Debbugging MFC DLL with TestStand.

[Mark Rau]

I am in the process of evaluating TestStand and am very impressed with the tool. I created an MFC DLL with my existing C++ test code and have succesfully executed it through Teststand using the flexible prototype adapter. What seems to be missing is the ability to debug the DLL in Visual studio. I'm not sure if I need to have Visual Studio reference TestStand for DLL testing or visa versa. Please advise, as this is the last item I need to confirm prior to purchase. Is this a feature on version 2.0 ?? Thanks in advance.

[Richard McDonell]

Mark-

You can debug DLLs from TestStand that were created as debuggable DLLS in their original ADE by launching the TestStand Sequence Editor (\TestStand\Bin\SeqEdit.exe) from within your DLL's ADE. In your case you would run the SeqEdit.exe as an external process from within the Visual C++ development environment.

Here is the description of how to do this from pg 12-12 in the TestStand User Manual that should already be installed on your computer under Start>>Programs>>National Instruments TestStand>>Online Help

"To debug a DLL, create the DLL with debugging enabled in
LabWindows/CVI or in another ADE. To debug DLLs, you must launch
the sequence editor or run-time operator interface from LabWindows/CVI
or the other ADE. In LabWindows/CVI, you use the Select
External
Process command in the Run menu of the Project window to identify the
executable for the sequence editor or run-time operator interface. You then
use the Run command to start the executable.
If you select the Step Into command in TestStand while execution is
currently suspended on a step that calls into a LabWindows/CVI DLL that
you are debugging, LabWindows/CVI breaks at the first statement in the
DLL function."

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Richard McDonell
National Instruments