NI TestStand Idea Exchange

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I have noticed that many TestStand users are not aware that the sequence editor menu bar and tool bar are fully customizable. This option is fairly well hidden: You have to right click the toolbar (not a common operation) to access the "customize..." option. There should be a way to access the Customize dialog from the TestStand Menus, perhaps in Configure:

It would also be nice if this was accessible from the UI configuration tab in the Sequence Editor options.

When you use an edit step to modifiy the values contained in your step inputs/outputs, the fields are not updated with the new values. You have to close the step tree branch and reopen it to see the updated values. A good idea would be to refresh the step section after the execution of an edit step !

In a custom UI I currently need to have two AxSequenceView controls to display sequences:

Connected to the AxSequenceFileViewMgr. This shows the static view of the sequence file and is where you can attach the debug context menu to loop selected steps etc.
Connected to the AxExecutionViewMgr. This shows exactly the same view of the sequence file during execution, with just an additional "Status" column with the result status of each executed step. You can toggle a breakpoint by clicking in the margin but can not select steps or operate a debug context menu here.

Of course I could display both views in the UI but this feels illogical for the user, so I prefer to show only one and switch between them according to context. However this presents problems:

As this post (not one of mine!) says, you have to display the SequenceFileViewMgr view after loading a program because the Execution View would be blank, and then switch to the Execution View when the program is running.
You have to switch back to the Sequence File view when the program ends in order to re-enable the debug context menu. This means that the step statuses disappear before the user has a chance to look at them in detail. It also means that the new view is not aligned to the execution view (i.e. the first visible step is different) - this may be solvable with a lot of programming but I haven't worked out how!.

It feels to me that it would be better for the API to provide a single view of the sequence file that has the debug facilities available, with a status column that is blank (and gets reblanked at the start of every execution). My UI code would be considerably simplified!

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Button timeout on Message Popup step

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Right Click Paste into Message Popup Step

My original thought was to have a context menu appear when you right click the response box of the popup so that you could then click 'Paste' but having a right click paste like in a Linux console would be even better since it is pretty rare that someone would be copyiing data from the input box. The feature could be selectable in the Property Browser (e.g., "RespRightClick" with two options--"Enable" and a toggle between "Paste" and "ContextMenu") or maybe just check boxes on the "Options" tab.

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It is not possible to perfrom manual selection (for example, between different products to be Tested by the sequence file) in TestStand by using the Message Popup.

It would be great if a TestStand Message popup had pull down list or radio buttons or etc. to provide manual selection from a list.

pull down list and the picture paths could be populated from a 2D array, something similar like this LabVIEW VI:

The reason why I requested this feature is that I am developing a Test solution, where we have to

manually select the product to be tested. My test solution will be used by lots of Test Engineers in the future.

I know that this feature can be realized with a LabVIEW VI easily, but this case, I have no control on the arrangement, layout and stile of this dialog box in the future. In LabVIEW, the pull dow list, buttons and picture can be put everywhere

TestStand would provide a standard arrangement for this dialog.

When putting values into an array of number local variable, there is little documentation specifying the correct way to input values in an array. The documentation needs to be improve and/or the error message that pops when evaluating your statement should be fixed to better demonstrate the problem. The current error states "Variable or property types do not match or are not compatible. This value will cause a run-time error." A getting started documentation that addresses variable syntax would also be helpful, these ideas will improve ease of use for people working in TestStand. The typical syntax when working with arrays is the use of a bracket [] and the error that appears when using a bracket for arrays is even less helpful. Attached is an image of an example of the fixed error that would demonstrate this problem more thoroughly (The red highlighted section would be a potential change to the errors).

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Hello,

With the strongest possible emphasis I would like to propose the following new command line arguments for the ORPU. These are desperately needed.

/minimized Launch ORPU truly minimized without having it steal window focus.
/no-splash Launch ORPU without splash screen
/silent Launch ORPU in the tray, without a splash screen and without having it steal window focus.

This is a profoundly useful tool and we are adopting it on dozens of stations around the world... but not having these improvements is really frustrating for operators and these improvements appear to be low hanging fruit. No thanks, I don't want to recompile the ORPU for several very good reasons.

Please help us out by carefully considering the daily use cases for this tool.

References:

https://forums.ni.com/t5/NI-TestStand/How-do-I-get-the-TestStand-Splash-Screen-to-not-appear-when-I/m-p/3120481

https://www.ni.com/docs/en-US/bundle/teststand-api-reference/page/tsref/using-command-line-arguments-with-the-offline.html

Feature request 523524

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The Database Options dialog in TestStand 2013 and 2016SP1 (the versions I have tried) have the key focus set to the 'OK' button. Pressing the 'Enter' key at any point while navigating that dialog will close it and not save the changes.

This becomes very frustrating when editing the 'Command Text' of a database statement as you might want to insert line breaks to make editing/reading the statement easier.

I have had this happen at least 10 times already today and is very frustrating and is only a very minor change to the Database Options dialog.

Hopefully we could get it as a patch?

Hello,

Could we add a feature to allow the example programs that ship with TestStand 2012 to open up in Windows Explorer directly after clicking an separate option from the help menu? Currently a help article comes up with a list of the example programs. Upon clicking a link on one of the example programs the path to the example relative to the <TestStand Public> folder is revealed. I think it would be easier from a usability stand point to add the ability to open the examples folder for review straight from the menu.

Cheers!

Shawn S.

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The Start Modal Dialog VI currently needs to be placed on the block diagram of the VI that needs to be modal. This means that you can't put it in a subVI with logic around it. If a VI reference input were added to the VI (with the default being the calling VI) then you could keep the same functionality but have the option of calling this from a subVI.

For those that are running into this, there used to be a workaround here:

http://forums.ni.com/t5/NI-TestStand/Make-Window-Modal-from-SubVI/m-p/492445/highlight/true#M14451

But the link in this forum is now broken. I'll post back if I find the answer.

Two Screen Mode

Batch Step into / Step Over / Step Out

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TestStand user interface in XAML

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When developing code for the customization of the User (Operator) Interface, I would like the capability to provide my own custom dialog box for “Loop on Selected Steps” by overriding the standard dialog box that TestStand provides. TestStand provides this standard dialog box when the command kind “Loop On Selected Steps Using” is executed.

The problem in our production environment often is our production technicians are required to (manually) perform interactively with a series of sequence steps and repeat those steps 29 times (Our strict regulatory guidelines). Most of our technicians are technologically challenged in our production environment. In our environment, I have developed the TestStand User Interface to where the TestStand Execution and Sequence Views are hidden to production operators but visible to the developers (engineers) and administrators for trouble shooting capability.

If a custom dialog box cannot be done, at least provide the capability to where I can programmability change the properties of the “Loop On Selected Steps”. At least allow the dialog box to be programmability set to where I can set the number of loops, set the stop condition, stop expression, enable/disable the controls or hide the dialog box without the operator needing to manually entering those values into the dialog box.

VISA Step Insert for TestStand

The usual Insert Step menu in TestStand:

What the menu might look like with a Insert VISA step:

A VISA>>Write step would replace a LabVIEW Action Step such as the one I used below for direct Instrument control from TestStand. Queries would look similar and be able to set limits on the returned value.

LabVIEW VI for the power supply command to the VISA instrument setup from M&A Explorer.

This is “PS1” in Measurement and Automation Explorer uses Alias Name.

Example of Query instrument to an Agilent 34970A using Alias Name “DM1” setup in MAX.

However, a little more complicated than a single string command from the menu. Might take several Write steps first.

Possible Uses:

Debugging
Instrument control without additional software or programming languages.
Ability to immediately add new instruments and modify existing sequences without an instrument driver. Demonstrates the quickest possible way to gain instrument control with the least effort (for simple systems).
Simple test sequences can be written right away making it easier for technicians or engineers to write tests.
VISA sequence steps can be dragged to the palette and easily re-used.

NI TestStand Idea Exchange

Better expose the option to customize the TestStand menus and toolbar

Separate or Shared file global selection setting is not obvious

Update step fields after using an Edit Step

Remove need for AxExecutionViewMgr.ConnectExecutionView() in custom UI

Button timeout on Message Popup step

Right Click Paste into Message Popup Step

teststand property search please

Add ability to use TestStand message popup to perform selction from a list

Column Resize Indication if Column is Resized so that it Disappears

TestStand error messages are confusing when inputting array values.

Offline Results Processing Utility: Command line arguments for Improved UI Behavior

Provide the ability to be able to logically group and organize sequences within a sequence file (hierarchy)

Remove Key Focus from Database Options Dialog (allowing the use of Enter to create line breaks)

Add Feature to Open TestStand 2012 Examples in Windows Explorer from Help Menu

Start Modal Dialog VI should have VI Reference input so it can be called from subVI

Two Screen Mode

Batch Step into / Step Over / Step Out

TestStand user interface in XAML

Custom Dialog Box Overriding the standard "Loop on Selected Steps" Dialog Box

VISA Step Insert for TestStand