Make it possible to edit Stationglobals from the Teststand Base Deployment License

[MichaelMC]

I use the Stationglobals.ini to define my hardware settings on the test PC, like comport number and so on. It is running Teststand Base Deployment.

If I want to edit the settings it's only possible if I copy the stationglobals.ini to my development PC which has the full license, edits the settings, and then copies the file back to the test PC. Before I copy the file to my development PC I need to make a backup of the original file, so I don't get the settings on the development PC overwritten. Then afterwards I have to re-establish the backup.

This is a lot of copying back and forth, which is quite annoying.

Please make it possible to edit the Stationglobals.ini directly on the test PC with the Base Deployment Engine.

[RayFarmer]

You could try setting your StationGlobals file back to INI file format that way you can edit it in a normal text editor on your target machine.

But what's really needed is in the Deployment tool is to be able to deploy different configuration files when running the installer from say a custom option.

regards

Ray

[MichaelMC]

Thanks for your comment.

In my case it could be a USB serial port. When I plug it on the test PC I won't know in advance what comport number it becomes. So I need to configure that directly on the test PC.

It could also be the labelprinter that I use. I have to specify the IP address it has. Depending on the customer, they may want to change the IP address. I really don't want to tell them that I need to make a new deployment because they moved the printer to another IP.

Stationglobals in text format could be a solution, but I don't know the pros and cons with that.  

[RayFarmer]

Another alternate, you could provide a configuration sequence under the Config Menu, which you can run to set these parameters up once deployed. You can set it up so you have to have the right privileges to run this sequence.

Pros text format file: You can edit this in a text editor

Cons                     : any one could edit it, difficuilt to read.

[Manooch_H]

Michael -

From my point of view, you have two options for achieving this with the functionality currently available in TestStand.

1. Rather than changing TestExec.ini to INI format and directly modifying its contents, you could use the Property Loader step type to read a file that contains the updated values for the particular StationGlobal properties you would like to modify. The Property Loader step type would take care of updating the StationGlobals for you based on the values in the file. This file can be a .txt or .xls file that you can manually update at your leisure.

2. You can use the TestStand Get/Set API methods to update the StationGlobals programmatically. You can build logic into your test sequence to determine when to prompt the user for a dialog. This dialog would display the StationGlobals of interest and ask the user to provide updated values. Alternatively, similar to Ray's suggestion, you can create a configuration sequence which calls this dialog instead of building the logic directly into your test sequence.

I hope this helps.

Manooch H.

[MichaelMC]

Thanks for your replies.

I know there are a lot of different ways to make it work.

In my opinion, the use of a property loader would just be a secondary "config file" that you would have to manage.

I have several different systems running the base deployment, which have different hardware and configurations.

This makes it really a mess to copy back and forth.

I also know there is a function to export/import the stationglobals values, if the variable I want to change already exists.

If not, I can start copying back an forth again.

I just don't see the point of not beeing able to edit the stationglobals.ini from within Teststand base deployment.

Why make the limitations?

It would make it a lot easier if you could access it on the test machine.

[Josh_W]

There really is no limitation here. A TestStand deployement does not include a user interface unless you include it explicitly. You must choose which user interface you want to use. So if you want to be able to edit the station globals, just choose a UI that can do so.

Generally you don't want operators on a deployment machine to have free-form editable acess to anything, that's really asking for trouble.  It is better practice to restrict editing abilities to known avenues; this greatly reduces maintenance and troubleshooting.

However, if you require a troubleshooting tool for your own use to edit station globals yourself on a base deployment machine, you can create a custom user interface using the VariablesView control or use the Full-Featured UI (just copy the built .exe to the deployment machine or include it in your deployement). A similar tool exists for editing station configuration information: http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/epd/p/id/5242.

(I'm 99.9% sure you can use the VariablesView/Full-Featured UI in this way, but I don't have a deployment license to test with, so I can't check.)

[MichaelMC]

Ok, I guess it is not a base deployment issue. On the picture below I have opened the Full Featured Labview UI on my development pc. By the way, I'm running TestStand 4.1 on this pc.

As you can see, I can view the stationglobals values, but they are greyed out, and not editable.

So I guess I will have to modify the interface myself if I want to be able to edit it.

[dug9000]

MichaelMC,

It looks like you are running the UI in the wrong mode, that is why you cannot edit. There is an operator interface mode and an editor mode. You can switch it into editor mode programmatically, by using the /editor command line or with the hotkeys Ctrl+Alt+Shift->Insert.

Hope this helps,

-Doug

[MichaelMC]

YES!!

Thats what I was looking for!

Thank you very, very much.