What is new for TestStand 4.2?Primary Software: TestStandPrimary Software Version: 4.2 Primary Software Fixed Version: N/A Secondary Software: N/A
Problem: What is new for TestStand 4.2? Solution: The following list describes the new features in TestStand 4.2 and other changes since TestStand 4.1. This list only summarizes each new feature. Refer to the TestStand documentation listed for a particular feature for more information about the feature.
TestStand Deployment Utility ImprovementsThe TestStand Deployment Utility now uses improved internal caching to accelerate analysis and build times. Additionally, the LabVIEW VI Options dialog box includes the following new options so you can choose between faster performance and improved error handling:
The Deployment Utility also better integrates with LabVIEW 8.6.1 or later for improved build speeds and deployment of advanced LabVIEW features, such as VIs that include LabVIEW object-oriented programming. The Installer Properties section of the Distributed Files tab of the TestStand Deployment Utility also includes a new Force File to Install option. Enable this option to force the installers the deployment utility builds to always overwrite existing files. Refer to Chapter 14, Deploying TestStand Systems, of the NI TestStand Reference Manual for more information about the TestStand Deployment Utility. Using Expressions to Customize Report File PathsIn addition to the existing options to customize reports, you can now use predefined macros and custom expressions on the Report File Pathname tab of the Report Options dialog box to specify the filename of reports and the directory in which TestStand stores reports. For example, you can use expressions to save reports in a directory that uses the sequence filename, save reports in different directories based on execution status, and generate report filenames that include the serial number, user name, or execution status. You can use expressions to replicate all existing report filename options. Select Specify Report File Path by Expression in the File Name/Directory Options drop-down list in the Generate Report File Path section on the Report File Pathname tab of the Report Options dialog box to enter an expression in the Report File Path control. The following table lists common report options and the equivalent expression for the Sequential model using the client sequence file directory as the base directory.
The following table lists example expressions for common tasks using the Sequential model.
TestStand supports the following macros:
Refer to Specifying Report File Paths by Expression for more information about each macro and about using expressions to specify the filename of reports. On-The-Fly XML Report ImprovementsTestStand includes improved style sheets and uses new report API objects to generate on-the-fly XML reports more efficiently. Refer to the XML Reports section of Chapter 6, Database Logging and Report Generation, of the NI TestStand Reference Manual for more information about XML reports. Improved XML Style SheetsTestStand includes restructured style sheets that reduce the time required to generate HTML output from XML report files and to simplify the task of modifying style sheets so that you can change the appearance and content of XML reports. Refer to the XML Reports section of Chapter 6, Database Logging and Report Generation, of the NI TestStand Reference Manual for more information about XML reports. Call Executable Step Improvements for Scripting LanguagesYou can now use the Call Executable step to more easily call scripting languages, such as Python or Perl, using any of the following methods:
You can now use the File Pathname control on the Call Settings tab on the Step Settings pane to specify the name of a file to open using the default application associated with the extension of the file. For example, you can launch a .bat file or open a .txt file by specifying the non-executable file directly. You can also use expressions to specify the path to the file. You must configure the step to wait for the specified executable call to exit or wait for a specified time to enable access to the options you use to specify standard input to pass to the call and to specify how to retrieve standard output and standard error from the call. You can configure the step to stream a file as input or evaluate a string or an expression as input. You can store the output and error information in a file on the local computer or on the remote computer when you call the executable on a remote computer. TestStand overwrites the file if it already exists. Alternatively, you can use an expression to store the output and error information in a TestStand variable or property, and you can use the status expression of the step to evaluate the output value. You can configure the step to ignore or set the step status to Error or Failed when the executable you call returns an error. You can include error information in the report TestStand generates. You can specify the working directory for the executable by configuring TestStand to use the file directory, the sequence file directory, the current directory for the process, or an absolute path. You can also use expressions to determine the working directory at run time. Refer to Chapter 4, Built-In Step Types, of the NI TestStand Reference Manual for more information about the Call Executable step type. Visual Studio 2008 SupportTestStand now supports creating, editing, and debugging code modules with Visual Studio 2008, in addition to existing support for Visual Studio 2005. TestStand no longer supports using Visual Studio 2003 for these operations from within TestStand. You can call DLLs or manually attach to a TestStand process to debug native code using Visual Studio 2003 or earlier. However, you cannot attach to a TestStand process using Visual Studio 2003 if you want to debug managed code. Use the .NET Adapter Configuration and the C/C++ DLL Adapter Configuration dialog boxes to specify the versions of Visual Studio you want to use when you create or edit code, or when you debug code. You can configure the .NET and C/C++ DLL Adapters to use a specific version of Visual Studio installed on the computer to use the version that matches the project file the step specifies or to prompt you when performing the operation. Refer to Chapter 5, Module Adapters, of the NI TestStand Reference Manual for more information about using Visual Studio with TestStand. Customizing TestStand Behavior on Multi-core SystemsSymmetric multiprocessing (SMP) systems are computers that contain multiple CPUs, where a CPU can be a single core on a multi-core processor or a single-core processor on a multiprocessor computer. Windows and other modern operating systems can take advantage of SMP systems to achieve increased performance. SMP systems achieve better performance by executing multiple threads on multiple CPUs concurrently. Performance improvement can come through executing multiple processes concurrently as well as from executing multiple threads within a process concurrently. Generally, when an application is implemented with multiple threads, the operating system attempts to schedule each thread on a separate CPU when possible. Under some circumstances, this automatic scheduling can have a negative impact on application performance. For instances in which the automatic scheduling of threads on CPUs negatively affects TestStand application performance, you can manually assign or constrain the TestStand process or specific threads to specific CPUs using the following new TestStand features:
Refer to the Using TestStand on SMP Systems topic in the NI TestStand Help for more information about optimizing TestStand performance on SMP systems for multithreaded applications and about when you might need to use these new features to control CPU affinity in TestStand. PropertyObject Attribute SupportYou can now create attributes for TestStand PropertyObjects, such as variables, steps, and module parameters. Use attributes to store additional information, such as the author of a sequence, about a PropertyObject within a sequence file or type palette file. When you copy a PropertyObject, TestStand adds the attributes stored on the PropertyObject to the new copy. You can create attributes for properties of a type. Attributes of type properties specify the default attributes when you create an instance of a type. Every PropertyObject includes an Attributes property, which is an unstructured container that stores arbitrary data. Although an attribute can be any kind of data, you typically create a name-value pair to give an attribute a name and a data value. Right-click a PropertyObject on the Variables pane and select Advanced»Edit Attributes from the context menu to launch the Attributes dialog box, in which you can create and edit attributes. PropertyObjects with attributes include an Edit Attributes button in the Name column of the Variables pane. Steps with attributes include the word Attributes in the step description, and the General panel of the Properties tab on the Step Settings pane includes an Edit Attributes button. Right-click a parameter on the Module tab of the Step Settings pane in the sequence editor or in the Specify Module dialog box in user interfaces and select Edit Attributes from the context menu to launch the parameter Attributes dialog box. Parameters with attributes include an Edit Attributes button in the Name column of the Parameters Table. You can edit attributes for fields of containers and elements of arrays. TestStand associates parameter attributes with the module parameter, which TestStand stores with the step configuration information, not with the parameter value that TestStand passes to the module. TestStand stores attributes specified on module parameters with the parameter definition for the module, and not with a parameter value passed to the code module. The TestStand Differ application detects and merges attribute differences. Right-click an item and select Edit Attributes from the context menu or click the Edit Attributes button in the Name column of the Differ window to launch the related Attributes dialog box. When you right-click an item and select Replace Item Values in File <filename> from the context menu, TestStand now also copies attribute values. Attributes must have unique names. You can use a container under an Attributes property to serve as a namespace and to ensure uniqueness of attribute names. National Instruments recommends using company prefixes as namespaces. For example, the Attributes property can include a top-level NI container that acts as a namespace for attributes of built-in features. The NI attribute can include a TestStand attribute for TestStand-related attributes. The NI.TestStand attribute includes subproperties for individual TestStand features to prevent conflicts among TestStand features. Similarly, NI.ATML would include ATML-related attributes.
Setting the Policy for Marking Files as ModifiedUse the Do Not Mark Files as Modified if Modification is Caused Only by Automatic TestStand Version Upgrade option on the File tab of the Station Options dialog box to configure when TestStand marks files as modified. Enable this option if you do not want TestStand to mark files as modified when the only changes to the file are the result of the automatic conversions TestStand makes when you open files from an older version of TestStand in a newer version of TestStand. These automatic conversions occur when TestStand upgrades older versions of built-in, National Instruments-created types and step types and then resolves data format changes that exist between the versions. This option is disabled by default. When you enable this option, TestStand marks as modified only the files with user-defined changes so you can avoid resaving and revalidating files you did not directly modify. Enabling or disabling this option does not change how TestStand loads the file into memory or saves the file to disk. This option applies only to National Instruments-created types, step types, and file modifications. Use this option to prevent TestStand from prompting to resave upgraded files, which might require revalidation. When you enable this option, TestStand still marks files as modified when type conflict resolution results in updates to user-defined types and step types in the file. Resave files in the version of TestStand you are using to optimize performance when opening files. Regardless of the value of this option, opening files from a TestStand version older than the version you are using requires TestStand to perform an in-memory conversion. Resave files in the version of TestStand you are using to optimize file loading performance. Other TestStand EnhancementsTestStand 4.2 includes the following additional enhancements:
Related Links: KnowledgeBase 4LK9L6T3: What is New for TestStand 4.1? KnowledgeBase 4LK9E9T3: TestStand 4.1 Known Issues and Bug Fixes KnowledgeBase 4LK9CPT3: Known Compatibility Issues and API Changes for TestStand 4.1 Attachments:
Report Date: 05/11/2009 Last Updated: 07/10/2009 Document ID: 4XA8R2T3 |
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