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Lead with a complete plugin quick start and add task-oriented usage, troubleshooting, customization, and contribution guides. Preserve the broader plugin framing, correct conflicting contract guidance, support Agents folder reviews, and align repository validation. Convert existing sample references to clickable links without changing knowledge rules. Co-authored-by: Copilot App <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
26 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
26 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
---
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bc-version: [all]
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domain: breaking-changes
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keywords: [access-modifier, internal, local, public, protected, scope, encapsulation]
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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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# Choose access modifiers deliberately
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## Description
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Access is a decision about what you are willing to support forever. The moment a procedure or object is reachable from another extension — no `local`, or a removed `[Scope('OnPrem')]` — it becomes a contract: callers bind to it, and changing or removing it later is a breaking change. The safe default is the narrowest access that works. Use `local` for implementation detail confined to one object, `internal` for code shared within the app but not exposed to consumers, and `protected var` for state intended as an inheritance point for extension objects. Reserve `public` for the deliberate, supported entry points you intend to maintain as a stable API. LLMs tend to make everything public "to be safe," which inverts the rule and turns every helper into an accidental contract.
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## Best Practice
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Start everything `local` or `internal` and promote a member to `public` only when you have decided to support it as a stable contract. Expose a small, intentional surface — the supported entry point — and keep validation, posting, and helper routines `internal` for in-app reuse or `local` when single-object. Do not drop `[Scope('OnPrem')]` without intent, since that too widens the contract. Every public member is a maintenance commitment; spend them deliberately.
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See sample: [`choose-access-modifiers-deliberately.good.al`](choose-access-modifiers-deliberately.good.al).
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## Anti Pattern
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Declaring every procedure `public` by default, so internal helpers like `ValidateOrder` and `PostOrder` become a de-facto API that consumers bind to and that can no longer be changed freely. Detection: an object where implementation-detail procedures carry no access modifier or are `public` without a reason to support them externally. Default them to `internal`/`local` and make only the intended entry point public.
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See sample: [`choose-access-modifiers-deliberately.bad.al`](choose-access-modifiers-deliberately.bad.al).
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