bcquality/custom/knowledge/testing/given-blocks-must-cover-full-precondition-chain.md

bc-version	domain	keywords	technologies	countries	application-area
all	testing	given test-setup posting report request-page precondition dataset completeness	al	w1	all

GIVEN blocks must cover the full precondition chain, not just the primary record

Description

A [GIVEN] block (test-feature-scenario-tags) is only correct if it sets up every precondition the code under test actually reads — not just the one record the scenario is "about." For most master-data tests, creating the primary record is enough. For posting routines and reports, it usually is not, and an incomplete [GIVEN] produces a test that passes for the wrong reason (it never truly exercises the logic being claimed) or fails with an unrelated setup error that has nothing to do with the scenario.

Observed repeatedly across CURABIS AL projects (2026-08): AI-written test cases for posting and report scenarios create the primary document or record but skip the setup records the posting/report logic silently depends on, producing tests that either don't compile against a clean company, or that "pass" without ever reaching the assertion the scenario claims to prove.

Posting Scenarios

A [GIVEN] block feeding a posting routine must account for:

• The posting-relevant setup records the routine reads (e.g. Sales & Receivables Setup, General Ledger Setup, Inventory Setup) — whichever ones the specific posting path touches.
• Number series, or an explicitly assigned document number if number series aren't part of the scenario.
• The full posting-group chain the document requires (e.g. Customer Posting Group + Gen. Business/Product Posting Group + VAT Posting Setup combination) — a missing link here fails with a G/L-account error that has nothing to do with what the test claims to verify.
• Dimension defaults, if the scenario's data flow requires them (see dimension-support-must-follow-dimensionmanagement-wiring-pattern).
• An explicit date (not an implicit reliance on the sandbox's current system date) when the posting path is date-sensitive.

Report Scenarios

A [GIVEN] block feeding a report test must include both a record that should be included by the report's filters/dataset, and a record that should be excluded — otherwise the test cannot distinguish "the filter works" from "the filter does nothing." Also account for:

• Request page parameters the report's OnPreDataItem/OnAfterGetRecord logic branches on — a [GIVEN] that never sets a parameter the report reads is testing the report's default behavior only, not the scenario.
• Any FlowField/calculated data the report's dataset relies on, since those are easy to leave at zero/blank and get a report that "runs" but never touches the logic under test.

Carve-out: smoke tests don't need an excluded record. A test whose own [SCENARIO]/name explicitly claims only "the report runs without error" — not filter correctness — is not violating this rule by setting up a single matching record with no excluded counterpart. The included/excluded pairing requirement applies to tests that claim to verify filtering or dataset logic; it does not retroactively apply to a test that never made that claim. What is required either way: the test's own scope must say which claim it's making — an undocumented single-record [GIVEN] on a report test is ambiguous (is this an incomplete filter test, or a deliberate smoke test?), and that ambiguity is the actual violation, not the missing excluded record by itself.

Review Checklist

1. For a posting test: does [GIVEN] set up every posting group / setup record the routine will read, or only the primary document?
2. For a report test that claims to verify filtering or dataset logic: does [GIVEN] include at least one record that should be filtered out, not only records that should appear? (A test explicitly scoped as a run-without-error smoke test is exempt — see Report Scenarios.)
3. Does [GIVEN] set dates/parameters explicitly wherever the code under test branches on them, rather than relying on sandbox defaults?
4. If posting or report execution fails with a setup-related error unrelated to the scenario's own claim, that is a [GIVEN] gap — fix the precondition, don't work around the error in [WHEN]/[THEN].

Source

Consultant feedback relayed by Michael Dieringer, 2026-08-13: AI-written test cases for posting and report scenarios repeatedly under-specify [GIVEN] conditions, requiring manual correction ("bare spørge den om at huske at tænke over GIVEN condition"). Sharpens test-feature-scenario-tags and test-setup-must-use-library-codeunit, which cover comment structure and setup centralization but not precondition completeness for these two scenario types.