thanks Laszlo. under the 'door panel' parameter I set 'middle rail elevation' to 'off'. I would think it should grey out the option under 'door frame - middle rail width'. It doesn't. When i set 'door frame - middle rail width' to zero this is when I get the error. if i assign any positive value the error message goes away but a rail naturally shows up at the base of the door panel. Hmmm. I can set this value to 1/16" as a workaround but perhaps this is a (minor) bug.
Perhaps a better solution in a library update would allow independent stile and rail widths for the 'style 3' door panel type. Although for that style of door panel when you change the 'bottom rail width' it makes no difference to the preview. The rails and stiles are a fixed dimension (it appears anyway). The parameters of 'middle rail width' and 'bottom rail width' seem to be in an odd spot under 'door frame' in lieu of 'door panel' IMO.
ArchiCAD v27 (since v11)
MacBook Pro M1 Max, 64GB
macOS Sonoma