BusinessCentral.LinterCop

This code analyzer is meant to check your code for all sorts of problems. Be it code that tecnically compiles but will generate errors during runtime or more a kind of guideline check to achieve cleaner code. Some rule even are disabled by default as they may not go along the main coding guidelines but are maybe helpful in certain projects. In general all rule ideas are welcome, even if they should be and maybe will be covered by Microsoft at some point but could be part of the linter in the meantime.

If you are not happy with some rules or only feel like you need one rule of this analyzer, you can always control the rules with a Custom.ruleset.json and disable all rules you dont need.

Please Contribute!

The Linter is not finished yet (and probably never will be :D ) If you have any rule on mind that would be nice to be covered, please start a new discussion! then we can maybe sharpen the rule a bit if necessary. This way we can build value for all of us. If you want to write the rule yourself you can of course also submit a pull request ;)

How to use

Manual Compile

1. Download the BusinessCentral.LinterCop.dll and place it into your AL Extension folder. For Example %userprofile%\.vscode\extensions\ms-dynamics-smb.al-7.4.502459\bin\
2. Run the AL Compiler . %userprofile%\.vscode\extensions\ms-dynamics-smb.al-7.4.502459\bin\alc.exe /project:"<PathToYourAlProject>" /packagecachepath:"<PathToYour.alpackages>" /analyzer:"userprofile%\.vscode\extensions\ms-dynamics-smb.al-7.4.502459\bin\BusinessCentral.LinterCop.dll"

In VS Code

1. Get the BusinessCentral.LinterCop VSCode helper extension from the Visual Studio Marketplace
2. Add "${analyzerfolder}BusinessCentral.LinterCop.dll" to the "al.codeAnalyzers" setting in either user, workspace or folder settings
3. Be aware that folder settings overwrite workspace and workspace overwrite user settings. If you have codecops defined in folder settings, the codecops defined in the user settings won't be applied.

BcContainerHelper

For manual compile you can use the Compile-AppInBcContainer command and pass the path to the BusinessCentral.LinterCop.dll in via the parameter -CustomCodeCops.

If you are using Run-ALPipeline in your build pipelines you can also pass in the BusinessCentral.LinterCop.dll in via the parameter -CustomCodeCops. To have the correct compiler dependecies you should also load the latest compiler from the marketplace. Add -vsixFile (Get-LatestAlLanguageExtensionUrl) to do so.

Be aware though, the BusinessCentral.LinterCop.dll needs to be placed in a folder shared with the container.

Further note that you should have BcContainerHelper version 2.0.16 (or newer) installed.

Tip: You also can let your build pipelines download the latest version of the BusinessCentral.LinterCop.dll via the GitHub API. You can find an example for this in the DownloadFile.ps1 script used by the BusinessCentral.LinterCop VSCode helper extension for automatic updates.

Rules

Id	Title	Default Severity
LC0000	An error ocurred in a given rule. Please create an issue on GitHub	Info
LC0001	FlowFields should not be editable.	Warning
LC0002	Commit() needs a comment to justify its existence. Either a leading or a trailing comment.	Warning
LC0003	Do not use an Object ID for properties or variable declarations.	Warning
LC0004	DrillDownPageId and LookupPageId must be filled in table when table is used in list page.	Warning
LC0005	The casing of variable/method usage must align with the definition.	Warning
LC0006	Fields with property AutoIncrement cannot be used in temporary table (TableType = Temporary).	Error
LC0007	Every table needs to specify a value for the DataPerCompany property. Either true or false.	Disabled
LC0008	Filter operators should not be used in SetRange.	Warning
LC0009	Show info message about code metrics for each function or trigger.	Disabled
LC0010	Show warning about code metrics for each function or trigger if either cyclomatic complexity is 8 or greater or maintainability index 20 or lower.	Warning
LC0011	Every object needs to specify a value for the Access property. Either true or false. Optionally this can also be activated for table fields with the setting enableRule0011ForTableFields.	Disabled
LC0012	Using hardcoded IDs in functions like Codeunit.Run() is not allowed.	Warning
LC0013	Any table with a single field in the PK of type code or text, should have set NotBlank on the PK field.	Warning
LC0014	The Caption of permissionset objects should not exceed the maximum length.	Warning
LC0015	All application objects should be covered by at least one permission set in the extension.	Warning
LC0016	Caption is missing.	Warning
LC0017	Writing to a FlowField is not common. Add a comment to explain this.	Warning

Configuration

Some rules can be configured by adding a file named LinterCop.json in the root of your project. Important: The file will only be read on startup of the linter, meaning if you make any changes you need to reload VS Code once.

For an example and the default values see: LinterCop.json

Can I disable certain rules?

Since the linter integrates with the AL compiler directly, you can use the custom rule sets like you are used to from the other code cops. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/developer/devenv-rule-set-syntax-for-code-analysis-tools

Of course you can also use pragmas for disabling a rule just for a certain place in code. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/developer/directives/devenv-directive-pragma-warning

For an example and the default values see: LinterCop.ruleset.json