Using of Remote Engine

[Sunny]

Hi,

I realized an ocx control to display sequences. This control is not based on the new UI Controls of TestStand (shipped with version 3.0) and works with TestStand 2.0.1. I prefer the standard Listview object to implement an easy way for navigating through sequence calls by doubleclick.

This control works on every machine where Teststand is installed. I would like to create a webpage loading this control and displaying sequences of any location and any PC of our network.
I'm not so familiar with DCOM, so my question is if there is any way to do this by using the Remote Engine of a 'TestStand' server?

Kind regards,
Sunny

[Scott_Richardson]

Sunny -
The "Remote Engine" component of TestStand is not intended for use outside of the TestStand internal engine. Its API is designed to work with internal interfaces and classes and the Sequence Adapter.

One option is to have the web control create a remote instance of the TestStand engine and drive the testing of the system. This is problematic because the amount of data that would have to be shared remotely to drive the system would be a lot and slow down the engine when tracing is enabled. In addition, a web page can timeout or the connection can be easily stopped, so what would happen to the unit being tested.

Another option is to use your control in an application on the remote system and have it own and drive the TestStand engine. You cou
ld have a more light weight version of the control for connecting and displaying what the other control on the remote system has. This is what I have seen other customers do.

You will have to get your DCOM permissions settings correct on both the local and the remote system. I do not have any guidance on this.

Another issue that you will have to content with is that any dialog boxes that TestStand on the remote system displays will be displayed on the remote system and not your local system. So your sequences would not be allowed to display dialog boxes and the error dialog would have to be suppressed.

Scott Richardson (NI)