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* Clarify locale-safe DateFormula Evaluate inputs Co-authored-by: Copilot App <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> * Normalize DateFormula article sections Keep the analyzer-gap explanation in Description and its scoped probe evidence in References, without a novel Validation section. Normative guidance and fixtures are unchanged. Co-authored-by: Copilot App <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> --------- Co-authored-by: Jesper Schulz-Wedde <jesper.schulzwedde@microsoft.com> Co-authored-by: Copilot App <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
38 lines
3.4 KiB
Markdown
38 lines
3.4 KiB
Markdown
---
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bc-version: [all]
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domain: style
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keywords: [dateformula, evaluate, calcdate, date-expression, language-independent, multilanguage, global-language]
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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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# Parse DateFormula constants with language-independent input
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## Description
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A `DateFormula` stores a formula in a language-independent representation, but `Evaluate` must first interpret its text input. Declaring the destination as `DateFormula` does not make an English literal such as `1W` independent of the session language: French uses `S` for weeks. Passing the resulting typed variable to `CalcDate` satisfies that call's CodeCop AA0462 argument requirement, but cannot repair a parsing failure that already happened in `Evaluate`.
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## Best Practice
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For an application-defined formula in a normal two-argument `Evaluate` call, use the generic units inside angle brackets, such as `<1W>`. Apply this at the text-to-`DateFormula` boundary, including a visible constant passed through a helper. A label's `Locked = true` prevents translation of its text; it does not make unbracketed English units language independent.
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Preserve genuinely localized input: text entered by the user, or already formatted for the same session language, should be parsed in that language. Do not blindly wrap that text in angle brackets. Already invariant `<...>` literals, explicit import-format conversions, a typed formula passed to `CalcDate`, and `Format(Interval) = ''` checks are not findings without an unsafe constant at the parsing boundary.
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See sample: [`dateformula-evaluate-needs-language-independent-literals.good.al`](dateformula-evaluate-needs-language-independent-literals.good.al).
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## Anti Pattern
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A hard-coded, language-fixed formula such as `1W` flows into a normal two-argument `Evaluate` whose destination is known to be `DateFormula`, and the application expects that default to work across session languages. Require the destination type and constant provenance; an arbitrary `Evaluate` call or dynamic text parameter is not enough. The resulting code can compile and work in English while failing when the same default is first needed in another language.
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Do not report direct `CalcDate` text arguments under this article: CodeCop AA0462 already owns the requirement for a typed formula or angle-bracketed text there. Its typed-argument check does not establish that an earlier `Evaluate` parsed language-independent input.
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See sample: [`dateformula-evaluate-needs-language-independent-literals.bad.al`](dateformula-evaluate-needs-language-independent-literals.bad.al).
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## References
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[DateFormula data type](https://learn.microsoft.com/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/developer/methods-auto/dateformula/dateformula-data-type) and [CalcDate language behavior](https://learn.microsoft.com/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/developer/methods-auto/system/system-calcdate-dateformula-date-method).
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[CodeCop AA0462](https://learn.microsoft.com/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/developer/analyzers/codecop-aa0462) defines the separate direct-`CalcDate` check. In a CodeCop compilation probe against BC28.5 symbols, the direct text control produced AA0462; `Evaluate(Interval, '1W')` followed by typed `CalcDate` did not.
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[BaseApp retention scheduling](https://github.com/microsoft/BCApps/blob/8f7a04cb0db8aa96cb97e055c45c61aead49e280/src/Layers/W1/BaseApp/System/RetentionPolicy/RetentionPolicyScheduler.Codeunit.al#L73-L97) initializes a typed formula with an invariant literal.
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