bcquality/microsoft/knowledge/events/name-event-parameters-without-abbreviations.md

bc-version	domain	keywords	technologies	countries	application-area
all	events	parameter-naming readability conventions event-parameters no-abbreviations integration-event clarity	al	w1	all

Name event parameters without abbreviations

Description

Event parameter names are part of the public contract a subscriber codes against, so they must be self-explanatory. Record parameters take the full table name with the spaces removed — SalesHeader for "Sales Header", not SalesHdr or SH. Simple parameters get a descriptive, spelled-out name — DocumentNo, not DocNo; Amount, not Amt. Abbreviated names force every subscriber author to guess intent and tend to be inconsistent across a codebase, where the same concept appears under several contractions. The cost of a clear name is paid once at the publisher; the cost of a cryptic one is paid by every subscriber that has to decode it.

Best Practice

Use full, unabbreviated names: (SalesHeader: Record "Sales Header"; DocumentNo: Code[20]; Amount: Decimal). Record parameters mirror the table name without spaces, and value parameters read as whole words so the contract is unambiguous.

See sample: name-event-parameters-without-abbreviations.good.al.

Anti Pattern

Abbreviated parameter names (SalesHdr, DocNo, Amt) that obscure meaning and vary across publishers, so subscribers must guess what each one holds. Detection: event parameters whose names are truncated forms of the table name or contracted words rather than the full term.

See sample: name-event-parameters-without-abbreviations.bad.al.