Overview of LabVIEW Version of TestStand OI

[mrbean]

I'm trying to understand the LabVIEW version of the TestStand 3.5 Operator Interface.  I'm unable to get a clear picture of how everything flows, let alone customize it.  I've attached the AboutBox.vi.  I have a couple of questions about it, but one overall question is, does there exist a good diagram/document that shows how things flow within the TS OI?

About the AboutBox, I noticed that in the block diagram, the Application Manager exists.  Can there ever be more than one instance of it at any one time?

In the Block Diagram, there are a number of labels (in the upper left) that aren't connected to anything, then there are some (like Engine Version, License Info) that are.  Why is that?

[JonathanN]

Hi mrbean,

Unfortunately there is not a diagram out there that describes the flow of how an operator interface works. Your best option of learning how operator interfaces function is to play around with them and refer to the TestStand Reference Manual that is included in the TestStand Bookshelf located at Start >> All Programs >> National Instruments >> TestStand >> Online Help.  If you would like, you could make a product suggestion at www.ni.com >> Contact NI >> Product Feedback.

To answer your second question, your application can only have one Application Manager control that exissts for the duration of the operator interface. If you have more than one instance, you will receive a message stating that you have multipe instances open.  

To answer your third question, those labels you see (Your Logo Here, Company, etc) are simply just TestStand UI Label Controls. These controls have an activeX caption property that contains a tag which is associated with Resource Strings. So, for example the Your Logo Here control has a tag named YOUR_LOGO_HERE. TestStand then looks into Resource String Files (<TestStand>\Components\User\Language\English and then refer to the UIControlOperatorInterfaceStrings.ini) for that tag and grabs the associated string with it. The format of resource string files is

[Category]

tag1 = "string value1

Refer to the TestStand Reference Manual for further detail.

So you simply edit these resource strings in the ini file to inlude your information. See the attached screenshots for further help!

Hope this helps!

Best Regards,