Using Alias Names in Property Loader

Alias names are alternate names used to represent a property in the property loader source. You need not use property lookup in the property loader source if you use alias names and, therefore, you can create a property loader source that does not contain any TestStand-specific terminology (i.e. Locals, FileGlobals, etc).

If your property loader source is a file, the mapping between alias names and property lookup should exist in a file with extension .pla. If your property loader source is a database, the mapping between alias names and property lookup should exist in a table in the database. You can provide the filepath or table name to specify where the mapping between alias names and property lookup exists.

When exporting with the Import/Export Properties tool, you can use the property selector to specify alias names for the property.

Alias Name Restrictions

Alias names cannot contain the following characters:

. < > [ ] { } ' "

Storing Alias Names in a File

Mapping between alias names and property lookup must be stored in a file with extension .pla. Review the example file located at <TestStandPublic>\Examples \Built-In Step Types\Property Loader Step Type\AliasNames.pla to see how alias names are stored in a file.

Storing Alias Names in a Database

Use a database table to store alias names and property lookup mappings. The Alias table schema contains the following columns:

ALIAS_NAME — Contains the name of the alias. This is the primary column for the table. Use the following data types for each database:

  • Access – VARCHAR(255)
  • MySQL – VARCHAR(255)
  • SQLServer – VARCHAR(255)
  • Sybase – VARCHAR(255)
  • Oracle – VARCHAR2(255)

PROPERTY_LOOKUP — Contains the property lookup mapped to the specified alias name. Use the following data types for each database:

  • Access – LONGTEXT
  • MySQL – VARCHAR(8000)
  • SQLServer – VARCHAR(8000)
  • Sybase – VARCHAR(32767)
  • Oracle – VARCHAR2(4000)
Note    A property loader plugin can override where and how the alias names are stored. A plugin can choose to store the alias name information in the property loader source itself so that you don’t have to remember to deploy the alias file.