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1392521a8e
- commit-shared-test-fixture-inside-lazy-initialize.md: fundamentally
rewritten. AutoCommit is the documented default TransactionModel, not
AutoRollback. Explains the real mechanism (Commit() protects a fixture
from the test method's own later deliberate rollback, per Codeunit.Run/
TransactionModel-property semantics) and the TestIsolation dependency
(Disabled/Codeunit survive across methods, Function does not). Fixtures
rewritten to demonstrate the actual failure/success shape.
- transactionmodel-attribute-governs-test-transactions.md: now states the
AutoCommit default explicitly and agrees with the article above, closing
the contradiction Jesper flagged between the two testing articles.
- Deleted confirm-needs-strsubstno-before-confirmhandler-sees-substituted-text
(.md/.good.al/.bad.al): the underlying platform bug (microsoft/
ALAppExtensions#23935) was closed as completed in Feb 2024; cannot be
reproduced or bc-version-pinned on any currently supported version.
- table-relation-test-exclude-known-invalid-relations-via-event.md: added
the [Scope('OnPrem')] boundary verified against BCApps' Table Relation
Test codeunit.
- use-assert-isfalse-not-asserterror-for-boolean-checks.md: added a Scope
section resolving the overlap with asserterror-needs-expectederror-and-code.
- al-testing-review.md: fixed the shared-fixture cue to catch the actual
anti-pattern instead of the compliant shape, added the missing cue for
use-assert-isfalse-not-asserterror-for-boolean-checks, wired precedence
between it and the generic asserterror rule, and removed the cue for the
deleted article.
- Added in-file Source provenance (specific fluxxus.nl post per article,
with what was independently verified vs. taken from the post) to the
three surviving externally-inspired articles, per Jesper's request that
provenance live in the knowledge file itself, not only the PR description.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
30 lines
4.6 KiB
Markdown
30 lines
4.6 KiB
Markdown
---
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bc-version: [all]
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domain: testing
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keywords: [transactionmodel, attribute, test, autorollback, autocommit, testisolation]
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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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# Match TransactionModel to the commit behavior of the code under test
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## Description
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`[TransactionModel(...)]` declares how a test method interacts with the database's write transaction. The attribute applies only to methods inside a codeunit with `SubType = Test` and takes one of three values: `AutoRollback`, `AutoCommit`, or `None`. **`AutoCommit` is the documented default** — a test method with no `[TransactionModel(...)]` attribute at all runs under `AutoCommit`, not `AutoRollback` and not `None` (Microsoft's TransactionModel property reference states this explicitly: "AutoCommit is the default value"). The "a call to `Commit` produces a runtime error" behavior is specific to the *explicitly declared* `AutoRollback` attribute. BCApps' own canonical pattern for a lazily-initialized shared fixture (see `codeunit 134915 "ERM Online Mapping Setup"`) declares no `TransactionModel` attribute at all — so it runs under the `AutoCommit` default — calls `Commit()` inside its `Initialize()` helper, and cleans up manually with a deliberate `asserterror Error(...)` at the end rather than relying on automatic rollback; this is a legitimate, common pattern, not a bug. Per the same reference, under `AutoCommit` an error, even one caught by `asserterror`, still rolls back the transaction — but "only to the point at which `Commit` was called" if the code being tested committed first. When a test method *does* declare `AutoRollback` explicitly, the choice must match the code being exercised: per the platform reference, "if the code that you test includes calls to the COMMIT Method, then set the TransactionModel property on the test method to AutoCommit." Applying `AutoRollback` to a test that drives code which calls `Commit` produces a runtime error on the first Commit, not a meaningful assertion failure.
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## Best Practice
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Leave `[TransactionModel(...)]` undeclared to get the `AutoCommit` default when the codeunit's own tests rely on that default's behavior — for example a lazily-initialized shared fixture that commits once and cleans up its own scratch changes with a manual `asserterror`-based rollback (see `commit-shared-test-fixture-inside-lazy-initialize.md`); do not treat that absence as equivalent to declaring `AutoRollback`. When declaring `[TransactionModel(...)]` explicitly instead, pick `AutoRollback` for a test whose own logic and the code it exercises make no `Commit` call, `AutoCommit` when the code under test genuinely calls `Commit` — posting routines, job-queue handlers, integration flows — and make the test exercise that commit path, and `None` for a read-only test or one that drives UI code without writing from the test method itself. Pair an intentional, suite-wide reliance on `AutoCommit` with a `TestIsolation`-enabled test runner so committed changes are reverted at a higher scope.
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See sample: [`transactionmodel-attribute-governs-test-transactions.good.al`](transactionmodel-attribute-governs-test-transactions.good.al).
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## Anti Pattern
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Declaring `[TransactionModel(AutoRollback)]` explicitly on a test method without checking whether the tested business logic calls `Commit`. The test throws at the first Commit, leaving no verdict on the behavior it intended to verify; in a CI run this looks like a flake or a setup bug, not a specification mismatch. The mirror-image anti-pattern is defaulting to `AutoCommit` across the suite "to avoid the error" — without a `TestIsolation` runner this permanently dirties the test database between runs and produces order-dependent test outcomes. Flagging a `Commit()` call in a test method that declares no `TransactionModel` attribute at all is not this anti-pattern — that shape does not error, and is BCApps' own documented pattern for shared lazy fixtures.
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See sample: [`transactionmodel-attribute-governs-test-transactions.bad.al`](transactionmodel-attribute-governs-test-transactions.bad.al).
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## Source
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The `AutoCommit`-is-default claim and the exact rollback-to-last-`Commit` mechanics are quoted from Microsoft's TransactionModel Property reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/dynamicsnav-2018-developer/TransactionModel-Property. The current AL [TransactionModel attribute](https://learn.microsoft.com/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/developer/attributes/devenv-transactionmodel-attribute) page describes the same three values but never states a default; this older property reference is the citable source for that fact.
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