CVI Test Executive Deployment GUI remains minimised for some reason!!

[AhmedIssa]

Hi all,

I have seen this problem for over a year. I deploying my sequences and used the full feature CVI as the GUI for running tests on the deployment machine. Everything runs normally and as expected. Sometimes when I minimise the Test Executive window, I can't bring it up again. The test keeps running normally but I can't see the GUI.

I tried using ALT+TAB, task manager to switch to the window, right click on the taskbar and select Restore.. Nothing works.

It's annoying since, the only solution right now is to shut down (close) the Test Executive and start it again and be careful not to minimise it again!

My colleagues at work have faced the same issue before. Has any one seen this bug before?

Thanks,

Ahmed.

[John.P]

Hi Ahmed,

I have had a look into this for you and unfortunately I have not been able to find any previous report of this issue, or a likely solution.

The most obvious reason for this to happen would be that the application is using up 100% of the cpu processing time and as a result the GUI is not updated.  This does not seem to be the case however as you can still bring up the task manager etc.

Does anything else in windows lock up or is the rest of the system fine, just unable to restore this application?

What is the cpu usage of the machine during the tests? Does this change when the application is minimised?

Are you sure the test is still running correctly?

Does the test have any pop-up menus?  These can cause issues if the program is waiting for a user input, but the window is not visible.

Has this happened on multiple deployment machines or just this one?

Have your colleagues only had this problem with this one application or does it happen with multiple applications?

Hopefully we can narrow down this issue for you!

Thanks for your help,

Best regards,

John

[AhmedIssa]

Hi Ahmed,

Hi John, thanks for the reply.. my answers are below in blue

I have had a look into this for you and unfortunately I have not been able to find any previous report of this issue, or a likely solution.

The most obvious reason for this to happen would be that the application is using up 100% of the cpu processing time and as a result the GUI is not updated.  This does not seem to be the case however as you can still bring up the task manager etc.

I haven't seen that the application is using 100% of cpu capacity. The application is using about 5 to 15% of cpu capacity.

Does anything else in windows lock up or is the rest of the system fine, just unable to restore this application?

Everything else is fine, only the TestExecutive application locks on the PC. 

What is the cpu usage of the machine during the tests? Does this change when the application is minimised?

I haven't paid attention to this before. I will report it when it happens again. 

Are you sure the test is still running correctly?

Yes, the test continues normally. I can see that from report files and monitoring instruments and unit under test. 

Does the test have any pop-up menus?  These can cause issues if the program is waiting for a user input, but the window is not visible.

I use LabVIEW pop-ups and they work fine during this problem. I am sure that TestStand pup-up will work fine too whilst the TestExcutive is hidden. A colleague of mine used them.

Has this happened on multiple deployment machines or just this one?

Have your colleagues only had this problem with this one application or does it happen with multiple applications?

This problem happened on different machines with different deployed applications. My understanding that it is not affected by the sequence that we run but with the CVI package. 

Hopefully we can narrow down this issue for you!

I know after my answers it has become more baffling! But I was hoping that somebody had the same problem and got a fix from NI.

Thanks for your help,

Best regards,

John

Cheers, Ahmed

Message Edited by AhmedIssa on 04-15-2009 11:24 AM

Message Edited by AhmedIssa on 04-15-2009 11:26 AM

[TSJim]

I've seen the same thing happen when I switch from dual screens to a single screen in Windows XP.  It appears that the application does not open when selecting it in the taskbar and I either have to re-enable dual screen (desktop/properties/settings) or close and re-launch the application. 

 Jim

Message Edited by TSJim on 04-15-2009 01:03 PM

[John.P]

Hey Ahmed,

Does you application use the panel attribute ATTR_WINDOW_ZOOM at all?

I found an old corrective action request where a similar problem would occur and it was narrowed down to this function.

What version of CVI are you using?

Thanks,

John

[AhmedIssa]

Hi Jim,

This is very interesting.. I don't have dual screen feature on my machine. I've just checked my desktop/properties/settings, there is only one screen mode. Dual screen mode will only appear if I connect another monitor to the machine.

Could this be the reason? I am wondering if NI engineers built the CVI code based on two monitors connected to the machine? 

I'll keep this in mind next time I get the error. I'll connect anothe monitor and see if this solves the problem.

Thanks,

Ahmed.

[AhmedIssa]

Hi John,

I am not sure how to answer your question! I am using the CVI user interface that comes with the TestStand package. If you have it installed, you can find its folder here:

<C:\Program Files\National Instruments\TestStand 4.0\UserInterfaces\NI\Full-Featured\CVI>. In this folder there is a c code and h file. I did a quick search for <ATTR_WINDOW_ZOOM> but didn't find any instances inside them. 

When I deploy a TestStand project, I simply select this component to go with the installer. On the deplyment machine I will have the CVI interface to run the sequences. The attached image is the help/about of the CVI TestExecutive GUI on the deplyment machine.

Hope this helps somehow. If there is another way of getting the CVI version do let me know.

Thanks,

Ahmed.

[TSJim]

Ahmed,

One simple test to see if it is dual screen related is to right click on the application in the task bar, select 'restore'(if avaialable, skip this step if it is not) then right click again and select 'move' in the context menu, then hit the right or left arrow key on the keyboard and see if the window moves into view. 

Thanks,

Jim

[John_Sch.]

I have seen a similiar problem.  My application is built only with cvi (no teststand).  I have narrowed it down to a dll (also created in cvi) that displays a gui.