NI TestStand Idea Exchange

When putting values into an array of number local variable, there is little documentation specifying the correct way to input values in an array. The documentation needs to be improve and/or the error message that pops when evaluating your statement should be fixed to better demonstrate the problem. The current error states "Variable or property types do not match or are not compatible. This value will cause a run-time error." A getting started documentation that addresses variable syntax would also be helpful, these ideas will improve ease of use for people working in TestStand. The typical syntax when working with arrays is the use of a bracket [] and the error that appears when using a bracket for arrays is even less helpful. Attached is an image of an example of the fixed error that would demonstrate this problem more thoroughly (The red highlighted section would be a potential change to the errors).

The Update VI Calls tool only works on sequence files right now.  I'd like it to also work on Step Types in type palettes.

Here's the situation where it would be useful for me: I'm working on a set of custom step types for a customer, which use VIs as Edit-Substeps and Post-Substeps. Some of these VIs are shared between multiple step types.

The issue that I'm having is that if a customer requests a change to one of these shared VIs (for instance, to add another input or output), then I have to go through and manually update all of the substeps in all of the referencing step types. I've already had a situation where I missed an update of an edit substep. This didn't show up in our automated testing, because it is only run at edit time, but caused an error for the customer which they didn't know how to interpret. Our testing process now has to include manual opening of every single edit substep to make sure they all still work before every release.

As part of my validation before a release to the customer, I run the Update VI Calls tool to make sure that there are no broken VIs in the sequence files I'm shipping. The Update VI calls tool already makes sure that I've updated any step modules, but it doesn't catch if I've forgotten to update a Step Type's substeps.

And yes, I know, I could write my own tool to traverse a type palette and do the updating myself, but I'd like to see this integrated into the existing tool.

Hi,

Recently I've discovered that it would be very useful if developers can have a function which allows them to re-initialise all variables and limits containers for all test steps to the default value.

By default value I mean the state as the variables and limits containers are just after the sequence file is open.

This function would be used in the situation when the test station is testing a lot of DUTs one after another and as a result of this the MainSequence is called, but not re-loaded, every DUT tested. Without this function, as it is now, developer have to explicitly reinitialise all variables they are interested in. However, it causes the risk of forget to refresh/reinitialise some variables, which could lead to long and costly debugging.

Proposal (sudo code):

FileGlobals.ReinitialiseToDefault()

Locals.ReinitialiseToDefault()

ResultsContainers.ReinitialiseToDefault()

LimitsContainers.ReinitialiseToDefault()

It looks like to implement it on the sequential model needs a lot of modifications. http://forums.ni.com/t5/NI-TestStand/Loading-default-limits-for-every-execution/m-p/2943434/highlight/false

Often, multiple sequence files are deployed on the same test computer.  A convenient way of differentiating between them is by changing their icons.  Although this can be accomplished through custom commands invoking VBScript, it would be nice if the TestStand Deployment Utility provided native support for customizing the icon of a deployed sequence file.