When creating a custom step type, and attaching code modules to it, the place to look will always be the Substeps tab of the step properties page (Locate your custom step type and right-click to summon the menu, select "Properties" from the bottom of the list). In TestStand 2.0 and higher, a step can have any number of substeps each of which is created the same way. First select "DLL Flexible Prototype Adapter" from the ring control, next select "Add" and choose from among the options for what type of substep you would prefer (pre substeps are executed before post substeps, otherwise they are executed in the order listed). Once you have your new DLL step, treat it like a test sequence step and configure the Specify Module view as usual. In this way you can have several DLL calls (to your MFC DLL or any other DLL) happen within a custom step. For more information about creating custom step types I can point you to a
Developer Zone Tutorial that will introduce you to the general topics and provide additional links to more in-depth content. I am not aware of any example that matches your exact needs, but there are a few which make use of the DLL Flexible Prototype Adapter that may be of use to you.
When you ask about "measurement data" of your step, are you referring to the properties managed by TestStand? Or are you interested in the code behind the functionality of the step? If you are interested (for example) in obtaining the measurement result of your "Contrast" step later in the same sequence, you can leverage the step properties to access the Result.Measurement array. The easiest way to see what is available at runtime for any step in TestStand is to place a breakpoint immediately after the desired step completes, and then examine the Context view on the running sequence (the second tab). In this tree-view, navigate into the RunState property and then inside the PreviousStep container to see what data is available to you. You may also want to enable "Show Hidden Properties" in TestStand in order to see additional information. Please refer to the
Hidden Properties of TestStand Tutorial for additional information.
-Regards
Elaine R.
National Instruments
http://www.ni.com/ask
