TestStand environments enable two or more TestStand system configurations to exist side-by-sideon a single system. You can specify unique application data directories and public folders for each configuration of TestStand, allowing settings, custom components, and variables normally global to the system to be maintained separately within each environment. For example, each TestStand environment can independently maintain its own station globals, type palettes, and customized process models.It is important to note some limitations of TestStand environments:

  • TestStand environments do not eliminate the requirement to version switch when changing between different versions of TestStand installed on a system.
  • Environments do not provide full isolation for simultaneously executing instances of the TestStand engine. While it is possible to run multiple instances of the TestStand engine simultaneously, each in a different environment, some features of TestStand, such as out-of-process synchronization objects, are shared by all running instances.
  • The TestStand remote engine does not currently support environments and therefore always runs in the global environment.