web
You’re offline. This is a read only version of the page.
close
Skip to main content

Announcements

No record found.

News and Announcements icon
Community site session details

Community site session details

Session Id :
Small and medium business | Business Central, N...
Suggested Answer

Unique value for a field

(0) ShareShare
ReportReport
Posted on by 115

Hi Guys,

New to AL and am sure this must be simple but have been looking at this all evening but not getting anywhere.

I have a new table ContractTBL and which contains a field ContractNo Text[80].

When validating the card entry in I need the system to check for a unique entry.

I am guessing I need an OnValidate trigger on the ContractNo field but just cannot find a sample of the code to give me a start.

Found the following on the forum and have amended with my table.field etc. but it always fails the validation even when a unique record is entered.

Would really appreciate any comments on this.

            trigger OnValidate()


            Var

                ContractNo: Record ContractTBL;

            begin

                ContractNo.SetRange("Contract No", "Contract No");


                ContractNo.SetFilter("Contract No", '<>%1', "Contract No");

                if not ContractNo.IsEmpty() then
                    Error('The Contract No. must be unique');

            end;
           
  • Suggested answer
    IB-29041624-0 Profile Picture
    1,191 Moderator on at

    Can you not just let the ContractNo be the primary key of your table or a part of the a key?

  • pmoorey Profile Picture
    115 on at

    Thank you for your feedback NorthW, but unfortunately I already have a primary key on the table. By adding a second primary key for ContractNo this then means that it is only unique if both my initial Primary Key and ContractNo are selected.

    I have also tried adding the ContractNo as a Key on the table with a unique = true statement, this works but the error to inform the end user that they have entered a duplicate key can then take 10-15 minutes to appear. The screen just sits with a window of "....working on it". Hence why I have tried to validate the entry first. 

  • Suggested answer
    Marco Mels Profile Picture
    Microsoft Employee on at

    Hello,

    We currently do not have dedicated Dev support via the Dynamics 365 Business Central forums, but I wanted to provide you some additional resources to assist.  If you need assistance with debugging or coding I would recommend discussing this on one of our communities.

    www.yammer.com/dynamicsnavdev

    dynamicsuser.net/.../developers

    I will open this up to the community in case they have something to add.

    Thanks.

Under review

Thank you for your reply! To ensure a great experience for everyone, your content is awaiting approval by our Community Managers. Please check back later.

Helpful resources

Quick Links

Season of Sharing Community Challenge Winners!

Congratulations to our community stars!

Women in Power Builds Momentum

Expanding mentorship, skilling, and AI innovation

Congratulations to the August Top 10 Community Leaders

These are the community rock stars!

Leaderboard > Small and medium business | Business Central, NAV, RMS

#1
OussamaSabbouh Profile Picture

OussamaSabbouh 741 Super User 2026 Season 2

#2
YUN ZHU Profile Picture

YUN ZHU 514 Super User 2026 Season 2

#3
AndrewThomas81 Profile Picture

AndrewThomas81 336 Super User 2026 Season 2

Last 30 days Overall leaderboard

Featured topics

Microsoft Training Manuals

Product updates

Dynamics 365 release plans