01-07-2021 01:29 PM
I'd like to know what the "Edit Module Prototype" disable option does for custom sequence steps. I cannot find any documentation and cannot figure it out.
What I was hoping it would do is disable the option to change which vi was selected on the "Module" tab for the step configuration, but this does not appear to be the case, as I can still change which vi this custom step is pointed at... if anyone knows a good way to use the Module tab but prevent other developers from changing which vi the custom step uses (i.e. - make sure that my "test vi.vi" is always the code module for this custom step), that would be much appreciated!
01-08-2021 04:23 PM
You really want the Specify Module to be checked if you don't want them to change the module. Setting these flags to checked is disabling them.
For the Edit Module Prototype that applies to the sequence adapter. It makes it so the developer can't change the prototype:
You can see how that check box is grayed out.
01-08-2021 06:09 PM
Thank you for the quick rely! That does help my understanding.
I tried to disable the "Specify Module" option as you mentioned, but that appears to remove the "Module" tab entirely. Unfortunately, this is not quite what I'm hoping to achieve. I am looking for a way to have my custom sequence step type specify a specific vi to run (in the example, "test vi.vi"), but allow for TestStand developers to pass in whatever variables they want (ie - Numeric Control input = 2). In short, I want custom sequence steps to specify the vi to call ("test vi.vi"), but keep it parameterized so that when it's used in different parts of the sequence you can input and output different parameters (so perhaps Numeric control = 2, 999, Locals.MyNumber etc).
I know I can create a Post-Step Substep, but it looks like I then need to use Step Variables for the input/output parameters. That's fine, but there doesn't seem to be an easy way to integrate these into a sequence's local variables without requiring the TestStand Developer to write a bunch of Pre Expressions to move Local variables into the Step variables and vise versa after the step executes in the Post Expression, which seems highly error-prone. Does this particular problem make sense, and do you know of any solution?