Source Tab

The Source tab contains the following options when you select File from the Data Location ring control:

• Select Specific File —A specific file TestStand evaluates at run time for the file pathname.
  • File Location —The file pathname.
• Use Expression to Specify File —A string expression TestStand evaluates at run time for the file pathname.
  • File Name —The expression for the file.
• Format —The file format. Valid formats are tab-delimited text ( .txt ), comma-delimited text ( .csv ), and Excel files ( .xls ).
  Note If you edit the limits text ( .txt ) or comma-delimited ( .csv ) file using Microsoft Excel, Excel strips off quotation mark characters that surround string values when using the Text Import Wizard or when automatically opening .csv files. The TestStand Property Loader features attempt to import the value from the limits file with quotation marks if importing without quotation marks fails.
• Decimal Point —The decimal point character TestStand uses to parse the limit data in the file.
  Notice If you specify a different decimal point for numeric values when you export and import values from a file, the imported values are not correct.
• Start of Data Marker —The string that designates the beginning of a block of data.
• End of Data Marker —The string that designates the end of a block of data.

  You can specify literal strings for the beginning and ending markers, or you can specify string expressions TestStand evaluates at run time. The marker strings must appear in the first column of the file. If you specify an empty expression ("") for the starting and ending markers, the step type assumes that the file contains a single block of data.

  Include the <FILE> or <SEQUENCE> tag within the Start of Data Marker or End of Data Marker to instruct TestStand to automatically substitute the name of the sequence or file on which the step operates. To insert the <FILE> or <SEQUENCE> tag, select it from the drop-down list next to the option.

• When Start Marker not Found —The action to take if the start marker for one of the selected sequences is not found in the source file.
  • Stop and Error —If the start marker is not found a run-time error occurs. This is the default setting.
  • Skip Sequence —If the start marker is not found the step does not error. If you selected to import to <ALL SEQUENCES> and the start marker is not found for one of the sequences, the step continues to import the properties for the next sequence.
  Note When you select Skip Sequence the step will not error if the start marker is not found, and the properties related to the sequence are not imported. Use the Stop and Error option to ensure that properties are imported for all sequences.
• Skip Rows that Begin With —Ignores all rows that begin with the specified string. Use this feature when the limits file includes comment lines.
• First Row of Data Specifies Step Property for Each Column —Excludes the step property names from each column in the first row of each data block in the limits file. When you disable this option, you must use the Specify Column to Step Property Mapping text box to specify the list of property names. Separate the property names with commas, as in the following example:

  Limits.Low , Limits.High , Limits.String