Best method to allow user interaction with a real-time sequence?

[ElectricWraith]

Hello all! I have a bit of an oddball problem here in that I need to find a way to allow user interaction (including message prompts) while running a real-time sequence.

Here's the setup:

1. My top-level application starts a TestStand sequence that opens a Veristand project, displays the workspace screen and starts the stimulus profile, which in turn runs a real-time sequence.
2. The RT sequence performs all the necessary setup and configuration tasks, and then holds the workspace open until the user clicks a 'Done' button (this is a temporary method of keeping the workspace open, I plan to implement a better one).
3. Once all the required tests are complete and the 'Done' button is clicked, the RT sequence will finish out, perform all its shutdown/cleanup tasks, and return to the TS sequence.

So, my problem is that I don't know of a way to prompt the operator to perform say, Action A, then Action B, etc., until all the required tests have been performed. This type of interaction is necessary because there are physical switches and the like that must be manually operated once the RT sequence is running, as well as lights and indicators whose function/timing the operator has to note. If this were just being done in TestStand it would be quite simple, but since it must be done once the RT sequence is running, it's a bit more difficult.

I'd really appreciate any and all suggestions you fine folks might have to offer.

Thanks!

[HollyBerry]

Hello!

There is not any built in functionality for real-time sequences to display a dialog box to the user.

However, this functionality is there at the Stimulus Profile editor level. You can use the Message Box Step in the Other category to display a pop-up message to the operator. This is actually a very common way to do this. It will however require you to break up your real-time sequence into smaller components so you can call pieces of the sequence between the prompts from the stimulus profile. 

Let me know if this is helpful to you or if you have further thoughts or questions!

[ElectricWraith]

Thanks for the reply. It seems that I'm moving towards ditching the Stimulus Profile completely and using only real-time sequences, however. I know that I can do most of, if not all, of what I need to accomplish from the TestStand sequence. All the Simulus Profile is doing for me right now is configuring the logging and calling the real-time sequence. If I do those things from TestStand, along with breaking up my real-time sequences, I think I'll be all set.

[Brokhin]

Hello ElectricWraith, 

did you end up using those boxes successfully in your project or did you found a better method? 

I'm facing up some similiar problems.

Thanks 

[ElectricWraith]

Brokhin,

I've taken a couple of different approaches, depending on whether or not I'm trying to debug things or run the RT sequence functionality from my top-level application. If it's the former scenario, I use the Stimulus Profile Editor and the VS Workspace to do everything manually. For the latter case, I ended up using TestStand and its native dialogs. I'm trying to minimize the use of the Stimulus Profile to the greatest extent possible, I hope to eliminate it completely. Everything that I would need to do in an RT sequence I now do in a TestStand "sub" sequence that gets called from my main TS sequence. I'm using the VS Custom Steps for TS, and while there's a bit more overhead involved in the initial development, I've found it much easier and a LOT more flexible than trying to use the Stimulus Profile Editor.

So, bottom line: Use the native dialogs in TS and the functionality they provide. You'll likely have to adjust things a bit, especially when it comes to logging, etc., if you're doing that via the Stimulus Profile Editor, but it can all be done in TS using the VS Custom Steps.

Let me know if you have any other questions, I'm happy to help out.

[Brokhin]

Well, Thank you for your reply.

I'd like to have a way directly in the Stimulus Profile Editor to do that, it's a pitty that it's not flexible.

I'll take your reply in account. 🙂 

Thanks again