Hi all,
I’m trying to export my Pollination model to either an OpenStudio (OSM) or EnergyPlus (IDF) file for further editing, but I’ve encountered the following error:
“Invalid “” contain no valid characters.”
Has anyone experienced a similar issue or know how to resolve this? I’d really appreciate any advice or suggestions.
Thank you!
It would have been much easier if you could have shared the HBJSON but if I have to guess, there’s an object in your model either with no name or with only characters that are invalid for EnergyPlus and are removed during the translation. Are you using the option to use the display names instead of the identifiers?
Hi @mostapha, thank you! I’m sharing my HBJSON file here:
Taoyuan Cold Storage Warehouse_EMv9_Debug_20250625.hbjson (1.2 MB)
I see, that makes sense. When I downloaded the IDF file from my cloud simulation (which was run using my HBJSON file), I noticed that the names of my rooms, construction sets, and schedules were different from what I originally entered in my Rhino model.
Could you guide me a bit more on how identifiers work in Pollination? I’m still new to the platform. Thanks again!
Hey Chris, I couldn’t see anything wrong with the names right away. I assign it to you so you can have a look. Depending on how this issue occurs, we may want to add an EnergyPlus/OpenStudio validation error if the name will cause an issue when running the simulation.
Thanks, @tinatuna90 .
I’ll take a look at the file shortly. I can see how having a display name of entirely non-ascii characters might cause this issue. I should probably just catch these cases and use some type of auto-generated unique ID so that the process does not fail.
I’ll post back here shortly.
Hey @tinatuna90 ,
I could not recreate the error with the file that you provided. I was able to save the model to an OSM wihtout issues:
… as well as IDF:
What version of the Pollination Rhino plugin are you using, @tinatuna90 ? I would recommend downloading and installing the latest plugin to see if that fixes it for you.
Hi @chriswmackey Thanks for the files and your reply!
That’s strange. I’m currently using the latest version of Pollination (PO.V1.64.5.0).
I noticed that the room names in the exported IDF file don’t match the ones I originally assigned in Rhino. Could you guide me on how to make sure the room names are retained correctly when importing from Pollination Rhino?
Interestingly, when I export to an INP file and open it in eQuest, the room names appear as expected — the issue seems to only occur with the IDF file used in EnergyPlus.
Appreciate any advice you can share!
I just realized that the room names displayed in the IDF file are actually the ID. Is there a way I can modify the ID so they match the display names from my Rhino model?
Hi @tinatuna90,
Yes. There is. See here:
Hi @tinatuna90 ,
Did you try the suggestion that @mostapha posted? And can you confirm that you are no longer able to recreate the error with the message Input "" contains no valid characters?
Hi @chriswmackey, apologize for the late response.
The error only appears when I export the IDF file without ticking the Simplified IDF option.
Unfortunately, I need to work with the expanded version, so my workaround has been to run the model as HBJSON on the server and then download the expanded IDF file from there for further editing.
As for the ID issues — even when I tick the box to match IDs with room names, it doesn’t seem to work on my end. I’ve had to manually replace all the room names using a text editor.
Not sure if this is just happening on my side, but I’d be really happy to hear if there are plans for improvements, especially regarding how ID names are handled. That would be super helpful. Thanks so much!
I can’t think of any explanation for this except that you must have an old version of the pollination plugin installed. Did you download and run the latest pollination installer and test if the error is still there?
Hey @tinatuna90 ,
Someone else sent me a model that allowed me to recreate this error message. It probably was not the exact same thing that caused the error for your case here unless your model has no name like theirs (just an empty text string):
In that case, just giving the model a name will fix it. If not, then I’m fairly confident that the fix I pushed will prevent all cases of this error from happening again:
So, if upgrading to the current latest version of the pollination installer does not fix it, then @mostapha can let you know when a new installer is released with the fix.
Hey Chris, I couldn’t see anything wrong with the names right away. I assign it to you so you can have a look. Depending on how this issue occurs, we may want to add an EnergyPlus/OpenStudio validation error if the name will cause an issue when running the simulation.
The new release v1.65.5 is now available that should answer the initial issue in this topic. @tinatuna90, feel free to create a new topic for using resources display name instead of the identifier if the issue persists on your end.
