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1 Kudos
PWoodward

Enums as variants and strings

Status: New Submitted by on 04-01-2020 05:26 PM Comment

I'm trying to pull out all parameters from a sequence when it errors and save it as an additional result. This is to help the debugging process in a custom report plugin.

 

It falls over when enums are used as they can't be pulled out as GetValVariants then converted to strings.

 

I suggest that the if a variant for enum is called it keeps the number and string text inside of it "[5] Item number 6" for example. This can then be interpretted into a string by Str().

 

Example expression:

Locals.ConcParams = Locals.ConcParams + "Parameter: " + RunState.Caller.Parameters.GetNthSubProperty("",Locals.X,0).Name + " Value: " + Str(RunState.Caller.Parameters.GetNthSubProperty("",Locals.X,0).GetValVariant("",0))

68 Kudos
magnux

Highlight the scope of selected a conditional step

Status: Under Consideration Submitted by Member on 03-06-2020 10:05 AM 5 Comment

Obviously it's not a great idea to have loads of nested conditional steps, but for longer sequences even with only a few nested conditions, I find it hard to find the matching END for example when an if-statement. Sure I can count the number of lines, but I think it would be a lot easier if the "scope line" that indicates the scope would stand out more and become bold or blue (like the selected line)

 

Here's are two mockups (bold line)

 

bold-line.png

 

An alternative indication could be to highlight the ending line of the scope like below.

 

end-highlight.png

 

Having a keyboard shortcut for jumping between beginning and the ending within a scope would also be very helpful!

In Microsoft Visual Studio there's a keyboard shortcut (CTRL + [ ) which toggles the cursor position between the and and beginning of a scope, and it works with all things that encapsulates a scope or a string or expression. e.g. curly braces in code sections, quoted strings etc.

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1 Kudos
Betilius

Contract / Expand content in a flow control structure

Status: Duplicate Submitted by Member on 12-10-2019 04:38 AM 1 Comment

when you click over a flow control statement, for example an if, the content of this statement will be not visible. When you click again over the same statement, the content will be visible again.

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3 Kudos
MOBA-User

optional Autosave for the sequence editor

Status: New Submitted by Member on 10-14-2019 09:16 AM Comment

Hello everybody,
it should be possible to mark a sequence file for a time based autosave during development of the file.

 

Also possible would be a temp file which is saved automatically, so no data will be lost, if TestStand or the computer crashes during the development of a sequence file.

 

That would be nice 🙂

Regards

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2 Kudos
magnux

Teststand Execution Profiler - add loaded DLL version info

Status: New Submitted by Member on 10-14-2019 03:13 AM 2 Comment

When profiling an sequence, it's would be useful if also the version of .NET DLL that was loaded/unloaded could be displayed in the report in a new column next to Item Name. I have not found a way to do do this. I think this would be helpful to be able to compare performance of different versions of DLL:s, and also when troubleshooting sequences (e.g. when adding search directories and wrong version of a DLL is used by mistake).

 

Currently the only way I found to see version loaded was using tools like Visual Studio or Process Explorer, but that's run time, requiring breakpoints etc - the above approach would provide an better overview of the execution, and is more convenient.

 

 profiling.png

14 Kudos
nclark

Highlight Broken Steps and Sequences with Errors

Status: New Submitted by Member on 10-01-2019 04:52 PM Comment

TestStand is in dire need of a way to quickly and effectively find broken steps in long sequences.

 

I'm working on large sequence files which often call and utilize other long sequences. Needless to say, I often need to address steps which have become broken due to code rework. As of now (TS 2017), there are only two ways for me to know if a step will not run.

  1. Text is red within the Step Settings window.
  2. Sequence Analyzer reports an Error.

I would like to suggest a third option, one that would be more readily available than either of the other two options. If the step itself was highlighted, text reddened, or somehow otherwise flagged as an error, then the operator won't have to hunt through each of the step settings windows or the sequence analyzer results. All the operator would have to do is open the sequence file and notice that a step appears out of place.

 

It would be nice if sequences could also show if they have broken steps.

 

Included is an example of how this might look.

 

TS_errors_are_highlighted.png

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0 Kudos
nclark

Override a Type Def to Cluster Pass - LabVIEW Action Steps

Status: New Submitted by Member on 10-01-2019 03:28 PM 2 Comment

I'm working extensively with LabVIEW VIs and Test Stand, and one of the most helpful features existing is the ability to configure a TestStand type to pass its data to and from a LabVIEW Cluster.

 

I think a great way to expand upon this would be to allow the developer to override specific variables within the LabVIEW cluster.

 

For instance, say I have defined a TestStand type with 5 total variables, all of which may pass to a LabVIEW cluster. If my LabVIEW cluster has at least the same number and type of variables, then this cluster passing has no issue.

 

However, if my LabVIEW cluster has 6 variables, then the TestStand type can only account for its defined five variables, and I am effectively locked out from the sixth variable. I cannot edit the sixth variable, nor can I assign it a default value (see Ex1_broken.PNG)

 

This wouldn't cause an issue if I could override specific variables within the cluster passing. That is to say, if I were given access to that sixth variable from the example, then I could assign it to a local variable. The other five variables would still be satisfied by the TestStand type, and no errors should be generated by the step. (see Ex1_fixed.PNG for what I envision this to look like)

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4 Kudos
Stryker_Software_Engineer

Double Clicking on Sequence Call Step in Custom UI

Status: New Submitted by Member on 04-18-2019 12:08 PM Comment

Custom TestStand UI suggestion.

 

I would like the same functionality as with Sequence Editor when double clicking on Sequence Call step (already configured) and it goes into the Subsequence directly and you can view the SubSequence.

 

I would like to see that functionality in the TestStand Custom UI when double clicking on the Sequence Call step with Sequence View Manager and it goes into the Subsequence so it can it viewed. 

 

This would come in handy when debugging a subsequence and setting break points in the subsequence and then viewing variables during execution.

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7 Kudos
RustyStrings

Display sequence in a tree structure

Status: Duplicate Submitted by Member on 03-04-2019 06:25 AM 7 Comment

In the same way that the setup, main, and cleanup can be expanded or collapsed, do the same for all of the flow control steps.

 

Have the steps expanded by default.

 

I think it would make it easier to study long sequences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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0 Kudos
MOBA-User

Subsequence User Interface

Status: Already Implemented Submitted by Member on 02-19-2019 08:44 AM 4 Comment

In our Company also hardware developer creates testsequences in teststand, so it would be nice, if there could be a small user interface to configure the values of the parameters for a subsequence.
The solution could be, if they drag and drop a sequence into their main testsequence, a user interface pops up to configure the parameters for this subsequence. So it would be possible to restrict the values with a drop down menu or Radio Buttons or to give some graphical help to choose the right values.

 

Or maybe i could create something similar to the IVI sequences, where i can click on a button and a small editor window is opened.

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6 Kudos
pulidotech

Ignore Individual Sequence Analyzer Results in TestStand

Status: New Submitted by Active Participant on 07-23-2018 08:40 AM 1 Comment

When using VI Analyzer, one can type "#via_ignore TestName" (e.g. "#via_ignore Spell Check") and then that VI/object won't have those specific test results when running VI Analyzer.  I would like to see this type of functionality added to TestStand.  For example, an individual step could have in its comments "#sa_ignore TestName" (e.g. "#sa_ignore NI_FileByExpression")

 

Pulido Technologies LLC

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4 Kudos
Mr._Jim

Match PCRE Regular Expression Function

Status: New Submitted by Active Participant on 07-19-2018 10:53 AM 1 Comment

I would love native support of regular expressions (PCRE regex) in TestStand expressions, with the ability to output captured groups.

 

For instance, hypothetically:

Number EvaluateRegex(String string, String pattern, Number indexToSearchFrom = 0, Boolean ignoreCase = False, Array CapturedGroups)

I have successfully implemented a sequence to perform Microsoft's version of regex evaluation...

Regex_NET.png

...but it takes several steps and uses Microsoft's flavor of regular expression syntax. This is frustrating for me because I already use moderately complex PCRE expressions all the time, and Microsoft's syntax varies enough to present an additional learning curve. It's also much more cumbersome that just using a native TestStand function within an expression.

 

My idea is similar to this one, but I'm looking for a function. Whenever people ask for regex support on the forums, it seems that workarounds are presented using simple string functions, but these don't cover my more advanced use cases.

 

Since day one of using TestStand I have been looking for this feature and I have always wondered why it is absent.

 

Thank you,

 

Mr. Jim

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9 Kudos
Muthuraman

Looping inside the Expressions

Status: New Submitted by Member on 06-08-2018 01:00 AM 2 Comment

Hi,

 

I have a table in file globals (2D array).

Each column of the table has an associate variable in file global.

For i want my custom step to run N time which is the number of rows in the table.

In each iteration, i want to take each value of the row and assign the value to the asscoiated variable in file global.

so, i want to have a looping mechanism in the expression.

I guess it is not explicitly present right now. Right now, i use teststand API to update the variable.

It would be nice to have looping in expression. This will improve my custom steps performance.

 

Regards,

Muthuraman S

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11 Kudos
Mr._Jim

Clickable Links for Cross Referencing Steps or Sequences from an Expression Comment

Status: New Submitted by Active Participant on 05-18-2018 12:19 PM Comment

Hi all,

 

At times when I am filling out an expression, I'd like to be able to refer other developers to a specific sequence or step within the file.

 

I think it'd be useful to be able to add clickable "hyperlinks" to other steps or sequences within the same file.

ExpressionCommentLink.png

Would anyone else use this if it were a feature?

 

Thanks as always,

Mr. Jim

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6 Kudos
crossrulz

Select VI PPL View

Status: New Submitted by Knight of NI Knight of NI on 05-03-2018 06:56 AM 1 Comment

When choosing a VI for a step, if you browse into a PPL, the view shows the directory structure inside of the PPL.  A better view would match what LabVIEW shows: the Virtual Folder layout.

 

I tend to keep my library VIs in a flat directory structure, but organize them in my project with Virtual Folders.  But the PPL view in TestStand just shows the single directory instead of the nice organization that I set up in the project.

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0 Kudos
marimuthu

Extract sequence from the selected steps

Status: Already Implemented Submitted by Member on 04-05-2018 04:33 AM 2 Comment

It will be good if a "Extract" sequence option present: When we select more than one steps in a sequence, show this option. Once you select extract option, new sequence should be created within the .seq file, and automatically insert a step "Sequence Call" which calls the new sequence.

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1 Kudos
SumitN

NameOf() has the option to return the entire name

Status: New Submitted by Member on 03-15-2018 02:15 PM 2 Comment

It would be nice if NameOf() had the option to return the entire name including the containers that it is nested within. This could be an optional boolean parameter in NameOf, such as NameOf(Parameters.Contaner1.Value, True) returns "Parameters.Contaner1.Value" and not just "Value".

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18 Kudos
Mr._Jim

Find All Sequence Calls - Context Menu Option

Status: Already Implemented Submitted by Active Participant on 02-27-2018 09:17 AM 3 Comment

Forgive me for the cavalcade of suggestions this week...

 

One of my favorite options in the LabVIEW development environment is the "Find all Instances" context menu option, whereby one is able to locate all calls to the particular SubVI.

 

I have long wished that something similar were available in the TestStand Sequence Editor. I'd like to propose a "Find All Sequence Calls" context menu selection when right-clicking on a sequence in the Sequence pane. This could leverage the Find tool, but save the user from copying and pasting the name of the sequence. (And save the user from configuring the search options to narrow down the results) It'd be nice to be able to define the scope of the "find" operation to either the selected sequence or all sequences in memory, but I'd settle for a simple search of the open sequence.

 

Cheers,

 

Mr. Jim

 

FindAllSequenceCalls.png

 

 

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42 Kudos
Mr._Jim

Support Tabs and Indentation in Expression Editor

Status: Under Consideration Submitted by Active Participant on 02-22-2018 10:18 AM 4 Comment

In instances of nested expressions, it would be useful to be able to press tab to indent a line. I propose inserting "n" spaces when pressing tab.

 

Coding style of course varies, but for readability, I rather dislike the following

 

Trim(Locals.SomeLocal) == "" ? (Locals.SomeLocal = "foo",Locals.AnotherLocal = "bar", Locals.SomethingOrRather = "zoo") : False

 ...and much prefer this styling:

 

Trim(Locals.SomeLocal) == "" ? (
                Locals.SomeLocal = "foo",
                Locals.AnotherLocal = "bar",
                Locals.SomethingOrRather = "zoo" ) : False

...but at present the latter is tedious because one has to insert a lot of whitespace manually or worse yet, use another text editor and paste it into TestStand. It would be nice if TestStand's expression editor supported this basic feature available in almost every text editor or IDE.

 

Thanks,

 

Mr. Jim

 

 

 

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13 Kudos
adambro

TestStand API LabVIEW VIs should be automatically mass compiled when copied into \vi.lib\AddOns

Status: New Submitted by Member on 02-08-2018 11:40 AM 4 Comment

When TestStand launches, it determines the active LabVIEW version and copies the TestStand API VIs into <LabVIEW>\vi.lib\AddOns if not already present. (SOURCE)

 

I suggest there should be an additional step here and TestStand should call that LabVIEW version to mass compile these VIs.


Currently, the VI version remains unchanged which means when you open a LabVIEW code module which uses these, you'll sometimes find you have a 'dirty dot' due to unsaved changes because of the recompilation. It also means that you wouldn't be able to run a sequence using the LabVIEW Run-Time Engine until you've switched to Development and converted the VIs.

This is a minor annoyance but it would be nice if TestStand could cut out the additional version conversion step.

 

I do wonder whether the transfer of the TestStand API VIs into the vi.lib could actually occur when LabVIEW is installed if a TestStand installation is detected. Perhaps this might be relevant for other addons which existing LabVIEW installations have.

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