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1) TestStand functions Time() and Date() only output local format; they should support both local and UTC format. (Like LabVIEW's Format Date/Time String)

 
2) TestStand configuration options should have a setting(s) for:
report time format local / UTC
datalogging time format local / UTC

 

 

It is common to want to place a shortcut to a TestStand User Interface or even a TestStand sequence file on the Windows Desktop for each user of a computer.  This is done by placing a shortcut in the Windows All Users Desktop directory.  Currently, the TestStand Deployment Utility only allows you to create a shortcut on the current user's Desktop.  It would be really nice if the TestStand Deployment Utility allowed you to also create shortcuts on the Windows All Users Desktop so that everyone using the computer could see this shortcut on his or her Desktop.

It would be nice to have an auto-incrementation option checkbox (like LabVIEW executable version).

 

And addindg the build index would be even better ...

 

hugo_fr_0-1647942208236.png

 

There is rudimentary Command Line Interface (CLI) integration in the TestStand Deployment utility.  Its undocumented, and is one flag.  "build".  Which is useful, but the fact that my only option to determine if the build succeeded is manually parse the build output log is cumbersome and error prone.

 

In a world where continuous automation and build automation are becoming daily buzzwords, additions to the CLI are sorely missing.

 

I don't necessarily need to be able to do much from the CLI, but having control and the ability to read back status on a build would be tremendous.

 

https://forums.ni.com/t5/NI-TestStand/Running-the-deployment-utility-from-the-command-line/td-p/1624948

It would be nice to be able to create installers from existing images that were created previously using the TestStand Deployment Utility.  It would also be nice to be able to pause the TestStand Deployment Utility between the image creation and the installer creation.

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.. 

 

🙂

The TestStand documentation describes the ControlExecFlow user subproperty as follows:

 

"User can control the flow of execution by setting breakpoints, single-stepping, and using the Set Next Step command. User can use the Run Mode command in a user interface. User can use the Run Mode command in the TestStand Sequence Editor but only if the EditSequenceFiles subproperty is also True."

 

This description should be amended to include the fact that the value of this subproperty also enables or disables options in run-time error dialogs (Retry, Ignore, Abort, and Break).  TestStand users will see run-time error dialogs with different options based on the value of this subproperty.

 

NOTE: The ControlExecFlow user subproperty description can be found in the online help under NI TestStand Environment Reference Help>>TestStand Sequence Editor Menus, Panes, and Windows>>Windows>>User Manager Window>>User and Group Privileges.

According to this forum discussion the Flow step types behave different compared to other step types, making customization hard:

 

http://forums.ni.com/t5/NI-TestStand/Where-does-logic-for-flow-control-step-types-live/td-p/2607349

 

Rectifying the behaviour of the Step types may be out of reach as this would dig too deep into architecture.

But there is a lack of documentation of the behaviour of these steps. E.g. just to mention the fact that step type functionality is in those cases tied to the step type name would help a lot.

I upgraded from TestStand 2019 SP1 to TestStand 2024 Q4 and the UI looks really bad, with black and white theme with icons not recognizable and hard to look at for longer periods.

1) Please add function to have themes for TestStand like Visual Studio, some examples:
Dark theme
Classic theme (Older version of TestStand)

2) Make it easier for users to change the UI and function to zoom in/out in TestStand (like it´s possible in newer versions of LabView).

Iam thinking about expressions field should have zoom in/out function.

 

3) Change it back how it was for showing Sequences and Variables (TestStand).
It´s not better to show only one or the other. I would like both to be shown at the same time as it was in previous TestStand versions.

Background

Under the Installer Options tab, there is a button called Advanced Options.... (help linked)and then a section for TestStand Specific Settings. This section allows a user to specify where the configuration files will be located when running the TestStand runtime engine on a deployment machine. See screenshot of help discription and then of the utility below:

Help

TestStand specific settings.PNG

 

 

Screenshot of Deployment Utility Section

Deployment Utility Advanced Options.png

 

Recommended Change to Documentation

When looking at the help documentation, it does not detail what each of the possible destination directories are pointing to. However, if we move to the Distribution Files tab section of the help, there is a detailed list. See this example link here https://www.ni.com/docs/en-US/bundle/teststand-api-reference/page/tsref/installation-destination-options-distributed.html

 

I recommend making a quick link to this same page to clarify the directories that can be specified for Cfg files.

For a mile long sequence, it would be nice to have a filter.

For example, I want to see only "Message Pop" steps, so I can eliminate/skip them to automate the sequence; or I want to skip all the subsequence calls for the first run after I made a lot of changes.

 

I know there is a distinct icon for each step type.  But for a long sequence, it's hard to catch all the steps I want to change.

For an easier debugging it would be good to have coloured lines for (nested) loops or the the possibility to hide the content on demand.

It would be great to have an option in the TestStand Deployment Utility to clear the ReloadLastWorkspaceAtStartup flag in the TestExec.ini file when making a deployment.  

 

I usually keep the flag set to save a step when developing code, but when I'm getting to the stage where I need to deploy to continue development and testing, not having this cleared results in an error that pops up on every first launch after installation.  

Like in MS Word there is Ctrl +G to go on particular line, Similar should be in NI TestStand to jump to particular step.

In the status below the editor we can see the Current Step Number. It shall be better if we can enter there a number and directly cursor goes to that particular Step.

 

Regards,

Priyank Soni