page header

Project Validation

LLBLGen Pro contains a deep, multi-stage project validation system. In the following sections, the various stages are explained as well as the UI elements you can use to solve errors and warnings.

Validation stages

The following validation stages are performed in LLBLGen Pro:

Validation stages

The project validation stages

If each stage is completed successfully (i.e. no error was detected), and if ordered to do so, the validation moves to the next stage. The stages are described below

  1. Model and Mapping Validation. This is the first stage and this validation makes sure that every element in the model is valid by itself and that every element in the model has a valid mapping. If an error is detected in one of the elements in the model or in the mappings, it is send to the UI as an error and the validation stage won't proceed to the next stage. No target framework specific validation is performed, nor any relational model adjustment is done.
  2. Target Framework Validation. When the Model and Mapping Validation stage doesn't throw any error, the Framework Validator assembly of the target framework is invoked to validate the project. Each target framework has its own Framework Validator assembly, and these assemblies are in charge to cache any feature / project element which isn't supported by the chosen target Framework.
  3. Relational Model Data Adjustment. This stage is the final stage of the validation process and alters the relational model data elements to match them with the model elements mapped onto them. This stage adds PK constraints, FK constraints, Unique constraints, marks fields as removed etc. etc. This stage is only started if it's explicitly ordered to do so (see below) and the Target Framework Validation stage didn't throw any error. After this stage the relational model is completely in sync with the valid entity model.

Stage execution

Not every stage is executed every time. The following list shows when which stages are executed. Stage 1 and 2 are always executed together.

Execution of stage 1 & 2

The following events trigger the execution of validation phases 1 and 2:

Execution of stage 1, 2 and 3 together as 1 process

The following events trigger the execution of the complete set of validation stages from start to finish:

note Important

Before you generate a Database Schema Create script or a Database Schema Update script, it's highly recommended you do a full validation using all three stages, to make sure the relational model data reflects your model. Do this by selecting 'Validate and Adjust Relational Model Data' from the Project menu in the main menu.

Displaying errors and warnings and resolving them

When an error or warning is detected by one of the validation stages, it throws it upwards, and it ends up in the Errors & Warnings pane, which is a pane docked at the bottom of the LLBLGen Pro designer. The error or warning is also logged as text in the Application Output pane which is also docked at the bottom of the LLBLGen Pro designer.

LLBLGen Pro tries to attach to each warning or error one or more suggestions or actions. You can view the suggestions or actions for each error by expanding the error in the Errors & Warnings pane. If the error or warning has one or more suggestions, they describe what you can do to solve the error. If the error or warning has one or more action choices you can take, each of them will contain a link you can click to either go to the particular editor and load the element and correct the error manually, or if applicable, you can click the link to correct the error directly. It depends on the error which corrections/actions are given.

Ignoring / filtering out Warnings

It can sometimes be convenient to ignore a given warning as it would otherwise clutter the rest of the warnings you want to pay attention to. The designer makes it possible to ignore warnings (and unignore them) in the Errors & Warnings pane. Each warning has an ID, which is a simple code: ABxxxx. AB are two alphanumeric characters which represent the origin of the warning and xxxx is the number of the warning.

The following origin codes have been defined:

Hiding / showing warnings

The Error & Warnings pane has two warning related buttons. One, which is showing two small warning icons, is used to toggle whether the warnings with the codes as the ones selected are hidden / not hidden. The other button shows a slightly dimmed warning icon, which is a toggle button, and when clicked, it is 'active', and filters dynamically the list of correctable messages: if a warning has a code which is set to be 'ignored', it's filtered out. If this button is inactive, all warnings are shown, regardless of whether the warnings have codes which are marked to be ignored.

Warnings are hidden / shown using the button to show / hide ignored warnings at the left of the Errors & Warnings pane. Selecting one or more warnings and clicking the button will toggle the ignore flag for the warning number of the selected warning. This is done at the project level. The codes of ignored warnings are stored in the project file and are applied again after the project has been successfully reloaded.

LLBLGen Pro Designer v4.2 documentation. ©2002-2015 Solutions Design