# Error calling reference paths in Alarm Display Path expression

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/error-calling-reference-paths-in-alarm-display-path-expression/117562>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Tags:** perspective\
**Created:** [October 21, 2026, 6:46am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/error-calling-reference-paths-in-alarm-display-path-expression/117562 "2026-10-21T06:46:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/96bed5/32.png) [@dwk](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/dwk)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 6:46am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/error-calling-reference-paths-in-alarm-display-path-expression/117562/1 "2026-10-21T06:46:55Z")

</div>

Hello,

I am currently using Ignition 8.3.x in a Linux (Docker) environment.

I am experiencing an issue where an Alarm's **Display Path** is configured with an Expression that references Memory Tag values. When the Gateway is restarted while alarms are active, the values of the referenced tags are omitted from the Display Path when the active alarm tags are reloaded.

I tested this by manually triggering around 60 alarms using Memory Tags. The alarms with omitted values display properly once they are cleared and re-triggered (toggled from False to True). Additionally, for the first few seconds after a restart, the alarms are sequentially loaded with the referenced values omitted before subsequent alarms begin displaying normally.

Since the Display Path itself does not dynamically re-compile/re-evaluate once triggered, I suspect this issue occurs because the alarms are called during Gateway startup before the referenced tag values have fully loaded into memory.

I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this same behavior.

Below are the expressions used, and the tags being omitted are `{[.]../DeviceLocation}` and `{[.]../DeviceName}`:

1. {[.]../DeviceLocation} + " " + {[.]../DeviceName} + " " + {TagName} + " - " + "[Tag : " + {PathToParentFolder} + "/" + {TagName} + "]"
2. concat({[.]../DeviceLocation}, " ", {[.]../DeviceName}, " ", {TagName}, " - [Tag : ", {PathToParentFolder}, "/", {TagName}, "]")