bcquality/microsoft/skills/review/al-ui-review.md

---
kind: action-skill
id: al-ui-review
version: 1
title: AL UI and accessibility review
description: Reviews AL page and control add-in UI files, and AL code that sends or recalls notifications, against UI text, caption, tooltip, notification, and accessibility guidance from BCQuality.
inputs: [pr-diff, file-path, folder-path]
outputs: [findings-report]
bc-version: [all]
technologies: [al, javascript]
countries: [w1]
application-area: [all]
---

# AL UI and accessibility review

Reviews AL page source and control add-in UI files against the `ui` 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`.

UI findings apply to page files — files that declare `PageType = ...`, including `*.Page.al` under the standard file-naming convention — to AL code that sends or recalls in-client notifications, and to JavaScript/CSS/HTML files that implement Business Central control add-ins, including their client-service communication. The skill returns `not-applicable` when the diff contains no page, notification, or control add-in changes.

An orchestrator invokes this skill with a `pr-diff`, `file-path`, or `folder-path`. The skill produces a single JSON document conforming to the DO output contract.

## Source

Use READ's **Bounded retrieval for review skills** workflow with `-Domain ui`. 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 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]` or `[javascript]`.
- `countries` — the countries declared in the consuming app's `app.json`. If absent, `unknown`.
- `application-area` — pass the actual set declared by the changed objects; do not substitute `[all]`.

Discard files that are not applicable. Retain conditionally applicable files only when the orchestrator's configuration permits them; findings derived from those files MUST have `confidence` no higher than `medium` and MUST name the unknown dimensions in `message`.

## Worklist

Narrow the relevant files to the subset that applies to the changes under review.

- **UI-file filter.** UI review applies to files declaring `page`, `pageextension`, or `pagecustomization`; to any AL object whose changed code calls `Send()` or `Recall()` on a `Notification` variable or calls codeunit `"Notification Lifecycle Mgt."`; and to JavaScript/CSS/HTML that implements a control add-in's rendering or Business Central communication. A non-page AL file admitted only by the notification clause is evaluated only against notification knowledge (`notification-recall-needs-known-id`), not against caption, tooltip, message-text, or client-expression knowledge. When the diff contains no such files, return `outcome: "not-applicable"` without evaluating knowledge files.
- A new or changed page's name/suffix, primary-key handling, `CardPageID`, `SubPageLink`, `AutoSplitKey`, or `UsageCategory` doesn't match the conventions of its own declared `PageType` — `page-design-must-match-bc-page-type-conventions.md`. A Card page over a composite-key table that supplements a master record, or a supporting/subpage/dialog page intended only to be reached through another workflow and correctly omitting `UsageCategory`, is not this anti-pattern on its own; check whether the page is actually mixing conventions or is meant as a searchable entry point before flagging.
- For each relevant knowledge file, compute overlap against changed page declarations and control add-in files, weighted toward `Caption`, `ToolTip`, `AboutTitle`, `AboutText`, `OptionCaption`, `ShowCaption`, `InstructionalText`, `GridLayout`, `Style`, `StyleExpr`, promoted action definitions, field importance, page background tasks, notification send/recall, open-document actions, DOM creation, ARIA attributes, keyboard/focus handlers, packaged-resource AJAX, and calls from JavaScript into AL.
- Tokens extracted from the diff (`Caption`, `ToolTip`, `AboutTitle`, `AboutText`, `PageType`, `ShowCaption`, `InstructionalText`, `grid`, `fixed`, `GridLayout`, `Style`, `StyleExpr`, `Importance`, `Promoted`, `Additional`, `area(Promoted)`, `actionref`, `PromotedCategory`, `PromotedOnly`, `PromotedIsBig`, `ShowAs`, `SplitButton`, `fieldgroups`, `DropDown`, `UpdatePropagation`, `EnqueueBackgroundTask`, `OnAfterGetCurrRecord`, `OnAfterGetRecord`, `OnPageBackgroundTaskCompleted`, `OnPageBackgroundTaskError`, `RunPageBackgroundTask`, `Favorable`, `Unfavorable`, `Ambiguous`, `cuegroup`, `controladdin`, `control-add-in`, `usercontrol`, `aria-`, `tabindex`, `keydown`, `focus`, `innerHTML`, `createElement`, `packaged-resource`, `ajax`, `$.get`, `$.ajax`, `XMLHttpRequest`, `xhrFields`, `withCredentials`, `withcredentials`, `InvokeExtensibilityMethod`, `invokeextensibilitymethod`, `skipIfBusy`, `successCallback`, `success-callback`, `errorCallback`, `setInterval`, `JSON.stringify`, `payload`, `throttling`, `reduced-functionality`, `ClientServicesMaxUploadSize`, `&`, `Specifies`, `Message(`, `Confirm(`, `Error(` in a page context, `Disabled`, `Invalid`, `Whitelist`, `Blacklist`, trailing punctuation patterns on captions, `CardPageID`, `AutoSplitKey`, `PageType = Card`, `PageType = List`, `PageType = Worksheet`, `PageType = Document`, `PageType = RoleCenter`, `Enabled`, `Visible`, `Editable`, `in [`, `AccessByPermission`, `ReadPermission`, `WritePermission`, `Notification`, `NotificationScope`, `.Send()`, `.Recall()`, `CreateGuid`, `Notification Lifecycle Mgt.`, `SendNotification`, `SendNotificationWithAdditionalContext`, `RecallNotificationsForRecord`, `Page Management`, `PageRun`, `Page.Run(`, `ShowDocument`). Match tokens case-insensitively; Base App writes both `Page.Run(` and `PAGE.Run(`.

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 page element. Read an article's full file — its `## Best Practice` / `## Anti Pattern` bodies — only after it makes the worklist; candidate selection uses the index alone.

Apply these high-signal mappings before fuzzy topic ranking:

- A tableextension adds a field to `DropDown` while the corresponding lookup-page control remains `Visible = false` — `dropdown-fieldgroup-respects-lookup-page-visibility`.
- An editable page part affects a total, FlowField, or FactBox on the parent but does not set `UpdatePropagation = Both` — `updatepropagation-both-refreshes-main-page`.
- A page or pageextension `Enabled`, `Visible`, `Editable`, or `StyleExpr` value contains an `in [...]` list (compiler: "InListExpression is not valid for client expressions", AL0573 or AL0322), or replaces one with a procedure call — `page-client-expression-must-not-use-in-list`. Plain `=`/`<>` comparisons joined with `and`/`or`, and `in [...]` inside a trigger or procedure body, are valid; do not flag them.
- A `RoleCenter` page, or a pageextension whose target is a Role Center, gates a part, action, or field by binding `Visible` or `Enabled` to a procedure that tests a permission, or declares a procedure (AL0569 "A page of type Role Center cannot have procedures", AL0573) — `rolecenter-permission-gating-must-use-accessbypermission`. The target page name is not reliable evidence of its type; confirm it is a Role Center from its `PageType` or the AL0569 diagnostic. Setup- or feature-flag gating inside the part page is not this pattern.
- The same code path calls `Send()` and `Recall()` on a `Notification` (for example `Send()` when a condition holds, `Recall()` in the `else` branch or when it clears) but never assigns its `Id`, or assigns `CreateGuid()` and calls `Send()`/`Recall()` directly; or, when notifications for several records must be visible at the same time, they share one fixed `Id` sent and recalled directly — `notification-recall-needs-known-id`. A notification that is never recalled; one sent through `"Notification Lifecycle Mgt."` (`SendNotification`, `SendNotificationWithAdditionalContext`) without an `Id`; and a fixed `Id` shared across records for a one-at-a-time warning that is recalled before re-send (directly or through `SendNotification`, as in `Sales Line`'s blocked-item notification) are valid; do not flag them.
- A page action opens a record of `Sales Header`, `Purchase Header`, their archives, or another table that codeunit `"Page Management"` routes (directly or after a `Get`) by switching on its `Document Type` or a similar type field and calling `Page.Run(Page::...)` per branch — `list-page-document-routing-uses-page-management`. Severity `minor`. Opening one known document type directly, a list with a fixed `CardPageID`, and a table that `"Page Management"` does not route (for example `Assembly Header`) are not this pattern.

Once the candidate worklist is known, resolve layer-precedence conflicts per READ and record suppressions.

When the post-conflict worklist is empty because no applicable UI knowledge exists, or because configuration suppressed every candidate, emit `outcome: "no-knowledge"`. When the worklist is empty because no applicable UI knowledge matched the page 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. UI text findings are generally `minor` — they affect localization and polish rather than correctness. Accessibility findings for missing labels, broken grid semantics, semantic color without text meaning, or UI-rendering control add-in changes can be `major`; use `minor` for low-risk manual-review reminders and polish issues.

For packaged-resource requests, flag `$.get` or AJAX/XHR that omits `withCredentials` only when the URL is identifiable as a resource in the control add-in package; do not generalize the rule to external endpoints. For `InvokeExtensibilityMethod`, flag repeated or timer-driven calls that can overlap because they do not wait for the success/error callbacks, and unbounded serialized payloads sent in one call. Prefer bounded chunks serialized through completion callbacks. Do not emit generic browser or JavaScript performance advice.

Set `confidence` to:

- `high` when the detection is based on an unambiguous pattern match (banned term literal, missing "Specifies" opener on a field tooltip, caption exceeding documented limit).
- `medium` when detection relies on heuristics (judging whether a caption is a noun phrase or a sentence phrase) or when any frontmatter dimension was `unknown`.
- `low` when the finding is an advisory derived only from applicability.

This leaf emits only knowledge-backed UI and accessibility findings. Do NOT emit reference-less `agent:` findings in this domain: online evaluation shows the UI/accessibility agent-finding channel yields almost no accepted findings and a high volume of dismissed noise, so a UI or accessibility concern that no worklist knowledge file covers is omitted here rather than emitted with `references: []`. When you spot a material UI or accessibility defect no article covers, the durable fix is to add a knowledge article in BCQuality (per the online-eval self-improvement loop) so this leaf can cite it — not a one-off reference-less finding. Before treating a candidate as uncovered, check the worklist for a knowledge file that matches it; if one exists, emit it as a knowledge-backed finding. 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: delete unreachable lines; replace `Count() > 0` with `not IsEmpty()`; add a missing `ToolTip`, `OptionCaption`, or `DataClassification`; replace a string-concatenated `Error` with a Label-backed call; change an over-broad permission token; or add an obvious `else`/guard branch). 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 UI knowledge survived filtering.
- `not-applicable` — the diff contains no page, pageextension, pagecustomization, notification send/recall, or control add-in implementation files.
- `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 `"Accessibility"`. A populated example:

```json
{
  "skill": { "id": "al-ui-review", "version": 1 },
  "outcome": "completed",
  "summary": {
    "counts": { "blocker": 0, "major": 0, "minor": 1, "info": 0 },
    "coverage": { "worklist-size": 1, "items-evaluated": 1 }
  },
  "findings": [
    {
      "id": "microsoft/knowledge/ui/show-caption-on-editable-fields.md",
      "severity": "minor",
      "message": "An editable page field sets ShowCaption = false, removing the visible and accessible label. Leave ShowCaption enabled or use a documented exception pattern.",
      "location": {
        "file": "src/Sales/CustomerCard.Page.al",
        "line": 58
      },
      "references": [
        { "path": "microsoft/knowledge/ui/show-caption-on-editable-fields.md" }
      ],
      "confidence": "high",
      "domain": "Accessibility"
    }
  ],
  "suppressed": []
}
```