TestStand best practices for distribution

[_xs_]

We're looking for best practices for distributing TestStand systems.  I've found the TestStand Style Guide but it's a little sparse on how to set up the distributed systems.  We're looking for guidelines on where to put configuration data, where to put sequence files, how to manage users, and similar. 

We'll be distributing systems to various contract manufacturers in China as well as using the systems in multiple locations in-house.

What have you done with distributions and what problems have you seen?

Right now we're planning to separate the Deployment Engine from our sequence files and putting all our configuration into our distribution kit for the Deployment Engine.

[Tyler T.]

The TestStand Reference manual provides good information on system distribution.  Chapter 14 : Deploying TestStand Systems covers the necessary information for distributing your TestStand application.  I do have a few suggestions and caveats:

(1)  Make sure you use a Work Space when distributing your files.  A Work Space makes it easy to package all of your files and dependencies.  Moreover, the distribution wizard provides a feature that displays all the files that will be included in the installation package into an easy to use Tree View.

(2)  TestStand currently does not look for embedded DLL dependencies.  So, if your code is calling a DLL module that calls a DLL module, be sure to include the embedded dependency DLL in your WorkSpace.

(3)  StationGlobals and Custom Data Types are usually missed in installation.  Be sure that you are including your StationGlobals.ini file and MyTypes.ini file from the Cfg directory into your installation workspace.

If you have more specific questions, please feel free to post them here!

Good Luck!

Tyler Tigue
Applications Engineer
National Instruments