Deployed TestStand Environments

[Mike Webster]

I spoke with an application developer last week and I was told that all customizations done to the teststand installation were stored in one of the following two directories:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\National Instruments\TestStand 4.2\Cfg

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\National Instruments\TestStand 4.2

with appropriate modifications for other OS's and Teststand version numbers, of course.

If I back these directories up and restore them into another install, all of my development environment should follow, right?  And by environment I mean things like custom data types, default station process models, station globals, modified button names, and other such things.

Assuming that is the case, I would humbly request that some method for backing up and restoring these configurations be added to Teststand.  While I could easily write a custom tool to backup and restore these directories, it would be a lot easier if a developer 5 years down the road could use a built-in feature to restore the environment for a given deployment without hosing the default settings on their development machine. 

[~jiggawax~]

You are correct in assuming that the backup will remain the same accross machines if you put the right files in the right folders.

NI has a product suggestion system that works really well.  http://digital.ni.com/applications/psc.nsf/default?OpenForm  This will go directly to the developers and I know they go through these periodically for new versions.  This is the best way to get them to hopefully add features.

Hope this helps,

[Dennis_Knutson]

If you are using a source code control program, then TestStand does support an automatic backup and restore process. If you aren't using source code control, then I would highly recomend you do so. Since a program like Tortise is free, there's no excuse no to use one.

[ADahl]

Along the same lines as this, I have a custom XML stylesheet that I want to use for reports on a deployed TestStand environment.  Is there a way to include that setting as part of the deployment, or do I need to manually change that setting on the deployment PC?

Thanks

[StevieZ]

The XSL files are stored in <TestStand>\Components\Models\TestStandModels\StyleSheets we recommend that if you plan on modifying them that you copy the files you want to modify and edit them in the <TestStand Public>\Components\Models\TestStandModels\StyleSheets directory then update the report options to use the new style sheet when generating XML reports. From here, assuming you are deploying your Cfg directory, all you need to do is make sure you add your Stylesheets directory to the deployment.

Regards,

Steven Zittrower

Applications Engineer

National Instruments

http://www.ni.com/support

[Josh_W]

In addition to copying the stylesheets themselves to the deployment machine, you also need to copy the setting that tells TestStand to use your stylesheet and not the default stylesheet.

This setting is stored in the TestStandModelReportOptions.ini file which you can find in the <TestStand Application Data>\Cfg folder as Steven alluded to above.  If you deploy this file, the setting will be transferred to the target machine.

If you want more information about what settings are stored in these configuration files, Chapter 8 of the TestStand Reference Manual contains a section detailing the data stored in these .ini files. 

Message Edited by Josh W. on 07-31-2009 12:58 PM

Message Edited by Josh W. on 07-31-2009 12:58 PM