How to Adapt the Default VI Analyzer Test for Custom Use?

[mclordo]

I'm trying to create a VI Analyzer test that checks for the presence of a specific bookmark tag, namely #todo and flag it.
There is already a built-in VI Analyzer test called Approved Bookmark Tags, but it works the other way around: it flags any bookmark that is not in the approved list.

My idea was to simply copy the existing test into the user test directory and modify it accordingly. However, the problem is that the test is part of a password protected library, so I can't directly edit the VIs. To work around this, I'd have to manually copy the contents of each VI into new, editable VIs and recreate the structure - which feels wrong and cumbersome.

Is there any recommended way to go about customizing these built-in tests? Has anyone done something similar?

Thanks in advance!

[Darren · Accepted solution]

As a general rule, making a copy of the licensed VI Analyzer Toolkit tests and modifying that copy is not supported.

But based on your description, doesn't the 'Approved Bookmark Tags' test already accomplish what you want? If you have a VI with a #todo bookmark, and you run the test right now, it would return that #todo bookmark as a failure. Am I misunderstanding what you're looking for?

[mclordo]

Thanks for the clarification regarding modification of the VI Analyzer Toolkit tests, good to know.

The issue is that developers within our team use a wide variety of bookmarks. This means that anything not explicitly listed would be flagged as a false positive by the default test, or we’d have to maintain a long list of all acceptable tags just to avoid noise.

Since I’m only interested in detecting the #todo bookmark, I thought customizing the test would be the quicker route.

But I see now that this is actually a good opportunity to standardize the use of clearly defined bookmark tags across the team. Thanks again!

[Darren]

Sure thing. Also, that entire test is unlocked (i.e. not password-protected), so there's nothing stopping you from creating your own new test inspired by the original. Here's where you can access the source code for the test:

C:\Program Files\NI\LVAddons\viawin\1\project\_VI Analyzer\_tests\Documentation\Developer\Approved Bookmark Tags.llb

Note that the vast majority of the code in there is supporting the configuration UI. The actual test code itself is very simple and can be found in Approved Bookmark Tags.vi.