05-linting-testing.md

Linting & Testing

This tutorial shows how to check the quality of your Mendix project.

Validate MDL Script Syntax

Before running a script, check its syntax:

mxcli check scripts/02-create-entity.mdl

For deeper validation that checks entity/microflow references exist:

mxcli check scripts/03-create-microflow.mdl -p App.mpr --references

Lint the Project

Run the built-in linter to find issues:

mxcli lint -p App.mpr

Output formats:

mxcli lint -p App.mpr --format json    # Machine-readable
mxcli lint -p App.mpr --format sarif   # For IDE integration

Generate a Quality Report

Get a scored best-practices report:

mxcli report -p App.mpr

Different output formats:

mxcli report -p App.mpr --format markdown
mxcli report -p App.mpr --format json
mxcli report -p App.mpr --format html

Validate with Mendix (mx check)

Run the same validation that Studio Pro uses:

~/.mxcli/mxbuild/*/modeler/mx check App.mpr

This catches issues like:

• Missing required attributes
• Invalid association targets
• Security configuration errors
• Widget property mismatches

Search for Issues

Find all references to an entity to understand impact before changes:

mxcli -p App.mpr -c "SHOW REFERENCES OF MyFirstModule.Task"
mxcli -p App.mpr -c "SHOW IMPACT OF MyFirstModule.Task"

Full-Text Search

Search across all strings in the project:

mxcli -p App.mpr -c "SEARCH 'Customer'"