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Second contribution from CURABIS ApS, generalized from patterns observed across real AppSource/PTE development. Cross-checked against the current microsoft/knowledge corpus before opening; several originally-drafted candidates were dropped as duplicates of existing files.
40 lines
1.5 KiB
Markdown
40 lines
1.5 KiB
Markdown
---
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bc-version: [all]
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domain: data-modeling
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keywords: [workdate, session-setting, user-control, side-effect]
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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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# Application code must not change the WorkDate
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## Description
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The work date is a per-user session setting the user controls from the
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client (the date shown in the top-right corner, used to default posting
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dates and date filters). Application code must never call the `WorkDate`
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function to set a new value. Doing so changes what the user sees and
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defaults to for the rest of their session, as a side effect of running
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unrelated business logic — a surprising, hard-to-trace behavior change the
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user never asked for and has no visibility into.
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This is a call-direction distinction: reading the current work date via
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`WorkDate` (or `WorkDate()` with no argument) is fine and common — it is
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only the assignment form, `WorkDate(NewDate)`, that is the anti-pattern.
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## Best Practice
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Read the work date to default a value; never write to it.
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See sample: `code-must-not-change-workdate.good.al`.
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## Anti Pattern
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Setting the work date from within a codeunit, report, or page action
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changes session state the user owns, for the duration of a call that has
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nothing to do with the user's date preference. If a scenario genuinely
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needs a specific date for a calculation, pass or compute that date as a
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local variable — never repurpose the session's `WorkDate`.
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See sample: `code-must-not-change-workdate.bad.al`.
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