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bcquality/microsoft/knowledge/error-handling/prefer-errorinfo-for-actionable-errors.md
Copilot 8901b83e07 Add error-handling knowledge domain and review leaf skill 
Seed the first new AL knowledge domain toward issue #34: a fully wired
error-handling domain that the review pipeline actually consumes.

- 3 knowledge articles (+ good/bad AL samples):
  - prefer-errorinfo-for-actionable-errors (ErrorInfo Fix-it/Show-it actions)
  - collect-validation-errors-with-errorbehavior (ErrorBehavior::Collect)
  - errortype-internal-vs-client-for-diagnostics (ErrorType Internal vs Client)
- New leaf skill al-error-handling-review.md, modeled on al-performance-review
- Wire the leaf into al-code-review (sub-skills, Source, description)
- README: six -> seven leaf skills

Validated: frontmatter validator clean; knowledge-index check passes
(deterministic, full coverage, selection inputs intact).

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
2026-06-23 10:35:24 +02:00

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bc-version domain keywords technologies countries application-area
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actionable-errors
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show-it
addaction
addnavigationaction
error-dialog
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Prefer ErrorInfo with recommended actions over a plain Error for recoverable failures

Description

A plain Error('text') ends the operation with a dead-end dialog: the user reads the message but the system offers no way forward. The ErrorInfo data type, combined with the actionable-errors framework added in 2023 release wave 2, lets an error carry a recommended action the user can take to unblock themselves without leaving their task. Two kinds exist: a Fix-it action (AddAction), used when the code already knows the correct value and can apply it in one step, and a Show-it action (AddNavigationAction together with PageNo), used when the correction lives on a related record the user should be taken to. An error dialog renders at most two recommended actions. LLMs trained on older AL almost always emit a bare Error(...) and rarely reach for ErrorInfo, so this guidance is remedial.

Best Practice

Build an ErrorInfo, set Title, Message, and DetailedMessage, then attach the action that matches the situation. For a Fix-it, call AddAction(Caption, Codeunit::Handler, 'MethodName') where the handler method (which receives the ErrorInfo) applies the known-good value; phrase the caption as "Set value to …". For a Show-it, set PageNo := Page::"…", set RecordId so navigation opens the right record, and call AddNavigationAction('Show …'). Raise it with Error(ErrorInfo). Reserve recommended actions for cases where the solution is genuinely known and the user has permission to apply it.

See sample: prefer-errorinfo-for-actionable-errors.good.al.

Anti Pattern

Surfacing a recoverable validation failure with Error('You cannot invoice more than %1 units.', MaxQty) and nothing else. The user is blocked with no offered remedy even though the code knows the maximum and could set it. The detection signal: an Error call in a validation or posting path whose message names a specific correct value or a specific related page, with no surrounding ErrorInfo, AddAction, or AddNavigationAction. Replace it with an ErrorInfo that carries the corresponding Fix-it or Show-it action.

See sample: prefer-errorinfo-for-actionable-errors.bad.al.