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- tablerelation: fields with ValidateTableRelation/TestTableRelation = false are skipped by codeunit 134926 and may be longer (filter/totaling fields); shorter is still a finding. Add Code/Text type rule, BaseApp evidence, a ValidateTableRelation = false filter field to the good fixture, and the carve-out to the data-modeling cue. - recordref: add FindLast/Next, relabel SplitLocalTableFilter as filter splitting, mark fixtures as test-library-style helpers. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
45 lines
4.4 KiB
Markdown
45 lines
4.4 KiB
Markdown
---
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bc-version: [all]
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domain: testing
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keywords: [recordref, open, temporary, isempty, existence-check, uniqueness]
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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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# RecordRef.Open with Temp = true cannot check the real table
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## Description
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`RecordRef.Open(No: Integer [, Temp: Boolean] [, CompanyName: Text])` always takes a real table number. When `Temp` is `true`, though, the `RecordRef` refers to a temporary instance of that table. That instance starts empty and never contains the persisted rows. Microsoft Learn's example opens table 27 temporarily and notes that `Find('-')` "returns false" because "there are no records in a temporary table". So `IsEmpty`, `Find*`, `Next`, `Get` or `Count` on a temp-opened `RecordRef` only sees rows the same code inserted into it. These calls can't answer "does this value already exist in the table?"
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The defect is easy to miss at the call site. `Temp` is a positional, unnamed Boolean, the table number is genuine, and the code compiles without a diagnostic. The usual shape is a generate-until-unused loop: the code sets a range on a field and repeats `until RecRef.IsEmpty()`. That loop exits on its first pass and returns a value that may already exist. The defect then shows up later as a duplicate-key error or a wrong lookup, often only once the table holds data.
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The shape occurs wherever `RecordRef` is used. This article sits in the testing domain because generic test-library helpers, which work on any table number, are where it typically appears. For how specific `LibraryUtility` helpers behave, including `GenerateRandomCode`'s temporary open, see [`use-generateguid-for-unique-test-fixture-values.md`](use-generateguid-for-unique-test-fixture-values.md). That article owns guidance on which helper to call.
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## Best Practice
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When the code that follows has to see persisted rows, open with `Temp = false` or omit the parameter. Learn's first example omits it so the table "will not be open as temporary table".
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`Temp = true` is correct when the `RecordRef` is deliberately a scratch instance that never answers existence questions about the real table, for example:
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- A field-validation sandbox: insert a temporary row, then `Validate` a field on it.
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- Parsing a table view with `SetView` and reading `GetFilter`.
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- Reading table metadata such as `SystemIdNo`.
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See sample: [`recordref-open-temp-parameter-defeats-real-table-checks.good.al`](recordref-open-temp-parameter-defeats-real-table-checks.good.al).
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## Anti Pattern
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`RecRef.Open(<table>, true[, ...])` followed, on the same `RecordRef` and with no `Insert` into it, by `IsEmpty`, `Find`, `FindFirst`, `FindLast`, `FindSet`, `Next`, `Get` or `Count` whose result decides whether a value already exists in the table. The classic case is a uniqueness loop ending `until RecRef.IsEmpty()`.
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See sample: [`recordref-open-temp-parameter-defeats-real-table-checks.bad.al`](recordref-open-temp-parameter-defeats-real-table-checks.bad.al).
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## Source
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- [RecordRef.Open method](https://learn.microsoft.com/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/developer/methods-auto/recordref/recordref-open-method): the syntax, Example 1 (parameters omitted, not temporary) and Example 2 (temporary open is empty, `Find('-')` returns false).
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- BCApps [`src/Layers/W1/Tests/ApplicationTestLibrary/LibraryUtility.Codeunit.al`](https://github.com/microsoft/BCApps/blob/main/src/Layers/W1/Tests/ApplicationTestLibrary/LibraryUtility.Codeunit.al): `GenerateRandomCode` opens with `true` at line 288 and loops `until RecRef.IsEmpty()`. `GenerateRandomCodeWithLength` opens with `false` at line 309.
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- Legitimate `Temp = true` uses in BCApps W1:
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- [`src/Layers/W1/BaseApp/Inventory/Item/ItemTempl.Table.al`](https://github.com/microsoft/BCApps/blob/main/src/Layers/W1/BaseApp/Inventory/Item/ItemTempl.Table.al) line 1255: temporary `Item` insert plus `Validate`.
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- [`src/Apps/W1/Quality Management/app/src/Utilities/QltyFilterHelpers.Codeunit.al`](https://github.com/microsoft/BCApps/blob/main/src/Apps/W1/Quality%20Management/app/src/Utilities/QltyFilterHelpers.Codeunit.al) line 942: `SetView` plus `GetFilter`.
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- [`src/Layers/W1/BaseApp/Integration/SynchEngine/IntegrationRecordSynch.Codeunit.al`](https://github.com/microsoft/BCApps/blob/main/src/Layers/W1/BaseApp/Integration/SynchEngine/IntegrationRecordSynch.Codeunit.al) line 221: `SplitLocalTableFilter` splits a table filter, reading only `SystemIdNo` from the temporary open.
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