p-dropdown: REGRESSION a value of null or '' was previously treated as valid dropdown values, now it looks like they are treated as undefined

[pete-mcwilliams]

Describe the bug

As they are being treated as undefined selecting one in a dropdown when using optionValue leads to the dropdown going to empty state rather than matching the options list.

working version "primeng": "16.4.2",
https://stackblitz.com/edit/zkmdqg-3jfond?file=src%2Fapp%2Fdemo%2Fdropdown-template-demo.html,src%2Fapp%2Fdemo%2Fdropdown-template-demo.ts

same code version bumped to 16.9.1 (still an issue in the 17 beta also)
https://stackblitz.com/edit/zkmdqg-uvtidd?file=src%2Fapp%2Fdemo%2Fdropdown-template-demo.html,src%2Fapp%2Fdemo%2Fdropdown-template-demo.ts

Environment

see repro

Reproducer

https://stackblitz.com/edit/zkmdqg-uvtidd?file=src%2Fapp%2Fdemo%2Fdropdown-template-demo.html,src%2Fapp%2Fdemo%2Fdropdown-template-demo.ts

Angular version

16.2.7

PrimeNG version

16.8.0

Build / Runtime

Angular CLI App

Language

TypeScript

Node version (for AoT issues node --version)

v18.17.0

Browser(s)

n/a

Steps to reproduce the behavior

use dropdown with options which include code with null or '' and using optionValue
this.options = [ { name: 'Null code', code: null }, { name: 'Empty code', code: '' }, ];

Expected behavior

the option label should display when null or empty string are options as it did previously.

[djay1977]

Would it be possible to add this fix in a 16.9.2 patch? Not on version 17