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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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I just switched from TS2019 to TS2023. I am not finding a way to configure the TS editor, witch is a hard to orientate flash of white and black screen. The color separation of the different panes, icons, step colors, fields and menues is not given and there are no clearly visible frames distinguished by backcolors. Working with this new GUI is tedious and not suitable, not suporting a rapid development idea. The attention of development shold be by the code and not by the absorbing search and brain consuming editor. How can I use the old 2019 condition gain? Could you please change this in the NEXT Teststand version?

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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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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Sequence Editor Public API

I would like to suggest adding a public API to the Sequence Editor in TestStand.

Recently, I watched a recording featuring members of the TestStand R&D team, where they explained that users often request various features in the Sequence Editor, even though they already have access to the TS API and TS UI Controls, which allow them to create their own custom user interfaces. Meanwhile, building a custom operating system just to play Heroes of Might and Magic is not standard practice — we buy a fully functional system and run the game on it. Similarly, when writing sequences in TestStand, we purchase a framework along with a ready-made GUI that should provide a comprehensive set of features for creating test sequences. The Sequence Editor is a paid tool, and since users pay for it, it should offer value out-of-the-box without requiring additional development of functionalities that users believe should already be standard.

For this reason, I believe that a paid GUI like the Sequence Editor should be enhanced with an API that allows programmatic control of its functionality.

Examples of functionalities that interest me:

Managing the Output Messages Pane
- Programmatically clearing messages.
- Exporting messages to a file.
- Opening or hiding the pane.
Managing UI Settings
- Programmatically loading a saved layout.
- Dynamically controlling the layout during runtime.
Changing Pane Colors
- Many users currently complain about the lack of a dark mode in TestStand. A partial dark mode can be achieved by changing the background colors of panes. Most (if not all) panes have a Color property that allows color changes, but for some reason, this doesn’t work in the Sequence Editor (I attempted to achieve this by retrieving references to panes through the Application Manager returned by Engine Internal Options, but unfortunately, without success).

These are just examples of features that would be useful to me today. However, long-time TestStand users could likely identify many more ideas for such API. A public API would open the door to much more advanced and personalized use of TestStand, while simultaneously increasing its value for a wide range of users.

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When user opens the Offline Processing Utility and at the same time starts to type on the keyboard the user can accidently rename the profile.

(Attached a screen-recording to visualize)

It would be great if there was no selected row or column when starting/opening ORPU. The renaming of the profile disturbs the production since the database logging will not work as expected.

When we start ORPU we already have the '/tray' enabled but somehow its still possible to accidently rename the Profile.

Let's say we have a parameter to a subsequence of a named type, and we want to create a so-named Local or FileGlobal with the same type.

One way to do this with our current workflow is to:

Type the same property name in the parameter value
Right-click the parameter
Click on "Create Locals.whatever"
mouse over the types menu
Glance through most of the types, select the custom type

I'm proposing a simpler workflow for cases when you just want to duplicate or "clone" the property with the same name and type in Locals or FileGlobals:

Right-click the empty parameter value
Select "Create Locals.whatever" or "Create FileGlobals.whatever"

The respective menu options would appear if the so-named variable does not already exist.

The subproperty is created in the Locals or FileGlobals with the same type as the parameter.

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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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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?

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

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.

Graphical distinguishing of menues, pains, borders, icons etc in Teststand sequence Editor

Right Click Paste into Message Popup Step

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

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

Sequence Editor Public API

Examples of functionalities that interest me:

No selection of any field inside Offline Processing Utility (ORPU) when application starts

Instantly Clone Subsequence Parameter as Local or FileGlobal

Remove need for AxExecutionViewMgr.ConnectExecutionView() in custom UI

Button timeout on Message Popup step

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

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

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