What does the error message 'Invalid object supplied as function' mean?

Created
October 08, 2021 23:24

Date Posted: 2018-09-05
Product: TIBCO Spotfire®

Problem:

Solution:

When attempting to run code in Spotfire S+ the following error message is given:

'Invalid object supplied as function'

This error message states that Spotfire S+ has encountered something that looks like a function call but it cannot be interpreted correctly. The most common reason for this is due to the differences between writing equations longhand and coding them in the S+ language. For example, let's say that you want take 1/2 of (y-x)/x^2. In longhand you could write:

(1/2)((y-x)/x^2)

The convention that two equations enclosed in parentheses right next to each other is interpreted as multiplication. In the S+ language, this looks like you are trying to pass arguments to a function called 1/2. You need to implicitly state that they should be multiplied:

(1/2)*((y-x)/x^2)