Syntax

ActiveXAdapter.UseLateBinding

Data Type

Boolean

Purpose

Specifies whether the ActiveX/COM Adapter uses late binding or early binding. When you specify the module for an ActiveX/COM step, TestStand stores the IDs and names of the object and member the step calls. During execution, the ActiveX/COM Adapter must invoke the ActiveX Automation server and specify which object to create and which member to call.

You can use one of the following options to specify how the server performs operations on the objects:

• Early Binding —Configures the module adapter to use IDs.
• Late Binding —Configures the module adapter to use names.

While early binding is more efficient, it requires that the IDs for objects and methods exposed by automation servers do not change. If you are developing an automation server in an application development environment (ADE) that does not provide direct control over IDs, National Instruments recommends using late binding during development so inadvertent changes to IDs do not invalidate the module information for the step. When you finish developing the automation server, set the Use Late Binding option in the ActiveX/COM Adapter Configuration dialog box to False and update the IDs in the client sequences.

To update the IDs in the client sequences, edit the module information for each step that references the server or select Tools»Update Automation Identifiers in each sequence file that contains ActiveX/COM steps that reference the server.

Remarks

If you are using a third-party or release version of an automation server, or if you are developing a server in an ADE in which you can control the server IDs, National Instruments recommends disabling the Use Late Binding option.

When you configure the ActiveX/COM Adapter to use late binding, the adapter uses the stored names to determine the proper IDs to use at run time.

The ActiveX/COM Adapter looks at the most recent version of type information for the server.

Servers can also specify type information in different languages. If the ActiveX/COM Adapter cannot find a version of the type information that uses the system default language ID, it attempts to find type information that uses the English or Neutral language IDs, in that order.

See Also

ActiveX/COM Adapter Configuration dialog box