Multiple NI_Types.ini

[HarveyL]

Hello,

I've installed multiple projects, each with its own "ProjectName"_Types.ini definition, on a single PC. As a result, a "Conflict Type in File" dialog box will appear when I start to run TestStand. Is there any certain approach that I should follow in order to maintain multiple projects on the same platform ? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Harvey

[Aaron B.]

Hello Harvey,

It is important to note that whenever you add a step to a sequencefile, TestStand automatically checks to see if that type is included in the SequenceFile Types. If not, it adds it. So when you run steps, you are never accessing information from your type palette or INI files at all, just the copies of those types defined in the sequencefile itself.

That being said, I found a way to programmatically load and unload INI files from the Type Palette. As long as you do not need to have INI files with conflicting type information open at the same time, you can dynamically load the INI information that you need and unload it when you are done.

I have attached the code to this post. It is a sequencefile. It overrides the two engine callbacks, SequenceFileLoad and SequenceFileUnload. In the loading sequence, it programmatically reads in the information from a type INI file and adds it to the TypePalette Array that the Engine references. In the unloading sequence, it removes that information. You will need to change the FileGlobal, "INI_path", to point to the INI file that you would like to load for a given sequencefile.

Thank you for contacting National Instruments. Please let me know if you have any questions about this example. Take care and have a great weekend!


Regards,

Aaron B.
National Instruments

[HarveyL]

Hi Aaron,

Many thanks for your reply and the attached sequence file. It clears out many of my questions regarding type definition.
However, another question pops up based on what you've explained to me. By default, when I install TestStand, the file NI_Types.ini is created in the directory C:\TestStand\Cfg\TypePalettes\. Since TS never access information from my type palette or INI files, can I delete the file NI_Types.ini ? Thus, when I run a particular sequence file, it can use its own type definition and eliminate the Type Conflict error. Also, there's no need to programmatically load and unload INI files from the Type Palette in order to maintain multiple sequence files on the same platform. Is this assumption correct Aaron ?

Regards,
Harvey

[Adam B.]

Harvey,

Aaron is out of the office on business this week. You pose an interesting concept, one of which I have never really thought of before. After doing some testing though, I've determined that you can indeed delete the type palettes and still be able to run your sequences. Obviously, you will not be able to do any development after these have been deleted (unless you restore them) but you can run using just the versions that are included with the sequence file. Hope this helps, let me know if you have any more questions. Thanks and have a great day.

Adam B.
Applications Engineer
National Instruments