Property Loader

[Chris Clark]

Does anyone have a LabVIEW VI (or other code) that exports all the step properties
in any main sequence to a flat file or database? Is the only way to do it
set it up with the built in Property Loader Database steps? Same with importing
properties? I'm having a lot of trouble with syntax using the Limit Loader
to import properties, if it would export a file, then I could simply change
fields, but limit loader doesn't export properties, only limits. Does anyone
have any leads for getting properties from a database into step properties,
other than using built in Property Loader Database steps? Or is that really
the way to go.

Thanks,

Chris Clark

[RayFarmer]

Chris,

There's a couple of good examples relating to Property Loader in the Developer Resource Library for TestStand. Just follow the Resource Library link and look in the TestStand Categeries: Database Usage & Step Types | Custom Step Type.

Also when the log to database is enable the data recorded in the database contains a lot of information relating to each step.

Regards

[Mark_Ireton]

By now you probably know that TestStand 2.0 has a better Property Loader that works with files as well as databases. As for getting step properties from a database, Property Loader is fine as long as you have a fairly constant set of properties. The problem is that if you create a custom step type with a new property, you have to add a column to the table. Not a problem if you are running on a little local Access database, but if you are using an Oracle database in the sky, it's probably not easy to add a column whenever you feel like it. It would be better if Property Loader worked off two or more tables. One table would have a list of steps, the other table would have a list of properties, including their names a values. The properties would be related to the step
with a step ID. Then Property Loader could query for all the properties for a given step and get back one row for each property. Of course this would never work with Excel or Text (where it is easy to add columns), so this would require a Property Loader that was just for databases. If anyone has such a beast, I'd love to get my hands on it!