How can i pass XNET references between steps

[OpenECU]

Hello,

This may be more of a Labview question than a Teststand one. I need help passing an XNET reference to a VI in Teststand. The VI uses the CAN XNET "Create Session" VI, which in turn accepts an input called "Frame" or "Database". I have no problem browsing the Frame or Database by clicking on the control in Labview but I cannot find a way to hardcode a constant to this control in TestStand. The same thing for the "Interface" control. 

I tried writting a VI that will take a string imput and converts it into a reference value before passing it to the XNET VI, but I am having trouble doing so. Can someone please point me into the right direction, perhaps with an example ?

Thanks,

Sam

[DRock · Accepted solution]

Hey Sam,

The inputs you're looking at are just LabVIEW I/O Controls.  They have some "extended" functionality within LabVIEW, as they are often able to do things like query the system for attached devices, or load a list of recently accessed databases (etc). 

At their heart, however, LabVIEW I/O Controls are a special container of two things:  a device name (ASCII String) and a session number.  

When you configure a VI that has your XNET Frame / Interface inputs set up via the connector pane as Controls (inputs) to the VI, NI TestStand will automatically recognize the control as an I/O control and represent it as such in TestStand.  The caveat is that the "extended" functionality of the I/O Control is confined to LabVIEW, so the I/O Control is simply represented as its more primitive String + Number container.  You can either leave the TestStand Step Settings pane as is, which will automatically use the default values for the VI's controls, or you can uncheck the "Default" box within the TestStand Step Settings pane and add your own values for the I/O Control cluster.  If you do this, you'll have to expand the container and specifically add both the Device Name (i.e. "CAN3") and the Session Number (i.e. 0).    

Here's a KnowledgeBase Article that describes the LabVIEW I/O Control and its interaction with NI TestStand.

Message Edited by DRock on 02-19-2010 02:57 PM

Message Edited by DRock on 02-19-2010 02:57 PM

[OpenECU]

Hello Derek,

Thanks for the info. I ended up using the activeX VIs to change the string data to the session variant. Now the controls used are strings, which are compatible with TS datatypes.

Thanks,

Sam