How do I open a Teststand XML report file that is saved on the network.

[TestStandNUBe]

I have my test stand xml reports saved in a network folder. if I copy the file locally I can view them. If I try to open the files from their network location I get the following error "Access is denied. Error processing resource 'file:///C:/Program Files/National Instruments/TestStand 4.1.1/Components/Model..." Has anyone any ideas ??

[paulmw]

The report xml requires a stylesheet that is not getting copied over.  If you open you xml in notepad you will see a line something like this at the top:

<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="C:\Program Files\National Instruments\TestStand 4.0\Components\NI\Models\TestStandModels\StyleSheets\horizontal.xsl"?>

You need to copy that file to the path specified in the report or edit the report to point to the correct stylesheet.  All the stylesheet does if format the report xml for viewing.

[Josh_W]

There is a tool that ships with TestStand that will package your xml reports along with the stylesheets so that they can be viewed on any machine.  The tool is called XMLPack and is in the Tools menu as Package XML/HTML Files for Distribution…

See this KnowledgeBase for more information: How Do I View TestStand XML Report Files On Another Machine?

[terago]

Since the stylesheet is specified with an absolute path "C:\Program Files\...",

how come IE couldn't find the stylesheet file when the xml file is open on the network server and yet it was able to find it when open on the local machine?

The file does exist on my local C drive.

[Josh_W]

Because of security settings, when you open a file on a server (a remote location) it is generally not allowed to access files on your local machine.  While it is possible to change your Internet Explorer security options to allow this behavior, it's generally easier (and better practice) to use the tool to distribute your XML file with the XSL stylesheet.

[terago]

Thanks Josh. In my case, using XMLPack to fix the existing XML files is OK but for the future, I'm going to disable "Store absolute path" for the stylesheet and then copy the stylesheet to the same directory as the XML files on the server.

For a quick fix, do you know the exact IE security setting to enable it to open the local stylesheet file?