Not Empty Anomaly Reporting

How the Not Empty check reports violations on text and on array fields, and how the offending value appears in Source Records.

Anomaly Messages

What the check reports depends on the kind of field it runs on.

On a text field, violations are attributed to individual rows. At 100% coverage each row whose value is empty or made only of spaces produces its own Record Anomaly, naming the field and the offending record. Below 100% coverage, a failed coverage assertion produces one Shape Anomaly for the dataset instead, reporting the share of rows that were blank.

On an array field, the check evaluates the field as a whole and reports a Shape Anomaly: rows are not called out individually, because the rule is asserting a property of the column rather than diagnosing each record.

In both cases the anomaly reports that the field does not hold content, so what you act on is the field and the rows behind it rather than a value that was out of range.

When a filter is set, the message ends with [filter: <expression>] so the evaluated scope is visible in the alert.

Scan settings can group a large number of Record Anomalies into one rolled-up Shape Anomaly. This behavior applies across rule types and is documented under Maximum Record Anomalies per Check.

Source Records Behavior

On a text field the offending cell is highlighted with an orange outline and an orange-tinted background in the Source Records view. An empty value and one made of spaces look identical on screen, so the highlight is what tells you which cell the check objected to.

On an array field the anomaly belongs to the column rather than to individual rows, so there is no per-row highlight to read.

Custom Anomaly Description

On a text field, Not Empty supports Custom Anomaly Description because it emits Record Anomalies. When anomaly_message_field (or the Custom Anomaly Description toggle in the UI) is set to another column on the same row, the Record Anomaly message becomes the value of that column for the violating row. When the referenced column is null, missing, or empty, the standard message is used instead.

Because the option only applies to Record Anomalies, it has no effect on Shape Anomalies, and therefore none on an array field.

See Also