MINVAL and MAXVAL now say what a special missing does to them and that the bound
itself may be a special missing, pointing at the Special Missing Values section,
since that is the least obvious thing about them.
Also in that section: the framing sentence covers the range rules' ordering, the
summary sentence is rewritten (it read badly), and the arrow in the ROUND row is
plain ASCII.
A range rule keys both the cell value and its own value into the order SAS uses
for a numeric variable: every missing below every non-missing value, and the
missing values ordered ._ then the regular missing then .A through .Z. So a range
can be written in special missings and mean what SAS means by it - MINVAL .A with
MAXVAL .C accepts .B and rejects .D - and the numeric cases follow from the same
order: a missing fails a numeric MINVAL and passes a numeric MAXVAL, and a number
sits above every missing.
Replaces the "a range rule ignores a missing value" wording, which described the
previous take's behaviour rather than SAS's.
Three corrections to the special missing section:
- the period is optional: a special missing is typed as `a` or `.a`, `_` or `._`
- MINVAL and MAXVAL both accept a missing value, and both still reject a real
number that is out of range. A minimum constrains a number, and a missing is
not a number - NOTNULL is the rule for a column that must be populated
- only NOTNULL and the formulas actually reject a special missing, so the
"not supported" summary is replaced with what does reject it and what does not
- a primary key column rejects a blank and a special missing whether or not
the table carries a constraint or MPE_VALIDATIONS a NOTNULL rule
- HARDSELECT is now checked like any other value: it passes when the
dropdown list contains the special missing
- HARDSELECT drops out of the 'not supported' list
New Special Missing Values section covering NOTNULL, MINVAL/MAXVAL, CASE,
ROUND, the regex rules, the dropdowns and the formula rules, with the
'not supported' set called out. Behaviour verified against a real SAS
estate and the deployed frontend validator.
dc