NI TestStand Idea Exchange

TestStand File Diff and Merge Utility is not very useful for code reviews on its own.  It seems adequate for notifying the user that a sequence was added, however from the tool itself the user cannot actually review the newly added or removed sequence's contents.  Why is there no + on the item tree to go deeper.

Alternatively:

If I have to right-click a sequence and select "Go to location" then why bother with the separate tool to begin with?  Why isn't the diff utility integrated into TestStand's sequence editor itself?  Seems like a side-by-side comparison within Sequence Editor would allow a reviewer to poke and prod around all the hidden settings that are often missed using the existing utility.

Hello,

CSV Input Stream allow to parse CSV files to input data into a Stream Loop for instance. By default, the separator is a comma (,). I use a non english version of Excel to edit a CSV file, and every CSV format write a semi-colon as separator (;):

A;0;0;2
A;10;30000;5
A;20;15;7
B;75;42;1
B;100;12;0

Using an expression, I am able to dynamically (at run-time) change the property SeparatorChar:

Locals.MyInputStream.AsCsvFileInputRecordStream.SeparatorChar = ";"

I think it could be more convenient to have a direct access to this parameter in the configuration pane, allowing also to check the content of the file  before execution with Parse Record Prototype funtions.

Best regards,

TestStand's LabVIEW interface could benefit by being able to programmatically get and set LabVIEW Class Objects using the Get Property Value.vi and the Set Property Value.vi.

After much toil with this subject, I've finally come to the conclusion that I cannot get a LabVIEW Class Object from TestStand using LabVIEW. I've tried both the Get Property Value.vi and a combination of property and invoke nodes to no avail.

There are many reasons why TestStand is not my language of choice....  I will start with this one...  The TestStand Version Selector needs improvements.

If the users are to base the reliability on the interface, then the TVS needs to be much more reliable.  When switching from one version to another, the version selector hangs more often than being able to accompish its task.  The TVS just sits there pretending to do something...  well... it probably was doing something, decided it was lost and then decided to sit and watch the CPU clock cycles go by...

I usually kill the task and try again... By the 3rd attempt, it will somehow manage to switch versions.  These attempts give me enough time to write this idea.. After killing the application, I always get the "Unable to determine the current TestStand version" message.  This is usually a good sign as the next attempt will probably be a lucky one.

I decided to search the forum to see if others had issues with TVS, and of course, I was not alone.  Se the links below:

http://forums.ni.com/t5/NI-TestStand/Operation-failed-popup-when-using-TestStand-Version-Selector/m-p/2354516/highlight/true#M40275

Josh W is not a novice at TestStand...

http://forums.ni.com/t5/NI-TestStand/Problem-launching-TestStand-2012/m-p/2401666/highlight/true#M40716

http://forums.ni.com/t5/NI-TestStand/Microsoft-Visual-C-run-time-error/m-p/860288/highlight/true#M23219

Just how long is being patient?  I have waited more than an hour (during lunch) and it still does not swap versions...

I do realize that most issues are related to microsoft visual studio or visual C++, but TSV needs to tell us what is going on or why it is not able to switch version.  After all, once it finally changes versions, TestStand is fine.  No changes to the PC or any software installation.  So the issue clearly points to TVS.

When you improve the TestStand Version Selector, can you also improve the time it takes to change versions?  I realize it's too late to improve the architecture of the language where different version could co-habitate together, like LabVIEW, but at least make it a bit faster.. 

Now that it has selected the approrpiate version, I shall stop my rant... I mean idea and get back to work.

Hopefully all the people who share the same concern will kudo this idea.. 

🙂

Imagine the scenario where you have some custom types files and you want to validate those types are in good shape.  So you want to run the TestStand "Sequence" Analyzer utlity on them.

To do this, I need to create an arbitrary analyzer project, make sure it is configured to analyze the type palettes, and then run that analyzer project. 

If I were doing a 1-off sequence file, I can just open the sequence file and click the Start Analysis button (don't need to create an analyzer project if I just want to accept all the normal defaults).  However, if I open the types palette I can't select the types file I am interested in and just hit the Start Analysis button (it's disabled). 

I'd love to be able to have the "start Analysis" button enabled and work if I am in the types palette, and have it just analyze the types file I have selected.  Or analyze StationGlobals if I am in the station globals window.  Or users configuration if I am in the user manager.