“Error in shortDescrip(value) : missing value where TRUE/FALSE needed” when executing SAS data functions on TIBCO Spotfire Statistics Services server

“Error in shortDescrip(value) : missing value where TRUE/FALSE needed” when executing SAS data functions on TIBCO Spotfire Statistics Services server

When executing a SAS data function on TIBCO Spotfire Statistics Services (TSSS) server from TIBCO Spotfire, you may see the data function execution failing with the following error:

Could not execute function call.
TIBCO Spotfire Statistics Services returned an error: 'error running postprocessor: Error in shortDescrip(levels(value)) : missing value where TRUE/FALSE needed'.
   at Spotfire.Dxp.Data.DataFunctions.Executors.RemoteFunctionClient.OnExecuting()
   at Spotfire.Dxp.Data.DataFunctions.Executors.AbstractFunctionClient.<RunFunction>d__0.MoveNext()
   at Spotfire.Dxp.Data.DataFunctions.Executors.SPlusFunctionExecutor.<ExecuteFunction>d__0.MoveNext()
   at Spotfire.Dxp.Data.DataFunctions.DataFunctionExecutorService.<ExecuteFunction>d__6.MoveNext()

On the TIBCO Spotfire Statistics Services server, in the SplusServer.log from <SPSERVER_HOME>\tomcat\logs folder (where SPSERVER_HOME is the path of TSSS installation directory), the following error will be seen: 

2019-09-25 08:58:22,110 | WARN | | ScheduledJobExecutor | execution exception jobId: 33
java.lang.IllegalStateException: error running preprocessor: Error in shortDescrip(value) : missing value where TRUE/FALSE needed
at com.insightful.splusserver.engine.splusengine.SplusMessageServer.runGeneric(SplusMessageServer.java:1365)
at com.insightful.splusserver.engine.splusengine.SplusMessageServer.runFunction(SplusMessageServer.java:1277)
at com.insightful.splusserver.engine.splusengine.SplusMessageServer.runSync(SplusMessageServer.java:1122)
at com.insightful.splusserver.threadpool.ScheduledJobExecutor.execute(ScheduledJobExecutor.java:67)
at com.insightful.splusserver.threadpool.JobExecutionPoolThread.run(JobExecutionPoolThread.java:132)
2019-09-25 08:58:22,203 | INFO | | JobService | execution done jobId:33, status:Failed, engine:1946117188-10, instance:HRMSASAPT10, runMsecs:125, error:Server Exception: java.lang.IllegalStateException: error running preprocessor: Error in shortDescrip(value) : missing value where TRUE/FALSE needed

  This is a known issue which is caused due to a defect in the debugging output. This occurs only when "Enable Data Function debugging" is checked in Tools > Options > Data Functions in Spotfire (see Enable Data Function debugging for more details.

To resolve, uncheck the "Enable Data Function debugging" option from TIBCO Spotfire Analyst client under Tools > Options > Data Functions:
Doc: Enable Data Function debugging

• https://docs.tibco.com/pub/sfire-analyst/10.3.1/doc/html/en-US/TIB_sfire-analyst_UsersGuide/other/other_options_data_functions.htm

Doc: How to Register a Data Function

• https://docs.tibco.com/pub/sfire-analyst/10.3.1/doc/html/en-US/TIB_sfire-analyst_UsersGuide/df/df_how_to_register_a_data_function.htm