value range of Sprite sortingOrder

Hi,

I'm trying to code in unity 4.3 an ISOMETRIC grid map. (See below my object visibility rules)

• Top-Right objects are in the background.

• Bottom-Left objects are in the foreground.

• The order calculation is based on object local position (x & y)

I uses the INT property this.renderer.sortingOrder to manage these visibility rules. But it behaves just like a SHORT property when I changed its value.

Is there a technical reason behind this ? (or a bug)