Variants currently have a function corresponding to most datatypes, such as IsAction, IsCode, IsCodeunit, IsGuid.

There are a LOT of variations of this, and the list grows with every introduced datatype (e.g. IsTextBuilder introduced last year).

If a function uses a case statement to handle a variant, this will currently be managed something like

case true of

myVariant.IsXmlNode(), myVariant.IsXmlElement():

// Handle XML content

;

myVariant.IsJsonToken(), myVariant.IsJsonObject():

// Handle JSON content

;

end;

This is cumbersome. I propose the introduction of Type and SubType which can be used to determine and handle specific typing cases, especially for complex datatypes such as Record, Codeunit, Page, or Enum (currently handled by the inconvenient IsOption function on variants).

The introduction of GetType and GetSubType functions along with a system type "DataType" that holds the generic datatypes could be utilised in such a fashion:

case myVariant.Type() of

DataType::Record:

if myVariant.GetSubType() = Database::"My Table" then

// Handle My Table variable

;

DataType::Enum:

if myVariant.GetSubType() = Enum::"Sales Line Type" then

// Handle Sales Line Type variable

;

end;

This would make developing abstract functions more manageable and would bring the AL language in line with other programming languages.