Property Loader Plugins

Property Loader Plugins

Property Loader plugins read data from a property loader source during import, write data to a property loader source during export, and validate the property loader source when using an analyzer.

Creating Property Loader Plugins

National Instruments recommends that you copy a plugin template from the <TestStand>\Components\PropertyLoader\Templates\<Environment> directory to the <TestStand Public>\Components\PropertyLoader \<YourPluginName> directory, where <Environment> is LabVIEW, CVI, C#, or VC, and <YourPluginName> is the descriptive name or the unique ID of the property loader plugin.

Note If you copy a C# template, you may need to update the path of the referenced PropertyLoader library.

NI also recommends using your company name as part of the directory name to avoid potential conflicts with other custom plugins. Make sure the DLL or lvlib is present under the <TestStandPublic>\Components\PropertyLoader directory.

Note You must restart TestStand to use newly created plugins.

TestStand ships with property loader plugins that support the following source types:

See the File Formats topic for more information about the required file structures for the .csv, .txt, Execl plugins. See the Database Table Schemas topic for more information about the required table schemas for the database plugin.

TestStand also includes legacy plugins for use with the Legacy Import/Export Properties tool that support the same source types listed above.

Interfaces Used by Property Loader Plugin and Property Loader Framework

Property loader plugin framework should pass all the required information, such as configuration and properties list to import/export, to the property loader plugin.

Also, property loader plugin should return information of properties existing in the source and their value to the property loader framework.

Use the following defined interface and enums to communicate information between property loader framework and plugin. All the interfaces specified below are implemented by the property loader framework and are passed to the plugin as parameters. Plugin usees the parameters to perform import/export.

  • For plugins created in .NET, the parameters are passed as interface.
  • For plugins created in C, the parameters are passed as IDispatch*.
  • For plugins created in CVI, the parameters are passed as CAObjHandle.
  • For plugins created in LabVIEW, the parameters are passed as Automation Refnum.