Not Null Anomaly Reporting

How the Not Null check reports violations: the anomaly messages it produces, what the numbers mean, how the missing value appears in Source Records, and how to replace the default message with a value from your own data.

Anomaly Messages

At 100% coverage, Not Null reports violating rows as Record Anomalies. Below 100% coverage, a failed coverage assertion produces one Shape Anomaly for the dataset. The wording follows how many fields the check covers.

Record Anomaly

<field> has no value

With two or three fields, the names are joined with and:

<field_a> and <field_b> have no value

From four fields on, the message counts them and lists the names at the end (up to 25 names, then and N others, or and 1 other for a single one):

<count> fields have no value: <field_a>, <field_b>, <field_c>, <field_d>

Shape Anomaly

The same three forms, each carrying the counts:

<field> has no value in N of M asserted records

<field_a> and <field_b> have no value in N of M asserted records

<count> fields have no value in N of M asserted records: <field_a>, <field_b>, <field_c>, <field_d>

When a filter is set, the message names it at the end of its first sentence, as (applied to records where <expression>). Record and Shape Anomaly messages both carry it.

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

What the Numbers Mean

• N: the number of rows with at least one empty field.
• M: the number of rows the check asserted, after the filter if one is set.

For a Shape Anomaly, the failing share appears in the opening line of the anomaly's description, for example 2 of 4 records (50%) in ACCOUNTS failed 1 check during full scan #4821. That line counts against every record the scan processed, so on a filtered check its denominator is no smaller than the check's own asserted count. See Anomaly Description.

Source Records Behavior

The empty cell is highlighted with an orange outline and an orange-tinted background in the Source Records view, mirroring the platform's standard violation rendering. On a multi-field check, every selected field that is empty on the violating row is highlighted; fields outside the check render normally.

Custom Anomaly Description

Not Null supports Custom Anomaly Description because it emits Record Anomalies. The option is anomaly_message_field in the API and the Custom Anomaly Description toggle in the UI.

When the option points at another column on the same row, the Record Anomaly message becomes that column's value for the violating row, shown as written. When the column is null, missing, or empty, the message falls back to the rule's standard wording, and when the column is masked the message reads <masked>. Shape Anomaly messages are unaffected.

See Also