How I turned 200+ BCQuality knowledge files into 26 AL rules (and rejected most of the rest)
I just shipped AL Griller , a static analyzer for Dynamics 365 Business Central AL code that roasts you when it finds a real problem. Before I talk about the jokes, I want to talk about the boring part, because the boring part is the reason the jokes are trustworthy: how the 26 rules actually got chosen. Disclosure up front: AL Griller's rule research was built by working through Microsoft's…
AL Griller, a static analyzer for Dynamics 365 Business Central AL code, was recently released, scrutinizing AL code and flagging real issues. The creation of AL Griller's 26 rules, however, began with a meticulous process. The foundation was Microsoft's BCQuality repository, a repository of quality knowledge and skills for Business Central.
The analysis was built from 200+ files, split into 14 domains, but not all were suitable for direct conversion into rules. The filtering process involved evaluating each file for meaningful practice, determinism, detectability from AL source, controllable false positives, explainability, testability, and whether it was already covered by existing Microsoft analyzers.
Only a fraction of the files survived this rigorous filtering, with the resulting 26 rules categorized as STRONG, GOOD, or EXPERIMENTAL, and given priorities P0 or P1. The project's philosophy emphasized "trust over rule count," meaning rules with high accuracy were prioritized over a large quantity of rules. Many potential rules were rejected outright due to their inability to be statically detected or the need for cross-object context, which a single-file scanner like AL Griller lacks.
Despite this, the project is open to contributions, and future iterations aim to track BCQuality's evolution.
Written by urgent.news from Dev.to's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
