No progress indicator or report for Tools menu sequence execution?

[Bob Rafuse]

I have a sequence that I call from the TestStand customized Tools menu.
This sequence generates custom reports on sequences. The report generation
process can take anywhere from 10 to 60 seconds (there are DB queries
involved).

I hoped to use the TestStand progress indicator to display the report
generation progress and the Report.Load method to display the report to the
user when its done.

If I set a breakpoint on the first step of the report generation sequence
and run it, everything works as expected after I proceed from the break
point. The progress indicator comes up and updates itself. And the
operator gets a copy of the report in the Report tab of the execution
window.

However, if I don't set a bre
akpoint, an execution window never pops up. No
progress indicator, no report when done.

I assume its got to do with interactive v. non-interactive execution. Is
there a way to force a Tools menu sequence to execute as an interactive
execution so I get the execution window to pop up?

--
Bob Rafuse
Etec, Inc.

[James_Grey]

I think tool menu items are run with the ExecTypeMask_InitiallyHidden and ExecTypeMask_TracingInitiallyOff flags passed to the executionTypeMaskParam parameter to Engine.NewExecution. Thus tool menu executions don't appear in a window unless you hit a breakpoint.

In a simple tool menu sequence, I added a statement step with the expression RunState.Tracing = True. This caused the window to appear so the progress indicator and report are visible.

[Bob Rafuse]

James,

> I think tool menu items are run with the ExecTypeMask_InitiallyHidden
> and ExecTypeMask_TracingInitiallyOff flags passed to the
> executionTypeMaskParam parameter to Engine.NewExecution. Thus tool
> menu executions don't appear in a window unless you hit a breakpoint.
>
> In a simple tool menu sequence, I added a statement step with the
> expression RunState.Tracing = True. This caused the window to appear
> so the progress indicator and report are visible.

Thanks. I forgot to mention that I'd tried that... still no luck. I added
the RunState.Tracing = True as a statement as the first step in my Tools
seqeunce call. The execution window still does not appear. Is there some
place special this statement needs to be?

Are there any global setting
s that override the Tracing flag? If I check
Enable Tracing in Station Options, while the window pops up, the execution
takes unacceptably long as TestStand traces every single step, even when
tracing speed is set to max. I can't find any other setting that seems
related to this...

Any other ideas?

Thanks,

--
Bob
Etec, Inc.

[James_Grey]

Disabling tracing in the station options does prevent that fix from working. Here is a better fix:

Create an intermediate sequence that launches the real tool sequence with tracing off, but without the initially hidden flag. I've enclosed an example.

[Bob Rafuse]

James,

> Disabling tracing in the station options does prevent that fix from
> working. Here is a better fix:
>
> Create an intermediate sequence that launches the real tool sequence
> with tracing off, but without the initially hidden flag. I've
> enclosed an example.

That works great. Exactly what I was looking for.

Thanks!

--
Bob