changing text of Entry Point 1 Button in CustomStrings.ini doesn't work

[Roger_C]

Hello,

To change the text on the Entry Point 1 Button (Test UUTs) and Entry Point 2 Button (Single Pass) of the Operator Interface I added the following to the CustomStrings.ini

TEST_UUTS = "Start Test"
SINGLE_PASS= "Start Single Pass Test"

The CustomStrings.ini is the <TestStand Public>\Components\Language\English directory (C:\Users\Public\Documents\National Instruments\TestStand 2010\Components\Language\English on VISTA)

When I copy ModelStrings.ini to <TestStand Public>\Components\Language\English and modify the two keys it works ... I thougt I had to add strings I want to change to CustomStrings.ini ... Or do I miss something?

I'm using Teststand 2010 and LabVIEW 2010

Thanks

-Roger

[Teds]

I think the easiest way to change a button is to modify its properties and not change the CustomStrings.INI file.  Although, it does sounds like you are doing the right think in your scenario.

To change the text on Execution Entry Point button I would use the Property Browser of the button.

Right Click on the Button on your Operator Interface and select 'Property Browser'.  Change the Caption item to what you want displayed.

Thanks,

PH

[~jiggawax~]

Hey Buster,

If you right click on your entry point in your model and select Sequence Properties you will see a dialog with two tabs.  Click the Model tab and look in the Entry Point Name Expression box.  That is where the name for your buttons and menu items is getting pulled from.  In the default case you will see a ResStr function.  More on Resource Strings can be found here: http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/3650  as well as the TestStand help.

What you can do is just type something like "Start Test" in that box.  This should do it.

However, I should say that I agree with Teds in this case that you are doing it correctly.  Resource Strings are the right approach.  I'm guessing that you are missing something.  When the ResStr function gets called the first parameter refers to the Category and the second parameter the Tag.  So I'm thinking in your case that you have two Categories named the same thing with the same Tags in them in different files and TestStand just grabs the first one.

[James_Grey]

"So I'm thinking in your case that you have two Categories named the same thing with the same Tags in them in different files and TestStand just grabs the first one."

That is how it is supposed to work, except the strings under <TestStand Public> always take precedence.

I suspect the original poster was not using the same category in the custom strings file and thus was not replacing the existing strings.

[~jiggawax~]

James,

I'm not used to Windows 7 yet... 🙂

What happens if I have two ini files in the public folder with the same Category?

[James_Grey]

It the string tags in the category don't overlap, they are all loaded. If a string overlaps, TestStand will choose one.

I would classify that situation as a programming error. The strings should not overlap unless one instance is under <TestStand Public> and the other is under <TestStand>.

- James

[RayFarmer · Accepted solution]

Remember to also add the heading TAG in CustomStrings.ini as well. Its the same heading TAG that you found in ModelString.ini for those resourse strings

[heading TAG]

TEST_UUTS="...."

SINGLE_PASS="...."

[Roger_C]

Thanks guys for the answers!

It works now. Some things I noticed:

- I had to close the LabVIEW project before changes in the ini files were loaded on the LabVIEW Operator Interface. It also looks like when you don't exit the Standard Teststand Editor (I had it opened to make changes to sequences) changes in the ini files are not loaded on the LabVIEW Operator Interface. I think maybe this has something to do with the fact that the TestStand engine is not reloaded but re-used from memory ... ?

- If both CustomStrings.ini and ModelStrings.ini exist the <Teststand Public> directory it looks like ModelStrings.ini is preferred by TestStand. 

- Changing the Caption in PropertyBrowser of the control had no effect. When the Operator Interface starts the Teststand Engine, the captionsnames made inside  are overwritten by the tags in CustomStrings.ini or ModelStrings.ini in the <TestStand Public> directory or the original ModelStrings.ini in <TestStand Public>

Also like  Ray mentioned when you add tags in the CustomStrings.ini the [heading TAG] is needed.

The original problem was caused by this absence of the [heading TAG] in combination with the fact that I must close the LabVIEW project to have the Teststand Engine reload the tags from the CustomStrings.ini.

Thank you all for the help!

-Roger

[~jiggawax~]

The heading Tag is actually called a category as James and I were referring to earlier.