Calling a custom substep?

[david_jenkinson]

Hello,
I'm a little stuck.

I've created a step type, whose default module is a subsequence.  I want to, based on the condition of a flag, either execute the subsequence as normal, or launch a subvi which will programmatically configure the subsequence.  MI'm not sure of the best way to go about this.  I'm thinking it would be nice to have the functionality contained within the step type, and somehow launch the custom substep vi associated with the step type, since the sequence name will also be a step property.  That way we don't have to worry about inserting certain "configure" steps in our custom subsequences, which would execute or not based on the flag.  I am not sure of the proper way to launch the custom substep based on a flag state.  Pre, post, and edit substep types are intuitive in where they launch.  I see no condition on which the custom substep is launched.  Can anyone help?

Thanks

[Ecleamus]

Hi David,

TestStand does not call Custom substeps. You use the TestStand API to invoke a Custom substep from a code module or an operator interface.

My suggestion would be to place the “configure” step in the Setup group of the subsequence simply because this is the purpose for which the Setup group was designed.

Have a great day,

Ecleamus Ricks, Jr.
National Instruments
Applications Engineer

Message Edited by Ecleamus R on 10-02-2006 01:05 PM

[david_jenkinson]

Yes this is something we've considered.   We have a number of "test case" sequences, in which there will be multiple custom sequence call steps, the step contents of which we want to configure one by one.  So if we put the configure in the setup of the test case sequence, we'd have to put that setup step in all of the test case sequences, which is something we have been trying to avoid, but I guess wouldnt' be that big of a deal.  It just seems less elegant in our situation somehow.  One idea we have is to configure as an edit substep of the sequence call step type to do the sequence content customization routine.  Another idea is to have a SequenceFilePreStep callback in each of the test cases, which could check to see if the step was executed interactively, and if so, ask if you want to configure the called sequence and launch a GUI to do so.  We are still weighing the pros and cons of each and would appreciate any input from anyone regarding this.

BTW the application is for an automated cell phone tester, and the custom sequences I'm speaking of are robot button pushes on the buttons, which are different from phone to phone to accomplish the same test case.

[Ecleamus]

David,

Sounds like an interesting test application 

I need to know more about your application because a more elegant solution may not be worth the effort. I’m curious, what will this custom substep actually do? Will it be the same configuration VI regardless of the sequence that is being called? If so, a callback wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Have a great day,

Ecleamus R