Does TestStand 2.0 have a user manager accessible through the base deployment engine?

[JPLugo]

I only see API calls to show add and edit users for the base deployment engine, but not a full user administrator like in the Sequence editor. Is this only available with the TestStand development env?

[Ryan Ramcharan]

Hello,

Yes you are correct in noting that the default Operator Interfaces in TestStand do not have a User Manager. It is important to note that the use of these Interfaces (LabVIEW, CVI, Visual Basic, Delphi) are for use on the production floor. As such they are mainly desinged to be used by operators. In general, there is no need to have a User Manager on the production floor for security purposes.

You can however, build a tool that would call the TestStand API and allow you to configure users on the deploment machine. The user manager is ONLY available in the Sequence Editor environment.

[Carlos L]

Dear JPLugo,

The User Manager is built into the Sequence Editor and therefore not accessible from any Operator Interface. However, as you mentioned in your e-mail, TestStand 2.0 provides API methods and properties to add, delete and show users. The existing User Manager is using these methods and properties to configure users. If you would like to have the capability of configuring users (add, delete, show...) through any of the Operator Interfaces, you would need to create a tool that invokes the correct TestStand API methods and properties. There is a shipping example that shows how to use the API to add and delete users located at:
\Examples\CreateDeleteUsers
You can use this example as a starting point. Then you can add it as a tool in TestSta
nd (Go to Tools>Customize...). The tools added this way will be available for use in any of the Operator Interfaces.
I hope this helps.

Regards,

Carlos Leon

[McGregorMortis]

I've been having this exact same problem. I want to deploy with the basic TestStand Engine and an operator interface, but I'm surprised to find that there's no way to edit the users or station globals.

Sure, I could write my own extensions to the operator interface. But that's a lot of work, and really, shouldn't these features be provided?. They seem like really basic, essential requirements to me. The user features and station globals are basically useless if you can't edit them.

Installing the Sequence Editor on every station is possible, except for significantly higher licence fee.

A suggestion for the next release, I guess.

- McGregor

[Dennis_Knutson]

Why do want to be able to edit users on every test station. You can make life simpler by putting your users.ini file in a network location and from Station Options>User Manager, point to that location. That way you only have to add users once and you can do that from the development system. Even if there's a reason to have different users for different stations, you could just copy the different users.ini files you create to the local TestStand directories on the test stations. I do that with the StationGlobals.ini file. I find it easier to have of my test stations use the same station globals. I define the unique ones as sequence file globals. When I do have to add a new station global, I take my local copy of StationGlobals.ini and just do a c
opy to all of the test stations. Personally, I much prefer the fact that users and station globals can't be edited by the operator interface. That's just one less thing I have to worry about the test operators getting in and changing something.

[McGregorMortis]

You're right, editing users in one shared file would be better.

But my point about station globals remains. If the point of station-globals is station-specific configuration of the test sequences (I'm using a station-global to specify the serial port resource string for the UUT) then you can't really expect to use the same globals.ini on all stations.

I don't see the security risk with having it in the operator interface, because presumably only "administrator" or a developer would have permission to make changes. Operators would be able to see the globals, but not edit them. Just like when you use the User Manager or Station Globals editors in SeqEdit.

- McGregor

[Dennis_Knutson]

My point about station globals is that StationGlobals.ini is easily changed with any text editor like Notepad and in my situation, once set up for a tester, hardly ever gets changed (in most of my testers I've had to make 2 changes in the last two years). And yes if there was "administrator" priveleges for making changes that might solve the security issue but I want a simpler operator interface - not one that does everything that the sequence editor does.

[Bob Balch]

In TestStand 3.0, there is a User Manager toolbar button and a link from the view menu. We are developing a custom user interface with certain look and feel requirements for our customer. We are modifying the full featured CVI operator interface example, which lacks the menu information for the User Manager. Surely there is a dialog box call for the User Manager,(which is implemented in the standard 3.0). What is that call, so we can add it to a menu?