Reject Uninferable Key

Review ask

As a clinical trial statistician or programmer, challenge anything in this benchmark: describe a problem in Comments, or propose a fix with the Edit button on any source file.

Task: Is this a specification error a study team could realistically make, and should the build stop on it rather than continue?
Inputs: Do they trigger the failure for the reason the summary gives?
Expected failure: Is this the right error, raised at the right point, and would it tell the programmer what to fix?

The other tabs beside Comments are background for assessment, not under review.

Summary

EditUnder reviewWhat this benchmark means

README.md

Goal: attach the reference-range upper limit (LBSTNRHI) to each collected result, carrying its test code and sex.

Input: collected results carrying test code (LBTESTCD), sex (SEX), and numeric result (LBSTRESN), plus a reference-limit table carrying the upper limit (NRHI) by test code and sex.

Variables:

LBSTNRHI would contain the upper limit value from the reference-limit table for the test code and sex of the result.

Note: the limit-table columns to match on are not stated, so the match falls back to the output identifiers (STUDYID, USUBJID, LBSEQ), and the limit table carries none of them. With nothing to match on, the run is rejected before any data is read and no artifact is accepted.

How to fix

Name the lookup-table columns to match on:

intermediates:
  - id: REFRANGE
    dataset: LBRANGE
    key: [LBTESTCD, SEX]

Each listed column matches the same-named current-row value. When the current-row name differs, map the column to it, as in key: {TESTCD: LBTESTCD, SEX: SEX}. Omit key only when the intended match is on the output keys that the lookup table also carries.

Expected failure

Editthe run is rejected; no artifact is accepted

expected/error.yaml

phase: validation
condition: no_applicable_keys
requirement: REQ-0153

expected/error.yaml

phase: validation
condition: no_applicable_keys
spec_paths:
  - intermediates[0]
requirement: REQ-0153
context:
  dataset: LBRANGE
  keys:
    - STUDYID
    - USUBJID
    - LBSEQ
  hint: declare the `key` explicitly

YAML specification

1 spec file

spec.yaml

Edit49 lines

1schema_version: "1.0"2domain: LB3keys: [STUDYID, USUBJID, LBSEQ]4input:5  LB_RAW: input/lb_raw.csv6  LBRANGE: input/lbrange.csv7base: LB_RAW89output:10  path: lb.csv11  columns: [STUDYID, USUBJID, LBSEQ, LBTESTCD, SEX, LBSTNRHI]1213intermediates:14  # No key is named, so it is inferred from the output keys LBRANGE15  # carries -- and it carries none of STUDYID, USUBJID, LBSEQ.16  - id: REFRANGE17    dataset: LBRANGE18    columns: [NRHI]1920columns:21  - name: STUDYID22    type: str23    label: Study Identifier24    derivation: LB_RAW.STUDYID2526  - name: USUBJID27    type: str28    label: Unique Subject Identifier29    derivation: LB_RAW.USUBJID3031  - name: LBSEQ32    type: int33    label: Sequence Number34    derivation: LB_RAW.LBSEQ3536  - name: LBTESTCD37    type: str38    label: Lab Test or Examination Short Name39    derivation: LB_RAW.LBTESTCD4041  - name: SEX42    type: str43    label: Sex44    derivation: LB_RAW.SEX4546  - name: LBSTNRHI47    type: float48    label: Reference Range Upper Limit-Std Units49    derivation: REFRANGE.NRHI

Inputs

Under review2 source files

input/lb_raw.csv

Edit1 row

input/lb_raw.csv
STUDYID	USUBJID	LBSEQ	LBTESTCD	SEX	LBSTRESN
PILOT7		1	ALT	F	42

input/lbrange.csv

Edit2 rows

input/lbrange.csv
LBTESTCD	SEX	UNIT	NRLO	NRHI
ALT	F	U/L	0	40
ALT	M	U/L	0	40

Unexpected Output

Under reviewNo artifact is produced

No fixture files in this directory.

Shaded columns are derived— = missing value

Comments and assessment materials

Variable Name	Variable Label	Type	Origin	Conversion Definition	Variable Type	Variable Order
STUDYID	Study Identifier	Char	Collected	Copy value from LB_RAW.STUDYID.	SDTM	1
USUBJID	Unique Subject Identifier	Char	Collected	Copy value from LB_RAW.USUBJID.	SDTM	2
LBSEQ	Sequence Number	Num	Collected	Copy value from LB_RAW.LBSEQ.	SDTM	3
LBTESTCD	Lab Test or Examination Short Name	Char	Collected	Copy value from LB_RAW.LBTESTCD.	SDTM	4
SEX	Sex	Char	Collected	Copy value from LB_RAW.SEX.	SDTM	5
LBSTNRHI	Reference Range Upper Limit-Std Units	Num	Derived	Take NRHI from the LBRANGE record matching on the shared output keys, and a row with no match is an error.	SDTM	6

Version	Date	Author	Description
1.3	2026-09-29	yamaa docs build	Show study codelist names, external dictionaries, and ISO 8601 formats in variable rows; list the document's codelist values and metadata
1.2	2026-09-29	yamaa docs build	Classify ADaM copies from a declared input as Predecessor and recodes as Derived, and SDTM recodes of locally derived columns as Derived
1.1	2026-09-29	yamaa docs build	Resolve lookups into the donor record they select, and give every derivation shape a plain-language rule instead of its raw YAML
1.0		yamaa docs build	Initial generation from spec.yaml

How to fix

input/lb_raw.csv

input/lbrange.csv

Comments

Mapping spec