NI TestStand question(s)

[NorthCountryJoe]

I have seen TestStand work and played with it briefly down at NIWeek. I understand it can do great things and I understand some folks don't care for it.

What I would like to know is, If I have a test to run and I need to repeat the test with 15 different voltage inputs, at four different temperatures, with six different load settings...can I program TestStand to do that? Will it run the test once for each input change combination?

I may have more questions later.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice/answers you can give me.

Joe

[Mark.Ridgley]

Joe,

TestStand is the perfect tool for the type of testing that you described in your post.

TestStand is very powerful and highly customizable which is precisely why most new TestStand users run into problems. There is a significant learning curve, but in my opinion it is worth it in the end because you'll end up with a system that is flexible and maintainable.

What is your other option for running your test? If you are considering building your own test executive, you might want to consider the amount of time and effort that you'll need to put into developing that portion of your software -- and the result will not be as capable as what you'd get if you were to run TestStand out of the box. Take a look at this article about the tradeoffs of building your own test executive.

Here's an evaluation guide that might help you get started.

You can also download an evaluation version of TestStand and try out some of the example code. On that same page, there are also some links to a few videos that might give you some additional insight.

Hope this helps.

Mark Ridgley

[prcatk]

Joe,

As Mark said-TestStand is perfect for what you describe. TestStand can do looping and parameter ( assuming you have VI's to control voltages, temps and loads) passing/manipulation as needed. What type of data output are you looking at? The reporting features are pretty extensive and it's fairly easy to send the output to a database if required. It is also possible to drive the test limits from a data file or database as required.

I've been using TestStand for several years so if you have any questions let me know.

Paul R.Cole