Validate characters of filter expression on SetFilter

[Arthurvdv]

A colleague of my wrote a SetFilter and expected to use the wildcard sign in the filter expression itself.

Bad code

Vendor.SetFilter("VAT Registration No.", '*%1*', EnterpriseVATNo);

Good code

Vendor.SetFilter("VAT Registration No.", '%1', '*' + EnterpriseVATNo + '*');

The filter expression. A valid expression consists of alphanumeric characters and one or more of the following operators: <, >, , &, |, and =. You can use replacement fields (%1, %2, and so on) to insert values at run-time.

Record.SetFilter(Any, Text [, Any,...]) Method - Business Central | Microsoft Learn

[rvanbekkum]

Why do it that way though?

[jwikman]

That is the behavior I can see... But it is indeed my own conclusions after testing, I have not seen any documentation on this.

[Arthurvdv]

https://github.com/StefanMaron/BusinessCentral.LinterCop/pull/492/files

I've added the check for any placeholder (%1, %2 etc) now to the rule (including a typo threaded vs treated 😳)

Thank you for pointing this out, I wasn't aware of this behavior with an without an placeholder.

[jwikman]

😅

[jwikman]

And immediately this rule helped me to fix a bug that has been in my code for a year or two! 👍

[Arthurvdv]

That's awesome!

[Arthurvdv]

Behavior of selected operators on SetFilter together with a placeholder (%1) · Issue #7631 · microsoft/AL (github.com)

I've created an issue for an follow-up of this to determine if this behavior is an bug or a design choice.