.NET GUI interface for TS sequence

[MihirKiran]

Hi,

I'm using TS 2014 and have Visual Studio 2010 & 2012. We are currently using a LabView GUI that interacts and fetches data from a teststand sequence and displays it on screen. But we're also thinking about pursuing a .net GUI - I'm not familiar with .net at this point,so any help will be greatly appreciated.

Basic Functioning: The .NET GUI needs to get the data to be displayed from TestStand sequence. Info like serial no, pass/fail, timestamp, operator ID need to be obtained from the sequence. More Importantly, with the click of a "Start" button on the GUI, teststand needs to execute the sequence in the background and spit out the required data to the .NET GUI.

IS there a sample code on how to go about this? What needs to be done to invoke teststand in the background and let it run without the user getting to see the teststand sequence? he should only have access to the .net GUI.

[~jiggawax~ · Accepted solution]

I recommend that you use UI Messages to get data from your sequence file to the UI.  Here is some info about it: http://www.ni.com/tutorial/4532/en/

I know that document points out how to do it in LabVIEW and CVI but you can achieve the same thing in .NET.

When you install TestStand there are 10 GUIs that get installed for TestStand.  5 are called simple UIs and 5 are called full featured UIs.  You would most likely want to start with the simple UI.  All of the source code for them are installed as well.  They are written in the following languages: C#, VB.NET, LabVIEW, CVI and C++.

If you go to the following folder you will find the source code for the C# simple UI:

C:\Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\<TestStand>\UserInterfaces\Simple\CSharp

The simple UI doesn't utilize custom UI Messages but you can add them if you edit the code.  Just read the article I linked above.

BTW- I will be doing a presentation at NI Week this year on simplifying the UI in TestStand.

Hope this helps,

[MihirKiran]

@jiggawax

Thank you for the reply. I took a look at the examples and I notice how the vb.net UI shows the execution of the TS seq in the UI. How can I display different info in there? For ex. instead of showing the TS seq running, how do I show the value of a variable? or a bunch of data from my sequence?

When I look at the example you mentioned, I get the feeling that it's still running test stand but the interface is .net. Instead, I don't want the user to see the TS execution.

I posted a sample GUI that I want my TS seq to interface and update the pass/fail LEDs and show execution progress % as test goes by..

[~jiggawax~]

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@MihirKiran wrote:

 How can I display different info in there? For ex. instead of showing the TS seq running, how do I show the value of a variable? or a bunch of data from my sequence?

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This can be achieved through UI Messages.  One idea is to send the sequence context as a UI Message and then you can monitor any data you'd like in that context.