Component fails within inactive branch - Unknown variable

After reviewing the posts Issues related to node/component execution within inactive branches & Component is blocking downstream flow even though it is on an inactive branch I have altered my workflows to utilise Cases rather than the Empty Table Switch. However I have a component which fails because the component output is configured to use a variable for included_names and the variable in question isn’t created when the branch is inactive. Is this expected behaviour?

The screenshot below highlights that the variable (lv_rowcountname) is normally created by the String Configuration node: