FindRow in "Library - Report Dataset" (131007) yields a different result on BC14 than on BC18

[lvanvugt]

When writing the 2nd edition I ran into this issue and reported it on the BC yammer group as following (on April 23, 2021 at 11:55 AM):

Has there been a change in the implementation of the FindRow method in Library - Report Dataset?
I am asking as I was using the return value to verify if the relative offset between two columns in my dataset was changed. In my book it did that like this:

local procedure VerifyCustomerWithLookupValueOnCustomerListReport(No: Code[20]; LookupValueCode: Code[10])
var
    Row: array[2] of Integer;
begin
    Row[1] := LibraryReportDataset.FindRow('Customer_No_', No);
    Row[2] := LibraryReportDataset.FindRow('Customer_Lookup_Value_Code', LookupValueCode);
    Assert.AreEqual(13, Row[2] - Row[1], 'Delta between columns Customer_No_ and Customer_Lookup_Value_Code')
end;

This worked as a charm. Now that I am working on the second edition and run this code on BC18 Row[1] and Row[2] always get the value 0 assigned, so, the AreEqual errors.

In the last (almost) two years I did not take the time to dive into this only to pick it up again today, writing:

Testing reports hasn't been a focus to me in the recent past, only as part of the training I provide. And the workaround has been to not check the row offsett between tags in the XML formatted dataset. For example (see also test example 8 in chapter 8 of my book):

local procedure VerifyCustomerWithLookupValueOnCustomerListReport(No: Code[20]; LookupValueCode: Code[10])
begin
   LibraryReportDataset.AssertElementWithValueExists('Customer__No__', No);
   LibraryReportDataset.AssertElementWithValueExists('Customer_Lookup_Value_Code', LookupValueCode);
end;

The major flaw in this approach is that I do/can not test the relation between the two tags, i.e. Customer__No__ and Customer_Lookup_Value_Code. They could be in the dataset, but unrelated. So, the workaround is a not very robust approach. I would rather tests like above (the initial code example).

Contrary to my intial statement it appears that Row[1] and Row[2] are found, but have the same value, in my case 66.

• 66, because my test creates a new customer with No. starting with GL (the no. series from MS tests library) and that will be in place 66 of Cronus customers
• so the delta between the two is 0

But on BC14 (just retested it) Row[1] and Row[2] are not the same. In my example Row[1] = 3 and Row[2] = 16, making the delta between the two 13
But on BC18 and beyond (and maybe also on BC15 and higher) row is apparently not the meaning of row in BC14.

• It seems like on BC18 row is the row in the dataset which holds a record context
• Where on BC14 each element (field) has its own row

So, on BC 18 I should not tests on a delta of 13, but a delta of 0 to be sure that am checking two related tags, i.e. two fields of the same record.

[lvanvugt]

The fix on BC18 (and beyond) would be:

local procedure VerifyCustomerWithLookupValueOnCustomerListReport(No: Code[20]; LookupValueCode: Code[10])
var
    Row: array[2] of Integer;
begin
    Row[1] := LibraryReportDataset.FindRow('Customer_No_', No);
    Row[2] := LibraryReportDataset.FindRow('Customer_Lookup_Value_Code', LookupValueCode);
    Assert.AreEqual(0, Row[2] - Row[1], 'Delta between row for columns Customer_No_ and Customer_Lookup_Value_Code')
end;

But to not deviate too much from code release with the book we could make a combination of the release code and the fix:

local procedure VerifyCustomerWithLookupValueOnCustomerListReport(No: Code[20]; LookupValueCode: Code[10])
var
    Row: array[2] of Integer;
begin
    // LibraryReportDataset.AssertElementWithValueExists('Customer__No__', No);
    // LibraryReportDataset.AssertElementWithValueExists('Customer_Lookup_Value_Code', LookupValueCode);

    Row[1] := LibraryReportDataset.FindRow('Customer_No_', No);
    Row[2] := LibraryReportDataset.FindRow('Customer_Lookup_Value_Code', LookupValueCode);
    Assert.AreEqual(0, Row[2] - Row[1], 'Delta between row for columns Customer_No_ and Customer_Lookup_Value_Code')
end;

[lvanvugt]

Additional issue: column naming in report 101 and the copy (50000) of it are not exactly the same. Customer__No__ (101) vs. Customer_No_ (50000)

[lvanvugt]

Build pipelines have been run and completed succesfully.

[lvanvugt]

Henrik Helgesen saw a flaw in the new code:

local procedure VerifyCustomerWithLookupValueOnCustomerListReport(No: Code[20]; LookupValueCode: Code[10])
var
    Row: array[2] of Integer;
begin
    // LibraryReportDataset.AssertElementWithValueExists('Customer__No__', No);
    // LibraryReportDataset.AssertElementWithValueExists('Customer_Lookup_Value_Code', LookupValueCode);

    Row[1] := LibraryReportDataset.FindRow('Customer_No_', No);
    Row[2] := LibraryReportDataset.FindRow('Customer_Lookup_Value_Code', LookupValueCode);
    Assert.AreEqual(0, Row[2] - Row[1], 'Delta between row for columns Customer_No_ and Customer_Lookup_Value_Code')
end;

What if Row[1] and Row[2] are both -1, meaning that the row was not found?

To tackle that the code should be changed to:

local procedure VerifyCustomerWithLookupValueOnCustomerListReport(No: Code[20]; LookupValueCode: Code[10])
var
    Row: array[2] of Integer;
begin
    // LibraryReportDataset.AssertElementWithValueExists('Customer__No__', No);
    // LibraryReportDataset.AssertElementWithValueExists('Customer_Lookup_Value_Code', LookupValueCode);

    Row[1] := LibraryReportDataset.FindRow('Customer_No_', No);
    Assert.AreNotEqual(-1, Row[1], 'Row was not found for Customer_No_');
    Row[2] := LibraryReportDataset.FindRow('Customer_Lookup_Value_Code', LookupValueCode);
    Assert.AreNotEqual(-1, Row[2], 'Row was not found for Customer_Lookup_Value_Code');
    Assert.AreEqual(0, Row[2] - Row[1], 'Delta between row for columns Customer_No_ and Customer_Lookup_Value_Code');
end;