'Evaluation error' when using Aggregate tool in QGIS

Question

In QGIS 3.16. I am using the Aggregate function to reduce the number of features in a layer. I am grouping by one field and I want to concatenate the others.

My actual data table is fairly large and the operation seems to be working for some of my fields, but for some fields, I get an error message related to the concatenation, and for the life of me I can't figure out why.

Here is a screenshot of my Aggregate setup for a truncated version of my table, with a few of the features that are having problems. I am grouping by the field "Complexe"; note that all output field types are set to String (Text) with a length of 100, so that is not the issue: enter image description here

This is the message that I get : enter image description here

Evaluation error in expression "concatenate("ID_CH","Complexe",TRUE,',')": Could not calculate aggregate for ID_CH. Execution failed after 0.86 seconds.

Here are the files if you'd like to try and reproduce the problem: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1nOV1dxZWzNiIg9F77brQ36Rcvoze8QSb?usp=sharing

• Ian Turton: please do not put text in your question as an image - this makes it unreadable for many users (including Google)
• pete: Hi Ian, I used the native 'add picture' function. Would it be better to post a link to the picture? Or is there another way of loading a picture onto SE? Sorry for the newbie errors, I'll get the hang of it...
• Ian Turton: You should copy and paste the actual text into the question

Answer 1

The string function raised 'Evaluation error' because it couldn't parse the input.

To overcome it wrap each of your fields into the to_string() function in the 'Source Expression'

aggregate_window

and get the output

result

Also mind the length of the output field.

Additionally, before aggregation I may suggest checking the validity of geometry of your features, e.g. with the "Check Validity" or the "Geometry Checker Plugin". Otherwise you will face similar issues as I had:

geometry_1 geometry_2

and others...

• pete: Simple and effective. Thanks for patiently helping me see what was right in front of me but which I hadn't noticed! Also thanks for the plugin suggestions.
• Taras: Always welcome!