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- Resolve conflicts in al-data-modeling-review.md by keeping both sides' additions (folder-path support, InitRecord/Round cues from upstream; the 9 document-distribution/pricing/barcode cues from this branch). - Switch the data-modeling evaluation override from an ad-hoc additionalArticles field to upstream's now-established articles[] convention (used elsewhere for finance/scm/query/reporting/style), removing the redundant parallel code path from Test-ReviewFixtures.ps1. - Fix all 9 new articles' sample references to the markdown-link READ convention required by Knowledge-Retrieval.ps1's Assert-SampleLink (plain backticks satisfy validate_frontmatter.py's regex alone but not this stricter check - both validators must pass). Validators: frontmatter 0/0, review-fixtures 126 cases/20 domains PASSED, knowledge-index 342 articles/575 samples PASSED, skill-index 19 review leaves PASSED. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
96 lines
4.8 KiB
Markdown
96 lines
4.8 KiB
Markdown
---
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bc-version: [all]
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domain: data-modeling
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keywords: [barcode, qr-code, barcode-font-provider, report-layout, saas, idautomation]
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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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# Generate report barcodes through the Barcode module, with the production font name
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## Description
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Business Central's barcode support lives in the System Application's
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`Barcode` module (`src/System Application/App/Barcode`), not in a
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project's own code: `interface "Barcode Font Provider"` /
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`"Barcode Font Provider 2D"`, `enum "Barcode Symbology"` /
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`"Barcode Symbology 2D"` (Code39, Code128, EAN-13, QR-Code, Data Matrix,
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and more), and built-in implementations
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(`codeunit 9215 "IDAutomation 1D Provider"`,
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`codeunit 9221 "IDAutomation 2D Provider"`). A report encodes a data
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string into a barcode string via this API; the layout then displays that
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string using a barcode *font*.
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On Business Central online, this is available with no setup at all:
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"With Business Central online, the IDAutomation fonts are automatically
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available as part of the service. So you can start adding barcodes to
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reports right away." (Microsoft Learn, "Adding Barcodes to Reports") —
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unlike on-premises, where the fonts must be purchased and installed on
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the server.
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That ease hides a SaaS-specific trap in the one manual step the API
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doesn't cover: naming the actual font in the report layout. IDAutomation
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ships both a purchased font and a same-looking evaluation font per
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version (Code 39: `IDAutomationHC39M` purchased vs.
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`IDAutomationSHC39M Demo` evaluation). Per Microsoft Learn ("Barcode
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Fonts with Business Central Online"): "When you're applying barcode font
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in the report layout for a Business Central online production
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environment, be sure to use the purchased font name; not the evaluation
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font name. If you use the evaluation font name, the barcode won't
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render." Getting the font name wrong doesn't distort the barcode — it
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produces nothing, in a step that lives in the layout file, not in AL, so
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no compiler or reviewer catches it by reading the report object. Nothing
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in the cited documentation says what an evaluation font name does outside
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a production environment — the claim here is scoped exactly as
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Microsoft states it: wrong in production, full stop.
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## Best Practice
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Encode through the real API — declare the provider via its interface and
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enum, then call `ValidateInput`/`EncodeFont` — and treat naming the
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production font in the layout as an equally required part of the same
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task, not an afterthought left to whoever happens to touch the `.docx`/
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`.rdl` file. For a two-dimensional symbology other than Maxicode, the
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font name to specify is literally `IDAutomation2D` (Maxicode itself uses
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`IDAutomation2D MaxiCode`); for a one-dimensional symbology, use the
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purchased version name for that specific font (e.g. `IDAutomationHC39M`
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for Code 39), never a name containing `Demo`.
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See sample: [`report-barcodes-must-use-barcode-module-and-production-font-name.good.al`](report-barcodes-must-use-barcode-module-and-production-font-name.good.al).
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## Anti Pattern
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Constructing a barcode string by hand — string concatenation, manual
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delimiters — instead of going through the Barcode module's provider
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interface. It can look right (asterisks around a value, resembling
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Code 39) while carrying none of the platform's actual character-set
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handling or checksum logic, so it's wrong regardless of which font is
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later applied to it.
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A second version of the same underlying mistake: encoding correctly
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through the real API, but naming the evaluation font instead of the
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purchased one in the layout. Both produce a report that looks complete
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in review and testing and fails silently — the first because the encoded
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data was never a real barcode, the second because Business Central
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online refuses to render it at all.
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See sample: [`report-barcodes-must-use-barcode-module-and-production-font-name.bad.al`](report-barcodes-must-use-barcode-module-and-production-font-name.bad.al).
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## Source
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BCApps System Application (`src/System Application/App/Barcode/src/`):
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`Barcode Provider/Font/BarcodeFontProvider.Interface.al`
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(`ValidateInput(InputText: Text; BarcodeSymbology: Enum "Barcode Symbology")`,
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`EncodeFont(InputText: Text; BarcodeSymbology: Enum "Barcode Symbology"): Text`),
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`Barcode Provider/Font/BarcodeFontProvider.Enum.al`
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(`value(0; IDAutomation1D)`), `Barcode Provider/BarcodeSymbology.Enum.al`
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(`value(100; Code39)`). Real BaseApp usage:
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`src/Layers/W1/BaseApp/Inventory/Item/ItemGTINLabel.Report.al`
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(`report 6625 "Item GTIN Label"`, lines 44-64).
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Microsoft Learn: "Adding Barcodes to Reports"
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(https://learn.microsoft.com/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/developer/devenv-report-add-barcodes)
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and "Barcode Fonts with Business Central Online"
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(https://learn.microsoft.com/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/developer/devenv-report-barcode-fonts)
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— both quoted verbatim above.
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