Announcing VeriStand 2020 R5

[Daniel.Parrott]

I’m happy to announce the recent release of VeriStand 2020 R5. You can download this new release on ni.com/downloads.

Here are the new features in this latest release, and a reminder of what came out in VeriStand 2020 R4 as well! See the VeriStand readme for more details.

New Features in 2020 R5

• Improvements to the VeriStand Editor
  • Modify non-active mapping diagrams while a system definition is deployed. Editing in other tabs will not disturb the deployed system.
  • Create duplicates of a system definition file. Use copies of a system definition to easily deploy and test modifications without losing the original file.
  • Monitor 1D and 2D array-type model inports, outports and parameters on Screens using new array controls and indicators.
  • Use C# to customize and extend the VeriStand Editor. You can access examples of implemented C# code from GitHub.
  • Alarms are now visible in the System Definition pane with the VeriStand Editor. After an alarm channel has been dragged to a Screen, an alarm indicator mapped to that channel will be placed.
• Control Keyboard Shortcut Behavior from the Command Line
  • Use the noDeployKeys command to prevent the use of the deploy and undeploy keyboard shortcuts during a session. You can still deploy and undeploy from the Operate menu.
• FPGA Add-on Custom Device
  • Use the Scripting API to turn FPGA bitfiles into flexible and reusable system definition files.
  • Load and reload bitfiles without losing a previous configuration. Scalars and waveforms from a former bitfile remain imported while those that no longer exist are removed from the new bitfile.
  • You can access this custom device from GitHub.
• Collect Memory Usage Data with the Telemetry Custom Device
  • Use the Telemetry Custom Device to understand the CPU and RAM usage of your system. You can access this custom device from GitHub.

New Features in 2020 R4

• Warnings when XNET Databases or Models are Out of Sync
  • Protect yourself against potential data errors by watching for an out of sync warning in the VeriStand editor.
  • The warnings occur when VeriStand proactively detects that the System Definition is depending on a stale definition of either an XNET Database or model.
• Launching VeriStand Silently
  • Deploy a system definition without launching the VeriStand Editor or System Explorer using the Windows Run command or from a language of your choice.
• Instrument Add-on Custom Device
  • Use the Instrument Add-on custom device API to create a new instrument from a previously exported configuration. You can also use the API to add messages and to configure the command and response functionality. For more information, refer to the custom device quick start documentation in GitHub.
• ASAM XIL Steps for TestStand
  • Use the <UndeployVeriStandProjectOnDisconnect> tag in the port configuration XML file to specify if VeriStand is undeployed when the Framework is cleaned up.
• Alarm Status Channel
  • Monitor the state of one or more alarms in the VeriStand engine with an alarm status channel. You can use these channels in custom devices and real-time sequences to determine what actions to take when an alarm state changes.
• Stopping Groups of Real-Time Sequences with Procedures
  • Create a procedure to stop a specified group of real-time sequences and skip to their clean-up sections. You can use the procedure to shut down sequences related to a specific device under test (DUT) in a multi-DUT scenario. Use the Stimulus Profile Editor to assign a group to a real-time sequence call step.