If you have ever read anything National Instruments puts out on good code development practices they always talk about coupling and cohesion. That is, making code modules that are loosely coupled and have high cohesion.

I want the step name as part of the title in the title bar but can't figure out how to get it. I'm using TestStand 2.0.1. In TestStand 3.0 and later, you can also use the RunState.SequenceFile property and make ActiveX calls to obtain the sequence file version. First, you will have to change your sequence file reference to a PropertyObjectFile reference.

Coupling means that code modules are for the most part independent and not too “coupled” together. Cohesion means that the all the code in one module is there to perform the one purpose of that module. One way to build cohesion into a TestStand sequence is to make the separate tests (or whatever logical division you are using) into their own sequences. You can either have a sequence file call other sequence files or you can create a subsequence that is called from a main sequence. Ezoutlooksync Keygen.

The difference between the two is that subsequence is not visible in file directory, it’s just stored in the main sequence. Starting with the TSBasics2.seq sequence file from part 2 and renaming it TSBasics3.seq, I’ll show how to turn the Sine Amplitude and Frequency Test into a subsequence. Figure 1 shows the sequences pane, right click and select insert sequence.

​Name the new sequence AmplitudeAndFrequencyTest. Cut and paste the steps from the MainSequence into the new AmplitudeAndFrequencyTest sequence.

At this point this new sequence is still not called, so we have to drag a sequence call step from the Insertion Palette into the MainSequence and set it to call the new AmplitudeAndFrequencyTest sequence. Rename the sequence call, as shown in Figure 2, right click and select Specify Module. Then, click on the Use Current File check box and select AmplitudeAndFrequencyTest from the drop-down list as shown in Figure 3. Now that we have a subsequence in order to interact with this subsequence in a way that maintains good cohesion we have to add parameters to the subsequence. First, let’s use the Message Popup step type that will allow the user to set the stimulus frequency. This message popup will set the users input to the local variable called StimulusFrequency.

Then we will add a parameter to the AmplitudeAndFrequencyTest subsequence called SetStimulusFrequency which will be passed to the VI for testing and we will see the result on the report. ​Add the message popup step type (Figure 4). Create a local variable in the main sequence called StimulusFrequency. On the message popup, rename it to “Set Stimulus Frequency” and go to the Expressions tab of the step properties. Add the Post-Expression, Locals.StimulusFrequency=Val(Step.Result.Response) as shown in Figure 5.

This will assign the user response to the local variable and the Val function will convert the string to a number. Go to the Options tab of the Message popup and click the Enable Response Text Box option. This is what allows the user to input a value. Another thing we should do when adding user input is validate that input.

The user input is accepting a string and we are converting it into a number, we should make sure that is a valid number. Right now the limit on frequency is 4999 to 5001, let’s open that up to 1000 to 10000.

I’ll make two locals holding these values, 1000 and 10000. Then I’ll add a status expression to make sure the entered value is within this range. Figure 8 shows the expression. If the input is not in this range, then the step fails and we’ll add a post action to repeat the step on failure shown in Figure 9. ​We also have to go the Run Options tab in Figure 10 and uncheck the Step Failure Causes Sequence Failure option, or any incorrect entry will cause the test to fail.

Now, if you enter a number smaller or larger than 1000 to 10000, it will just pop back up to reenter. This isn’t totally fool-proof, for one thing there is no dialog explaining that you entered an invalid value and you could probably enter text into the dialog that would convert to a number in this range and the sequence would pass with some random input. Another problem is the validation values are not tied to the actual limits, so there could be a mismatch. So room for improvement.

The last thing I’m going to look at today is the Property Loader. The Property Loader is a step type that will load properties from a file or database.