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I am getting the following error in a FME Form Workspace:

Starting translation...
ERROR : INCLUDE -- failed to evaluate TCL expression ` if { {-1} == {0} && {ORIGINAL} == {ORIGINAL} } {              puts "MACRO REAL_MODE LAST"; 	         puts "MACRO REAL_RATE <Unused>"; 	      } else {              puts "MACRO REAL_MODE ORIGINAL";              puts "MACRO REAL_RATE [expr <Unused> * ( -1 ? -1 : -1 ) ]"; 	      } ' -- missing operand at _@_
in expression "_@_<Unused> * ( -1 ? -1 :..."
    (parsing expression "<Unused> * ( -1 ? -1 :...")
    invoked from within
expr <Unused> * ( -1 ? -1 : -1 ) 
    invoked from within
if { {-1} == {0} && {ORIGINAL} == {ORIGINAL} } {              puts "MACRO REAL_MODE LAST"; 	         puts "MACRO REAL_RATE <Unused>"; 	      } else { ...
Program Terminating
Translation FAILED.


In a general context , what does this error mean?  What are examples of issues that can trigger it and what FME form workspace design approaches eliminate it?  In the specific workspace, if I progress through the workspace from beginning to end using the “Run To This” option on each transformer than the error doesn’t occur.  The error does occur when I try to run multiple transformers at the same time.  In a previous instance I had eliminated this error by changing the location of certain transformers within a workflow, but currently I can’t isolate which part of the workspace is triggering it.

 

Hi ​@philipwhitten Your workspace probably has user parameters “REAL_MODE” and “REAL_RATE” which are set before the translation. It’s also likely that this problem has been fixed in FME 2024.2.  Please try that or FME 2025 and file a problem report via safe.com/support if you still get this INCLUDE TCL error.

Hi ​@philipwhitten Your workspace probably has user parameters “REAL_MODE” and “REAL_RATE” which are set before the translation. It’s also likely that this problem has been fixed in FME 2024.2.  Please try that or FME 2025 and file a problem report via safe.com/support if you still get this INCLUDE TCL error.

A note to anyone who has a similar problem.  The problem has not been fixed in FME 2025.0.  Furthermore, the workspace does not have user parameters “REAL_MODE” and “REAL_RATE”.

Hi ​@philipwhitten,

The error is being raised by the Sampler_4 transformer, due to a missing value for the IDW_neighborhood_samples user parameter. This parameter value is missing because the Conditional Visibility is set to Hide and Disable the parameter if IDW_neighborhood is set to 1. If IDW_neighborhood_samples is disabled, it has no value to send to Sampler_4's Sampling Rate, but this is a mandatory value for Samplers.
 
Please change the Conditional Visibility of IDW_neighborhood_samples to Hide instead of Hide and Disable. This will ensure the default value is sent to Sampler_4 even when the parameter isn't visible. You may need to start the workspace once with No. of Search Neighborhoods set to 2, with Save As Default Parameters checked, to lock in the modification before running again with No. of Search Neighborhoods set to 1.

The root cause of the problem stems from using the “Conditional Visibility” setting for a User Parameter of “Hide and Disable” and then calling the parameter in a Transformer like the Sampler.  FME validates transformers prior to running a script, and FME will throw this error even when the transformer is in part of the workspace that will not be accessed due to other User Parameter values. However, when you step through a workspace by individually running consecutive transformers using “Run To This” then FME does not validate transformers in other parts of the workspace - hence you can run a entire workspace without throwing an error by running consecutive transformers. 

The outcome is, don’t “Disable” User Parameters that are not being used due to logic based on other User Parameters.  Another learning is that the FME TCL errors don’t refer to the Transformer that triggered them. 

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