The LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, and Microsoft Visual C++ example projects demonstrate how to build translator DLLs and provide guidance for developing translators. The examples illustrate two simple translators for each development environment that use the TestStand API to convert sample test descriptions in XML and ASCII text formats into TestStand sequence files. The example translators for each file format produce the same TestStand sequence file.

The sample test descriptions specify steps that perform a calculation, display the result of the calculation in a graph, compare the result with an expected value, and display a message that indicates whether the test passed or failed. The translation from the example format into a sequence file involves adding steps and local variables to a sequence in a new sequence file object and configuring the steps to perform the required operations. The translators also use a custom step type TestStand loads from a type palette file that you must place in the <TestStand Public>\Components\TypePalettes directory.

Complete the following steps to use an example.

  1. Open the TextTranslator or XMLTranslator directory for one of the examples in the <TestStand Public>\Examples\Fundamentals\Sequence File Translators - Examples directory.
  2. Copy the type NI_ExampleTranslatorTypes.ini file from the <TestStand Public>\Examples\Fundamentals\Sequence File Translators - Examples directory to the <TestStand Public>\Components\TypePalettes directory.
  3. Open and review the project in the development environment for the example.
  4. When you make any changes to the project, rebuild the project to update the translator DLL. Copy the translator DLL into the <TestStand Public>\Components\Translators directory.
  5. Launch the TestStand Sequence Editor or a TestStand User Interface to load the translator DLLs.
  6. Select File»Open File and select SampleTestFile.xml, SampleTestFile.lvtf for the text version of the file for LabVIEW, SampleTestFile.cvitf for the text version of the file for LabWindows/CVI, or SampleTestFile.vctf for the text version of the file for Microsoft Visual C++.
  7. Review the translated sequence file.
  8. Launch an execution using the MainSequence in the sequence file.