How do you interface a LabVIEW User interface in TestStand

[MatthieuD]

Hi Guys,

I'm building a test software using LabVIEW and TestStan. However, I'm facing some problems.

One is that I would like to launch a test sequence from a file selection done in LabVIEW, and not through the activex Control. The reason behind this is that the user has to enter a PN in a field, and this will lead to a Database search finding the Sequence name (filename) and other information. I tried to invoke the opensequence method in LabVIEW to pass this data (sequence name) to TestStand, but it won't work...

Is it also possible to execute several VI in parallel in TestStand? I need to verify daily that my Test system is ready to run, and checks some parameters on various GPIB+PXI equipment. This can be done in parallel as I don't have any UUT connected.

I hope you can help me on this.

Matthieu

[~jiggawax~]

Hey Matth,

I think I understand you.....Basically, you have a UI written in LabVIEW.  From the UI you call some LV code that allows the user to input a PN which based on the PN searches a databse for a particular sequence (with some other info) and then that sequence is loaded, opened and ready to run or it automatically runs.  Why can't you load it into the activex control?  You still have to use activex commands no matter what.  It is the only way to interface with the TestStand engine.  I assume the activex control you are talking about is the Sequence File View Manager.  You can set the sequence file by using a property node for that control.  So basically after you get a reference to the sequence file based on the stuff returned from the database then you can set the Sequence File View Manager to have that file loaded.  BTW are you using the simple or full featured UI?  Or are you creating your own from scratch?

It is possible to execute several VIs in parallel in TestStand:

Insert Step>>LabVIEW Utility>>Run VI Asynchronously   OR  you can create a subsequence (containing your VIs) and call it in a new thread or execution.

Some information on calling VIs in parallel:

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/0C7B4F458C0E825186256E20007C4D94

Hope this info helps,

[MatthieuD]

Hi Jigg,

Thank you very much for your answer!

You understood me perfectly, the goal is to have a quite simple OI made in LabVIEW, so the operator has not too much trouble doing it's job. The OI I'll use to base my codewill probably be the simple OI, as this contains all the required things I need (or nearly).

I tried to find the right property for loading and launching the sequence file, but I need to dig a little bit more into it. To be honest, I tought about ActiveX for calling the sequence and so on, but I forgot the property node completely . (if you have an example, it's always welcome

Matth

[~jiggawax~]

I currently do not have an example that demonstrates this.  The best thing to look at would be the Simple OI code here: C:\Program Files\National Instruments\TestStand 4.0\UserInterfaces\User\Simple\LabVIEW

And then to look at the engine method NewExecution in the TS help:

NewExecution Method

Syntax

Engine.NewExecution ( sequenceFileParam, sequenceNameParam, processModelParam, breakAtFirstStep, executionTypeMaskParam, [sequenceArgsParam], [editArgsParam], [InteractiveArgsParam])

Return Value

Execution

Purpose

Creates and returns a new Execution object.

Remarks

When you call this method, the execution begins immediately.

Sequence editor and user interface programs use this method to run sequences.

Hope that help out,

[Joe_H]

Here is the code to load the sequence file. Use the Test UUT's or the single pass of the UI to run it. I had to figure out all of this stuff since I was not able to use either of the OI's supplied by NI.

The two globals are just references to each of the specific ActiveX controls.

Message Edited by Jhoskins on 11-01-2007 09:32 AM