Setting TestStand Station Globals

[Bill.Simmons]

We are using TestStand 2013 and LabWindows 2013. Using TestStand, we test multiple products, within an environmental chamber, which take hours to run. We have an issue, where occassionally a unit will fail and we lose communication to it. The timeout delays, waiting for a communication response which will never happen, are causing major issues. My soution is to add a StationGlobal, array of integers- one for each unit being tested, in which I set one of the array elements to indicate that the unit being tested should be aborted. Within TestStand, I check the array element, for the unit under test, to determine if it has aborted or to continue with the testing. TestStand calls a LabWindows module which performs the communication write and read. Within Labwindows, I want to set the FileGlobal to abort when there is a communication failure. The inherited code is far worst than this but that was the simplistic explaination and easiest approach to fix the problem. I do not seek help on how to do the testing as I do not have the luxury of rewritting it.

What I need help on is the exact sequence of calls (module names in order) to connect to the TestStand runtime engine, that is calling the LabWindows module, whatever other modules that I need to execute, the call to the function to set the StationGlobal (I think it is shown below), and then release all of the handles that I used. Without stopping the other threads that are running the other units under test.

            TS_PropertySetValNumber  (TSSeqContext, NULL, "StationGlobals.ManualSlotAbort[0]", 0, 1);

Or better yet or in addition to, is there a link to a manual that explains what the calls are and what they do, in detail?

Thank you for your help.

[ChristophersonJ]

Hey Bill, 

Can you clirify a bit on wether or not you have access to the sequence file to edit it?

You're going to be in a tight spot if you're unable to edit it. 

Can you clarfy as well how you want the operation to perform? 

Do you just want a unit test to abort if communication has been lost?

I'd check out this as well to see if this is along the lines of what you're thinking:

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/65AACD1BC06D6D3986256BC80050CFE2

[Bill.Simmons]

After more searching of the internet, the NI forums, and looking through the .h files, I finally found what I needed. I am enclosing the code to help others and to keep a record in the event that I may need this information in the future.

   ViStatus            EndOfResponse      = VI_FALSE;
   CAObjHandle   EngineHandle          = 0;
   ERRORINFO    errorInfo;
   CAObjHandle   GlobalsHandle         = 0;

// Loss of communications? STOP the testing for the slot
   if (EndOfResponse == VI_FALSE)
   {
      TS_NewEngine(NULL, &EngineHandle);
      if (EngineHandle != 0)
      {
//       get a handle to the StationGlobals
         TS_EngineGetProperty (EngineHandle, &errorInfo, TS_EngineGlobals, CAVT_OBJHANDLE, &GlobalsHandle);
         switch (Slot)
         {
            case 0:
               TS_PropertySetValBoolean (GlobalsHandle, &errorInfo, "ManualSlotAbort[0]", 0, 1);
               break;
            case 1:
               TS_PropertySetValBoolean (GlobalsHandle, &errorInfo, "ManualSlotAbort[1]", 0, 1);
               break;
            case 2:
               TS_PropertySetValBoolean (GlobalsHandle, &errorInfo, "ManualSlotAbort[2]", 0, 1);
               break;
            case 3:
               TS_PropertySetValBoolean (GlobalsHandle, &errorInfo, "ManualSlotAbort[3]", 0, 1);
               break;
         }
         CA_DiscardObjHandle(GlobalsHandle);
         CA_DiscardObjHandle(EngineHandle);
      }
      return VI_ERROR_CONN_LOST; // Return an error condition
   }