bcquality/community/knowledge/security/guard-bulk-operations-with-istemporary.md
Jesper Schulz-Wedde 9a4198eb28 Add [all] sentinel to bc-version; apply to version-agnostic knowledge
Most of the corpus — FindSet/SetLoadFields/CalcFields patterns, permission
sets, SingleInstance codeunits, DataClassification, IsolatedStorage,
transaction scope, SecretText — describes BC platform behaviour that is
identical across supported versions. The seed [26..28] range on every
file implied a version-specificity the content does not actually have,
and there was no way to express "applies to every version" in the
schema the way [w1] and [all] already do for countries and
application-area.

Extend the v1 schema with a universal sentinel for bc-version, parallel
to the sentinels already defined for the other dimensions:

  bc-version: [all]         # applies to every BC version

[all] is mutually exclusive with explicit versions. Range shorthand
([26..28]) and explicit lists ([26, 27, 28]) continue to work for files
genuinely tied to a version-gated API or deprecation.

Update read.md (field definition, matching semantics, partial-context
rule), write.md (default to [all], use ranges only with a concrete
reason), README.md (frontmatter example), and the CI validator. All
forty existing knowledge files and the three action skills convert to
[all]; none of the current content is version-gated. Validator passes.
2026-04-23 16:00:03 +02:00

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Markdown

---
bc-version: [all]
domain: security
keywords: [istemporary, deleteall, modifyall, safeguard, precondition]
technologies: [al]
countries: [w1]
application-area: [all]
---
# Guard bulk operations with IsTemporary
> **Seed article.** Ported from BC Code Intelligence to seed the community corpus. Community contributors are invited to expand or refine.
## Description
An AL helper that accepts a `var Rec: Record X` parameter and performs a bulk operation (`DeleteAll`, `ModifyAll`, or an unfiltered loop that mutates every record) cannot tell from the signature alone whether the caller passed a temporary buffer or the real table. A misuse that passes the real table wipes or rewrites live data at production scale with no earlier warning. A single `IsTemporary` check at the procedure entry turns a silent-corruption risk into an early, actionable failure.
## Best Practice
Any helper designed to operate on a temporary record, and that performs `DeleteAll`, `ModifyAll`, or similar bulk writes on its parameter, should call `Rec.IsTemporary()` at the top and raise a descriptive error when the assumption is violated. The error message should name the parameter so the misuse is easy to locate.
See sample: `guard-bulk-operations-with-istemporary.good.al`.
## Anti Pattern
Trusting documentation or naming conventions alone to signal that a `var Rec` parameter is expected to be temporary. A future refactor or a copy-paste caller can pass the real table; the bulk operation then executes against production rows silently.
See sample: `guard-bulk-operations-with-istemporary.bad.al`.