Changing Station Options with a Sequence File

Hi,
Is there a way to modify the "Debug options" located under "Preferences" tab in Station Options in TestStand by running a sequence file? I would like to disable the default "Report Object Leaks" option located under "Debug options"
Also, can I disable Report Generation located under "Report Options" by running a sequence file?
Response is appreciated. Thanks.

Hi,
Dont forget that the Report Options are set before the main process model loops.
If you wanted to disable the report once you are into the Client sequence file, you might beable to affect the Local copy of the ReportOptions by using RunState.Caller.RunState.Locals.ReportOptions
Regards
Ray Farmer
Regards
Ray Farmer

Similar Messages

Changing station options programmatically

Hi
I am trying to change the Station Options programmatically (in a TestStand seq) rather than via the dialog. In particular, I want to change the "Immediately Goto Cleanup on Sequence Failure", although I will probably also want to change other options later.
I have succeeded in:
Getting the ConfigFile (PropertyObjectFile) using the Runstate.Engine reference
Getting the Data (PropertyObject) using the Configfile reference.
Setting "StopOnSequenceFailure" using SetValBoolean with the Data reference.
Saving the changes to TestExec.ini, using SaveFileIfModified with the ConfigFile reference.
However, the change only takes effect when TestStand is restarted, and does not show up in the StationOptions dialog (until a restart). Using the dialog, I can change the setting while stepping through a sequence, and it takes effect immediately, so there must be a way to do this from within a sequence.
How do I "refresh" TestStand's "copy" of the variable?
Thanks
(I am using TestStand 2.0.1.)
Message Edited by Jan0 on 09-30-2005 02:50 AM

Jan,
What Version of TestStand are you using?
I assume you are using the TestStand API.
You can get a reference to the StaionOptions Object from the Engine.
StationOptions Property (Read Only)
Syntax
Engine.StationOptions
Data Type
StationOptions
Purpose
Gets a reference to the StationOptions object.
Remarks
Use the StationOptions object to set preferences for your TestStand station. Station option settings affect all sequence editor and operator interface sessions that you run on your computer.
See Also
StationOptions
Check TestStand Help.
Usin this reference you can access most of the options present in the station options dialog.
I hope this helps.

Change default option to read archive files

Hello all!!
i would like to ask you all a question and maybe someone can help me!!
We have some data archived with fi_documnt and we can read the data from different transactions without problems.
But, i would like to know if there is any possibility to change the default value when we select the data source.
For example, we want to read some data wich is archived. In fbl3n transaction, we click on "data sources" and a pop-up appears.
We select then "archive" and two more options appears.
"Archive information system" and "Select files manually".
The problem is the the option "Select files manually" is marked and default, and we would like to change it to the other option by default.
Is there any way to do that???
Many thanks in advance and best regards,
Gonzalo.

Gonzalo,
something else ... I have just tried in another system and here I get a popup in FBL3N which says:
Report RFITEMGL is not intended for archiving object FI_DOCUMNT
    Message no. AS_DATASOURCE006
Diagnosis
    You want to use report RFITEMGL to read data for the archiving object
    FI_DOCUMNT, but report RFITEMGL is not intended to read data for this
    archiving object.
System response
    Running this report will probably not produce the desired results.
    However, this message is merely a warning, because it could still make
    sense for you to run the report for an archiving object that is not, or
    has not yet been assigned to this report.
Procedure
    Use F4 to select an appropriate archiving object. The F4 help list only
    contains archiving objects that can be used with this report.
    You can also run report RFITEMGL with archiving object FI_DOCUMNT.
    However, running the report might produce either no data or incorrect
    data.
Procedure for System Administration
    If you are sure that running report RFITEMGL together with archiving
    object FI_DOCUMNT produces meaningful data, you can enter the combination
    in Customizing. Use transaction SM30 to enter the following data into        <--------
    table ARCH_REPOW:                                                            <--------
         FI_DOCUMNT    RFITEMGL
    This will have the following results:
    o This message will not appear again.
    o Archiving object FI_DOCUMNT appears in the input help list (F4) of the
       data source dialog.
    o Report RFITEMGL appears in the list of the Archive Administration
       (transaction SARA) read program.
The arrows point to the interesting bits. Please check in your system.

Programmatically change station option in TestStand 2.0.1

Previously, I had an issue with changing the station model but that was overcome by the GetStationModelSequenceFile() function and StationModelSequenceFilePath variable. What I need to do now is to get and change the Test Report type ( text or html ) and enable/disable database reporting. I haven't found functions or variables to do so. Does anyone out there know how to do that? Thanks.
-G-

Ray,
I took a look at the link you posted and implemented the ReportOptions and DatabaseOptions callbacks. Inside each I use the Thread.PostUIMessage ActiveX step type to send a user defined message id to my program. The program has an event handler for the TestStand engine and receives the messages okay. Inside the ReportOptions handler ( in the program ), I get the message execution pointer from which I get the report pointer from which I use the PutFormat function to set the report format. By have 2 of the ActiveX steps in the sequence and adding some debug code in the ReportOptions handler ( in the program ) I can see that format changes as expected. The format does not change overall, though. With the station model ( which is modified for On the Fly Reporting and another change for my program ) open in TS I set the ReportOptions and DatabaseOptions using the dialog boxes from the menu. Whatever they're set to there, regardless of what I set them to in the program handler, is what they behave as further down in the StationModel. I tried setting the station model local variables ( the ones passed to the ReportOptions and DatabaseOptions sequences as parameters ) but that didn't have an effect either. What I'm thinking is the variables get changed okay but they don't take hold unless they are saved and reran. I want to change them at run-time and have them take effect. Any more ideas? Thanks.
-G-

How do you change view options when opening a file?

For some reason in CS5 when I choose File-Open it defaults to the "List View" in Windows XP. I have set my windows so they all have the same view (Detail-View) in the Control Panel. CS3 opens in Detail-View, but all programs across the CS5 platform will default to List-View. Any thoughts on how to change that? Has any one else noticed this? Thanks!

Near as I can tell, after doing a bunch of Internet research, the dialog always defaults to list view in Windows XP. Apparently changes were made in Vista to remember the last setting, but that doesn't apply to XP.
I could not find any config settings or registry tweaks anywhere that would change the File-Open dialog behavior to put up Details view by default.
I did, however, run across a downloadable freeware utility called "FileOpenPatcher" that patches the file commdlg32.dll in Windows XP ONLY so that you will see more columns of information by default in Windows File-Open dialogs. I tested it with Photoshop Elements, which I had installed on an XP virtual machine. It apparently stuffs some values into the DLL to change the defaults, and it appears to work on XP SP3.
http://www.netcult.ch/elmue/ElmueSoft-en.htm
It requires a reboot after installing.
This is now what I see after running FileOpenPatcher, when I choose File - Open:
Disclaimer: I did not write this software, and I only just found it on the Internet. You will, of course, have to decide for yourself whether to trust it on your system. Use it at your own risk.
-Noel

Reload sequence file when changes on disk

Hi,
I wrote a custom user interface based on the TestStand (TS) Operator Interface. When I run a sequence file on it and I edit it in the TS editor and I restart an execution, it seems to keep loading the first one when I launch the execution. The only way I can do this is by restarting the GUI.
I read a lot and tried many things and I can’t figure out what do I need to do to have the sequence file reload from disk on the 2nd execution after changes has been made.
I tried many thing and it seems to work when I release the seq file 2 times (!). But, as expected, the 2nd time it get released, I get an error that the file was unloaded from the TestStand Engine. And the weird thing is that I don’t get the error when I run the 1st time or I don’t make changes to the seq file.
Do you see anything wrong? Or have another suggestion how I could achieve that?
Can I see which seq files are in the internal cache? That could be useful to debug.
Thank you.
A code snippet in C# is in attachement.
Attachments:
C#-code.rtf ‏2 KB

A few more ideas:
1) Are you perhaps using this file path with an ApplicationMgr or SequenceFileViewMgr API? You need to make sure that this file is not open by the ApplicationMgr or assigned to a sequencefileviewmgr as well. The applicationmgr or sequencefileviewmgr likely have a strong reference to the sequence file if you have assigned it or opened it with one of their APIs. You might want to try switching entirely to the applicationmgr APIs instead of using the engine APIs as that's probably less likely to lead to conflicts between the two.You could try ApplicationMgr.OpenSequenceFile() and ApplicationMgr.CloseSequenceFile().
2) Have you tried this with a simple, empty sequence file and simple default Sequential process model to verify that it's not related to anything in the sequence file you are running or any code elsewhere in your application? It's possible for code in the sequence or process model itself to be calling GetSequenceFile or GetSequenceFileEx.
3) Have you tried adding a delay between WaitForEndEx() and ReleaseSequenceFileEx()? This is not that likely to be the cause, but perhaps there is additional code required to execute in the execution thread after WaitForEndEx returns before the sequence file can be unloaded. If you add a small delay (i.e. Thread.Sleep(1000) between those lines of code it might work. This would not explain why the file couldn't be reloaded when you use GetSequenceFileEx with the UpdateFromDisk flag though so probably is not the problem.
I tried to reproduce this problem in the sequence editor by running an
execution with a sequence file, closing the sequence file, overwriting
it with a different sequence file and reopening it and I was unable to
reproduce the problem. I got the new file opened as expected. This is
the equivalent situation since there is a completed execution still
open. The sequence editor does not use the Unload flag on
ReleaseSequenceFileEx, but it does use the UpdateFromDisk flag on
GetSequenceFileEx() and it seems to work, correctly loading the new
version of the file in this case. So there must still be something different in your case. I suspect that it's not the execution that has the extra reference in your case, but something else, perhaps the ApplicationMgr or SequenceFileViewmgr.
Also, as a side issue, if you are writing a custom UI, I'd recommend using UIMessages to determine when an execution completes rather than WaitForEndEx(). Basically handle the ApplicationMgr.UIMessageEvent and look for UIMsg_EndExecution and check that the execution associated with the UIMessage is the one you care about. Using the UIMessage like this has a couple of advantages:
1) It allows your UI to go back to executing in it's main message processing loop (Some things will not work correctly without this).
2) It gives you the potential to track and handle running multiple executions in parallel. Just look for and track the multiple UIMessages that such executions generate.
Please let us know if any of these ideas helps or if you are able to figure out the cause of the problem. If you are still unable to get it working and can't figure out the cause, please attach an example program and sequence files which reproduce the issue.
Hope this helps,
-Doug
Message Edited by dug9000 on 03-02-2010 10:03 AM
Message Edited by dug9000 on 03-02-2010 10:04 AM

How do I save a running sequence file

Part of my testing requires a large number of variables to be passed to and from the UUT within TestStand. I can store some of these variables in the station globals, but I'd like the option to store others in the sequence files at run time and save them to disk (save the sequence file) at the end of the test. I can create variables in the station globals and commit the globals to disk just fine (LabVIEW vi's using the TestStand API). However, I cannot figure out how to do the same thing with a sequence file. My code is able to create and populate the locals variables with no problem, but I cannot save the running sequence file to disk with the new locals (or file globals) intact (they disappear when the sequence ends.) The reason I want to save the sequence file is to avoid manually entering all these variables into each sequence file locals list.
So, I think the questions are:
How do I make the new locals or file globals a part of the running sequence file?
How do I save the sequence file to disk before it stops running?
I can increment the change count on the file. I have figured out two or three ways to save the file while it's running without errors (although I doubt it's actually doing anything.) I'm using the TestStand API in LabVIEW vi's to pull this off and cannot find the functions I'm looking for.
Sorry if this is rambling, it's kind of hard to describe.

Hi Lars,
The reason that we can't save the local variables created during
runtime is because TestStand creates a runtime copy of the variables
when the sequence starts. After the sequence is finished executing,
this copy is discarded. The reason behind this is that TestStand allows
for a single sequence to have multiple executions at the same time, and
each instance gets its own runtime copy of the local variables. If new
locals could be saved to the actual sequence file in memory, it could
cause major problems for other execution threads of that particular
.seq file.
You can use the API to add variables to the actual file using
GetSequenceFileEx and incrementing the Change Count, or create a
separate sequence that modifies another sequence file, but adding these
locals to the sequence file from itself isn't possible.
Hope this helps Lars,
Have a good one.
Dan Weiland
Applications Engineer
National Instruments
www.ni.com/support
Dan Weiland

How do I read the Visual Source Safe version of a sequence file?

I can read the TestStand Version using RunState.SequenceFile.Data.Version. I would like to sink the version numbers in VSS and TestStand up. How do I obtain the version number maintained by VSS.
Thanks, Jeff

One way to get the VSS version number is through the command line using the History command. See VSS help for more info. I think it would be possible to create an EXE step in TestStand that would execute the VSS command line and pipe the output to a file, where it could be read with some custom code. Of course it would be nice if there was a built-in TS step to do this. Here is an example of the VSS history command usage and it's output.
---- Example -----
C:\DevStudio\Vss\win32>ss history $/tekcal-ni/projects/80e0x/80e0x.seq -#2
History of $/tekcal-ni/projects/80e0x/80E0X.seq ...
Label: "Beta1"
User: Marki Date: 4/29/02 Time: 8:45a
Labeled
Label comment: Release to Customer Service.
***************** Version
14 *****************
User: Marki Date: 4/26/02 Time: 3:00p
Checked in $/TekCal-NI/Projects/80E0X
Comment: Changed delay time for DC Accuracy/Linearity from 0 to 100 mS.
---- End of Example -----
If you just want the last version, use the "-#1" option instead of -#2 as in this example. VSS uses labels or whole number version numbers, so you would need to relate this to your TS version number, perhaps with a sequence file global variable.

Edit Items in TestStand Sequence File Combo Box?

Hello All,
I am creating a basic user interface VI Project, based off of the examples included with TestStand. In the "Simple" example, there is a Open Seq File button, and an associated combo box to select the Sequence File to run. For my application, I would like to limit the sequence file options from which the operator can choose (not allow the operator to browse the entire hard drive to find a sequence file). Using basic Labview functions, I would have done this with a regular combo box, and use the "Edit Items" option to load file options into the drop-down menu. However, the TestStand UI combo box does not allow this, presumably because it is an ActiveX control, and configuration is different from normal Labview functions. Is it possible to pre-load the TestStand UI combo box with allowed sequence files? Or, if there are other suggestions on how to accomplish the requirement, I am open to them as well.
Thanks in advance,
GSinMN

One idea is to use the native LabVIEW controls. Then hide the TestStand UI controls and update them from the events triggered by the native LabVIEW controls. I have had to do this before on UIs when the customer wanted a certain look and feel.
So basically have the native LabVIEW combo box set like you want. When the user makes a selection, in the event for that selection update the hidden TestStand Sequence File Combo Box witht he correct sequence file.
Another option is to use events for the Sequence File Combo Box and just filter and force certain behavior.
Hope this helps,
jigg
CTA, CLA
teststandhelp.com
~Will work for kudos and/or BBQ~

Recover corrupted sequence file

help with recover sequence file corrupted.I change the value in a pre expression and the computer just reset.
and the corrupted file message appears. I have a lot of locals, fileglobal and pre-expressions...
Attachments:
Vial1.seq ‏83 KB

To trout00 -
Typically if an action taken inside an application causes a computer reset, this suggests that the OS is hitting some sort of kernel level exception. The OS is not giving you a blue screen but instead it is set to auto reset.
Right click on the My Computer icon on your desktop and select Properties. On the System Properties dialog box, take a look at the Startup and Recovery settings located on the Advanced tab.
I suspect that some sort of event log will be registered in this case.
Kernel level exceptions typically occur when hardware drivers or low level services error or have a bug. In the case of the sequence editor, none of its code is low level, so any error the program causes would just cause the applicati
on to shutdown, not the OS.
With this in mind, it suggests that you might have a hardware problem with the computer system.
See if the event log gives you any additional information.
Scott Richardson (NI)
Scott Richardson
National Instruments

HELP Sequence file translator, how to insert a sub sequence ?

Hi,
I would like to know how insert sub sequence in the sequence pane and
how insert steps in this sub sequences with the sequence file translator which use
text file (.lvtf).
Which vi do i have to modify in the project LabVIEW of Seqfiletranslator ?
(I think about the main vi TextTranslateToSequenceFile.vi maybe it's here.)
Is someone who can help me please ?
Attachments:
wanted result.jpg ‏214 KB
sequence file translator main vi.jpg ‏284 KB

Assuming you are on CC:
Drag the sequence from the Project Window into the main timeline.
For induvidual clips uncheck this button.

TestStand crashes if I'm using "Diff Sequence Files"

If I am using "Diff Sequence Files", TestStand (2.0.1f1) immeadetly closes without any messages, and I've to restart TestStand again.
Same happens rarely if I run my TestStand application (e.g. after testing 75 UUT's). I've got this bug by using the Secuence editor as well by using an operator interface.
Win XP, Nt4, LabView 6i
Any ideas how to fix that, or how to debug if everything is closed.
Thanks for any hints,
martin

Alejandro,
this problem happens with different sequence files. Sometimes the System Exception �System Exception Error Code: -17502� is shown.
But there are also files where I haven�t any problem by using �Diff Sequence Files�. For your information: all files have the same structure.
Attached you�ll find the 2 files where the problem occurs every time without an Error Code.
But the other serious problems are the crashes while running the TestStand application. That means during the test the TestStand application would close without any messages. And this problem occurs very rarely and I�ve haven�t got a chance to debug.
Any hints will be appreciated
Best regards
Martin
Attachments:
1230-2101_0006.seq ‏178 KB
1230-2201_0006.seq ‏178 KB

Questions about "Diff Sequence File With..." function

Hello,
I've started working on a project where I'm maintaining a piece of older code written by a since-departed employee of my company. It's a TestStand 3.0 sequence file calling on Labview 7.0 code. The thing is, there were two of these installations done at different times and, somewhere in the woods between stations 1 & 2, the code base diverged. Part of it was due to not being able to get exact duplicate hardware for the PXI chassis and part was, apparently, due to the fact the client used the 2 machines to test different UUT models.
So, I'm looking at copies of the installed code base on the two machines using the diff feature in TestStand. (If it makes a difference, I'm doing this viewing in TestStand 3.5 since TS3.0 has mysteriously gone corrupt on me at the moment on my main development computer and, if memory serves, you have to uninstall all the later version of TS to reinstall an older version. An altogether fun process, no doubt, but a little time consuming.)
Anyway, the first thing I notice is that very many of the sequence steps have different Step Properties.Step ID values that look something like this: "ID#:2vMTp0db002mQDXArddRSA". Messing with the diff screen showed an option to "Ignore Unique Step Ids" which got rid of these. Regarding these unique step ID's: When are they generated and do they remain constant on a particular machine? Beyond mere curiosity, I wonder because another diff is in some of the "On Pass Target" or "On Custom Condition True Target" under certain Step Properties and the value under there looks suspiciously like those unique ID's (i.e. ""ID#randomstuff""). Are these all dynamically updated at runtime or will I break something by changing those (say if I copy a sequence from one version overwriting it in the other)?
So, I filtered the unique ID's out. The next large area of difference is that many, but by no means all, Labview VI calls have a difference under Step Properties > Flexible Labview Adapter Properties > ViCall > Connector Pane Checksum > Value. Also, in a few other instances, ViCall > error out > Connector Number is different as well. Does this indicate a different underlying VI?
There are a few other differences, but I can interpret those. My goal is to get one sequence file for both machines so the code will be easier to maintain. I do think that some of the VI's with different Connector Pane Checksums may be different between the two installations since one of the different hardware components required a different driver library. This leads to a third question, what does it take to use identical sequence files when the underlying VI's might differ? Is it just the interface needs to be the same? Like the connector pane has the same geometry and data types for the exposed inputs and outputs?
Thanks for any help,
Mike
Solved!
Go to Solution.

I just got off the phone with NI support, so no worries on the answers.
Short versions:
The unique ID's are regenerated when a sequence is copied.
Teststand doesn't need higher versions uninstalled to reinstall an earlier copy.
Connector Pane Checksum implies a different underlying VI, but having the same connector geometry/inputs/outputs/types should allow you to have a different VI for different installations without different sequence files.
Still waiting to hear back from support on whether the goto pointers get updated properly when a sequence or portion of a sequence is copied.

Type List Order Numbers (typelistordernum) change when opening a sequence file in Test Stand

Could you please shed light on the reasons a sequence file changes upon opening in the Test Stand development environment?
Comparing the file before and after, I see that the typelistordernum changed on a few custom types that we defined for the program. .
To clarify the environment, I am using two work stations running the same version of Test Stand. The workstations are kept in sync using Sugar Sync. One would expect that a file saved on one workstation could be loaded on the other work station with no change.
This also happens on files that we pull from version control (GIT). Once opened, they change, which presents a serious problem in avoiding version conflicts and keeping track of real changes.
Test Stand Version: 4.5.1

ATE Coder wrote:
In fact it turns out that conflict resolution is fairly hard to resolve.
For instance, changing a type (add a comment) changes its time stamp. As a result, all sequence files referring to this type are now in conflict.
On testing, Test Stand does not seem to flag these. So, they could be pushed into the repositories as is.
Opening the sequence files on another machine (after pulling to code from repositories), Test Stand detects a conflict that in fact is no conflict at all. Now all these files need to be checked in and pushed up and then pulled down. This increases the chances of code conflicts many folds and seems to be totally superfluous.
Turning off automatic conflict resolution does not seem to resolve this issue.
It would seem that for some reason (inertia?), NI pulled into Test Stand the same tight versioning it uses in LabVIEW. While in LabVIEW, where, in fact, one is editing compiled code, thins might add some value, Test Stand sequences are actually XML file -- source code, which call for a much more relaxed code versioning or none at all as making sure the code works as part of the debugging process and cannot be handled properly by 'versioning'.
I think you might not be using automatic conflict resolution the way it is intended.
Are you using type palette files? If not, I highly recommend you do so. If you put the highest version of your types in a type palette file, use the default automatic conflict resolution settings, and distribute or deploy the type palette file to everywhere where the type is being used, you do not have to resave all of your sequence files everytime the type changes. Sequence files with older versions of the type will be automatically updated when they are loaded on machines that have the latest version in a type palette. This is what automatic conflict resolution does, it automatically/silently updates the types in the sequence files when they are loaded. No need to resave everything before hand. If you have trouble getting this working, let me know exactly what you are doing and what problems you are having and I will hopefully be able to suggest an alternative way of managing types that will not have those problems.
Hope this helps,
-Doug

Can someone help me? How do I change the option to pick where or what program I want to open a file after I've downloaded it? I tried to look for an option for this and can't find it anywhere.

For example I download a file and I click on it and there will sometimes be a window that opens saying what program I want to open the file with? And then it'll also have a check box saying if I want to use this program for all files I download. I can't change it when I download the file because that one file I keep downloading keeps crashing my Firefox and I have to force quit. It's really getting on my nerves. It's an online statement I'm trying to view and I want to get rid of that problem!! Is there anyway to change that option without going to that download page?

I would recommend going into device manager on your PC and making sure that you have correctly installed the IR dongle. Also what version of hotsync manager are you currently using?
Post relates to: Treo 800w (Sprint)

Changing Station Options with a Sequence File

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