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Using aliases for indicators, controls, procedures and calculated channels

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Hello,

 

I noticed that aliases do not show up in the workspace for indicators and controls, and in the system explorer for procedures and calculated channels. Is there a way for them to show up? I need to use aliases because I would like my system definition to control multiple test systems (which have different CAN signal names). Otherwise my system definition would break whenever I switch to a different CAN database. I thought the inability to address aliases was limited to the right click configurable controls add on, but it looks like VeriStand natively cannot address them in the areas that I'd like as well. Any recommendations would be welcome.

 

Thanks.

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Solution
Accepted by topic author h_yong

You are correct that you cannot use Aliases within a System Definition file for mapping purposes. This is an area that we hope to improve in the future. The initial design of aliases was to serve as a public interface for the Workspace, stimulus profiles, and so on. However, it is certainly a valid use case to want to use them as an interface within a System Definition.

 

One possible workaround would be to create a set of User Channels that act as your public interface in your System Definition. Always use your User Channels in all procedures, calculated channels, and so on. Then map your CAN channels to these User Channels. Whenever you update your CAN database, you only need to remap the new CAN channels to the appropriate User Channel. You could also automate this activity by importing a tab-delimited file in the Mappings page. The one downside here is that your target will take a little extra time to process these mappings.

Jarrod S.
National Instruments
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One more thing.  You can use aliases for controls and indicators in the Workspace.  In the property dialog for the control or indicator, there is a browse button and a dropdown list box.  The browse button allows you to browse by channel, the drop down listbox lets you select an alias.

 

Carl L

National Instruments

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Thanks for the responses. I think using user variables and mappings is an acceptable solution for now, especially since the mappings can also be imported and exported in text. Thanks also for pointing out that the aliases doesn't show up in the channel browse list but in the pulldown menu only.

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