure, uses a nonblank or generated key, permits insert/delete, uses a List page, or does not ensure the blank-keyed row exists — setup-table-is-a-singleton.
• A new field is typed Media, MediaSet, or BLOB and the field's caption/name suggests a picture or image — pictures-must-use-media-not-blob.
• Code outside a test codeunit or a demo-data generator calls WorkDate(NewDate) (the assignment form, not a bare WorkDate() read) as part of logic whose purpose is unrelated to the work date itself — code-must-not-change-workdate. A test deliberately setting a date context, or a demo-data routine that saves, sets, and restores the work date to backdate the data it creates, is not this anti-pattern.
• A new or extended table's name, fields, or usage positively establish it as one of Business Central's nine business-record types — a name ending Ledger Entry/Register/Journal Line/Header/Line/Setup, an auto-generated Entry No./No. key posted from elsewhere, a Template Name+Batch Name+Line No. key, or a singleton Primary Key field — table-design-must-match-bc-table-type-conventions. Do not worklist it from a bare keys block or primary-key declaration alone: a temporary/buffer table, a work queue, a log, a cross-reference/mapping table, or a process-local staging table is not one of the nine types and is out of this rule's scope entirely, not an unresolved case.
• A custom master table changes its primary key, No./No. Series fields, or OnInsert without assigning a blank No. from setup through a number series — master-table-no-from-number-series-in-oninsert.
• BC v22 or later code introduces or retains NoSeriesManagement, InitSeries, SelectSeries, or SetSeries, or number assignment/manual-entry checks do not use codeunit "No. Series" methods such as GetNextNo, IsManual, or TestManual — use-no-series-codeunit-not-noseriesmanagement.
• A master gains or changes Blocked, or a document line, journal line, reference-field OnValidate, or posting routine uses that master without TestField(Blocked, false) at the point of use; also cue when the check is placed only in the master's own triggers — check-blocked-in-referencing-code-not-in-master.
• A master table adds or changes Last Date Modified, OnModify, or OnRename, but the non-editable field is not assigned Today() in both triggers — set-last-date-modified-in-onmodify-and-onrename.
• A tableextension appends a conditional TableRelation as if it overrides an earlier unconditional relation, or relation branches are otherwise designed without accounting for additive top-down evaluation — table-relation-extensions-are-additive-and-top-down.
• A Media or MediaSet field is assigned directly between different table types or different field IDs instead of registering each shared item with MediaSet.Insert — share-mediaset-items-with-insert-not-field-assignment.
• A custom document header assigns defaults outside an InitRecord boundary, calls InitRecord before assigning its number, or places UI-independent defaults only in a page trigger — initialize-document-defaults-in-initrecord.
• Directed Round calls use '<' as mathematical floor or '>' as mathematical ceiling, especially where negative amounts are possible — round-direction-symbols-use-magnitude.

Once the candidate worklist is known, resolve layer-precedence conflicts per READ. Drop lower-precedence files whose normative guidance (## Best Practice or ## Anti Pattern) directly contradicts a higher-precedence candidate, and record each dropped file in suppressed with reason: "layer-precedence". Files that would have been candidates but are hidden because their layer is disabled in consumer configuration are recorded with reason: "configuration". Files that never became candidates are NOT recorded in suppressed.

When the post-conflict worklist is empty because no applicable data-modeling knowledge exists, or because configuration suppressed every candidate, emit outcome: "no-knowledge". When the worklist is empty because no applicable data-modeling knowledge matched the changes, emit outcome: "completed" with an empty findings array.

Action

For each worklist entry, evaluate the diff against the file's ## Best Practice and ## Anti Pattern sections. Emit findings as follows:

• When the diff contains a clear match for an Anti Pattern, emit a finding with severity major or blocker, a message summarizing the anti-pattern, location pointing to the offending line or range, and a references entry pointing to the knowledge file. Use blocker only when the model can create ambiguous setup state, incompatible business identifiers, or silently stale synchronization data; otherwise the ceiling is major.
• When the diff contains code that contradicts a Best Practice without being a full anti-pattern, emit minor with the same reference shape.
• Applicability alone is not a finding. Emit info only for a concrete, non-actionable observation the article explicitly defines; otherwise emit nothing when no violation is present.

Set confidence to:

• high when the detection is based on an unambiguous pattern match (object type, field, key, trigger, or API name).
• medium when detection relies on heuristics or when any frontmatter dimension was unknown.
• low when the finding is an advisory derived only from applicability.

After evaluating each worklist entry, also consider whether the diff exhibits a data-modeling defect the agent recognises from its general AL knowledge that no knowledge file in the worklist covers. Such candidates are agent findings within this skill's domain — emit them with references: [], an id slug prefixed with agent:, confidence capped at medium, severity capped at minor (agent findings are advisory and non-gating), and a message that is self-contained (describing both the issue and a concrete recommendation, since there is no knowledge-file footer for the consumer to fall back on). Hold every candidate to the precision bar in skills/do.md (Agent findings): emit only a concrete, material data-modeling defect a knowledgeable BC reviewer would agree is wrong — steelman it first and drop anything stylistic, speculative, dependent on code outside the diff, or merely a valid alternative; when in doubt, omit. The scope is strictly data modeling; defects outside this domain belong to other leaves and MUST NOT be emitted here. Before emitting, check the worklist for a knowledge file that matches the candidate — if one exists, upgrade the candidate to a knowledge-backed finding instead. See skills/do.md for the full contract.

For every emitted finding, decide whether the fix is mechanical. A fix is mechanical when it is small, local, and unambiguous from the diff context (for example: add InsertAllowed = false or DeleteAllowed = false; replace WorkDate() with Today(); add the same audit-field assignment to OnRename; or replace an obsolete number-series codeunit declaration). For mechanical findings, emit findings[].suggested-code with the literal replacement for the source lines indicated by location. The payload must be a verbatim replacement — no diff markers, no fences, no commentary — that the consumer can render as a one-click suggestion. When a .good.al companion exists and the diff context matches the .bad.al shape, adapt the .good.al replacement into suggested-code.

Omit suggested-code only when the appropriate fix depends on context the skill cannot determine, when multiple defensible replacements exist, or when the fix spans non-contiguous code. If a finding is mechanical-looking but you omit suggested-code, set findings[].suggested-code-omission-reason to a short explanation. See skills/do.md for the full contract.

Outcome selection:

• completed — the skill evaluated every worklist item.
• no-knowledge — no applicable data-modeling knowledge survived filtering.
• not-applicable — the diff touches no setup/master table, page, key, numbering, block-check, or audit-field surface.
• partial — a budget was hit before the worklist was exhausted.
• failed — an unrecoverable error occurred.

Output

Output conforms to the DO output contract. Every finding this skill emits MUST set findings[].domain to "Data Modeling". A populated example:

{
  "skill": { "id": "al-data-modeling-review", "version": 1 },
  "outcome": "completed",
  "summary": {
    "counts": { "blocker": 0, "major": 1, "minor": 0, "info": 0 },
    "coverage": { "worklist-size": 1, "items-evaluated": 1 }
  },
  "findings": [
    {
      "id": "microsoft/knowledge/data-modeling/set-last-date-modified-in-onmodify-and-onrename.md",
      "severity": "major",
      "message": "The table updates Last Date Modified in OnModify but not OnRename, so renaming the primary key leaves the audit date stale and can hide the record from incremental integrations.",
      "location": {
        "file": "src/LoyaltyMember.Table.al",
        "line": 74
      },
      "references": [
        { "path": "microsoft/knowledge/data-modeling/set-last-date-modified-in-onmodify-and-onrename.md" }
      ],
      "confidence": "high",
      "domain": "Data Modeling",
      "suggested-code": "trigger OnRename()\nbegin\n    \"Last Date Modified\" := Today();\nend;"
    }
  ],
  "suppressed": []
}

The empty-corpus case produces:

{
  "skill": { "id": "al-data-modeling-review", "version": 1 },
  "outcome": "no-knowledge",
  "summary": {
    "counts": { "blocker": 0, "major": 0, "minor": 0, "info": 0 },
    "coverage": { "worklist-size": 0, "items-evaluated": 0 }
  },
  "findings": [],
  "suppressed": []
}