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Best practices for AL

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This page defines some of the best practices to follow when writing AL code for Dynamics 365 Business Central. These best practices are additive to rules and guidelines that are caught during compilation of AL code. We recommend following these best practices when developing extensions in AL to ensure consistency and discoverability on file, object, and method naming, as well as better readability of written code.

Tip

Check out the great work that is going on at https://alguidelines.dev/. New design patterns and best practices are being established, so join the discussions, and contribute through GitHub.

Extension structure

An extension is fully contained in a single folder. This folder often contains multiple files, such as app.json and launch.json files, perhaps an image file representing the extension's logo, various folders for source; "\src", other resources; "\res", and a test folder; "\test" folder. The extension doesn't need to follow a flat structure, which means that, depending on the number of application files, extra folders can be used in the "src" or "test" folders to group objects based on their functionality, which can help make maintaining a large .al project easier.

File naming

Each file name has object names with only characters [A-Za-z0-9], object type, and dot al, for file type. In your extension, the name of each new application object (table, page, codeunit), can contain a prefix or suffix.

The CodeCop analyzer suggests that the object name is part of the file name, which is encouraged as a best practice. Adding any affixes to the file names is voluntary.

Note

If you are submitting an app to AppSource, you must follow the guidance in the Technical Validation Checklist.

File naming notation

Follow the syntax for file naming as shown in the table:

Full objects Extensions
<ObjectNameSuffix>.<FullTypeName>.al <ObjectNameSuffix>.<FullTypeName>Ext.al
<PrefixObjectName>.<FullTypeName>.al <PrefixObjectName>.<FullTypeName>Ext.al
<ObjectNameExcludingAffix>.<FullTypeName>.al <ObjectNameExcludingAffix>.<FullTypeName>Ext.al

Type map

Use the listed abbreviations for each type of object in the file naming:

Object Abbreviation
Page Page
Page Extension PageExt
Page Customization PageCust
Codeunit Codeunit
Table Table
Table Extension TableExt
XML Port Xmlport
Report Report
Request Page RequestPage
Query Query
Enum Enum
Enum Extension EnumExt
Control Add-ins ControlAddin
Dotnet Dotnet
Profile Profile
Interface Interface
Permission Set PermissionSet
Permission Set Extension PermissionSetExt

File naming examples

For the listed objects in the table, these examples show how to name the files.

Object name File name
codeunit 70000000 MyPrefixSalesperson MyPrefixSalesperson.Codeunit.al
page 70000000 MyPrefixSalesperson MyPrefixSalesperson.Page.al
pageextension 70000000 MyPrefixSalesperson extends "Customer Card" MyPrefixSalesperson.PageExt.al

Examples of object naming

Table

table 70000000 MyPrefixSalesperson

Page

page 70000000 MyPrefixSalesperson

Action

actions
{
    addafter(ApprovalEntries)
    {
        action(MyPrefixVacation)

Codeunit

codeunit 70000000 MyPrefixSalesperson

Formatting

We recommend keeping your AL code properly formatted as follows:

  • Use all lowercase letters for reserved language keywords. Built-in methods and types aren't included in this rule because they're written using Pascal case.
  • Use four spaces for indentation.
  • Curly brackets are always on a new line. If there's one property, put it on a single line.

The following example illustrates these formatting rules.

page 123 PageName
{
    actions
    {
        area(Processing)
        {
            action(ActionName)
            {
                trigger OnAction()
                begin
                end;
            }
        }
    }

    var
        TempCustomer: Record Customer temporary;

    [EventSubscriber(ObjectType::Page, Page::"Item Card", 'OnAfterGetCurrRecordEvent', '', false, false)]
    local procedure OnOpenItemCard(var rec: Record Item)
    var
        OnRecord: Option " ", Item, Contact;
    begin
        EnablePictureAnalyzerNotification(rec."No.", OnRecord::Item);
    end;
}

The AL Language extension for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central offers users the option to automatically format their source code. For more information on how to use it, see AL Formatter.

Line length

In general, there's no restriction on line length, but lengthy lines can make the code unreadable. We recommend that you keep your code easily scannable and readable.

Object naming

Object names are prefixed. They start with the feature/group name, followed by the logical name as in these two examples:

  • Intrastat extension validation codeunit for Denmark
  • codeunit 123 "IntrastatDK Validation"

Note

The "MS - " prefix is not required.

File structure

Inside an .al code file, the structure for all objects must follow the sequence:

  1. Properties
  2. Object-specific constructs such as
    • Table fields
    • Page layout
    • Actions
    • Triggers
  3. Global variables
    • Labels
    • Global variables
  4. Methods

Referencing

In AL, objects are referenced by their object name, not by their ID.

Example

Page.RunModal(Page::"Customer Card", ...)
 
var
    Customer: Record Customer;

Variable and field naming

For variables they must:

  • Be named using PascalCase
  • Have the Temp prefix if they're temporary variables
  • Include the object name in the name (for objects)

Furthermore:

  • Field and variable names shouldn't include wildcard symbols, such as % and &. This might break features such as export using Excel or RapidStart.
  • Name fields using aA-zZ and 0-9 and use Caption and xliff files to display the field appropriately. For more information, see Working with Translation Files.
  • Using English as the language for naming improves the ability to troubleshoot issues that may arise.

Example

TempCustomer: Record Customer temporary;
Vendor: Record Vendor;

Method declaration

To declare a method, follow these guidelines:

  • Include a space after a semicolon when declaring multiple arguments.
  • Semicolons can be used at the end of the signature/method header. If you use a snippet, the semicolons aren't automatically added.
  • Methods are named as variables using Pascal case. However, this isn't a mandatory rule.
  • There must be a blank line between method declarations. If you format your code using the AL Formatter tool, the autoformatter sets the blank line between procedures.

Example

local procedure MyProcedure(Customer: Record Customer; Int: Integer)
begin
end;

// space

local procedure MyProcedure2(Customer: Record Customer; Int: Integer)
begin
end;

Calling methods

When calling a method, include one space after each command if you're passing multiple parameters. Parentheses must be specified when you're making a method call or system call such as: Init(), Modify(), Insert() etc.

Example

MyProcedure();
MyProcedure(1);
MyProcedure(1, 2);

Type definition (colon)

When you declare a variable or a parameter, the name of that variable or parameter must be immediately followed by a colon, then a single space, and then the type of the variable/parameter as illustrated in the example.

var
    Number: Integer;

local procedure MyProcedure(a: Integer; b: Integer): Integer

Checklist for submitting your app
Rules and guidelines for AL code
Using the code analysis tool