.NET Core Support

[testergi]

Looking at using .NET Core (3.1 and beyond) with TestStand and Measurement Studio.  Can someone at NI provide a roadmap related to this space and possible features users can expect?

Any help will be appreciated.  Thanks.

[~jiggawax~]

I'm not NI but you might want to reach out to them specifically if you need their feedback.

I'm not quite sure I understand your concern.  Are you worried that they won't support .NET Core in the future?  Or are you looking for ways you can use .NET Core with TestStand and Measurement Studio?

Regards,

[testergi]

@jiggawax

Thanks for your reply.

I'm hoping to get more of an answer if TestStand will support .NET Core natively.  TestStand and related APIs appear they currently rely on the .NET (full) Framework.  Since .NET Core is the future, we are needing to know if/when/how NI will support .NET Core.  This would include things like TestStand, Measurement Studio, DAQmx (and other driver libraries), etc..)  We are developing internal .NET Core APIs that interact with our company products/processes and it would be great to allow those APIs to be used within TestStand.

I plan to contact NI directly in the near future.  Just wanted to know if they/community already had this topic on the forums.  Thanks again.

[testergi]

In addition to my earlier comment...

It would also be great to see what NI is thinking related to the upcoming WinUI for graphical applications.  Understanding WinUI 3 won't be released until .NET Core 5 is released in late 2020, it would be nice to use the NI widgets within a WinUI app built on .NET Core.

Hope this helps.

[~jiggawax~]

I see.  Most people are moving to Core for the multi platform support.  Unfortunately, TestStand is built on ActiveX which only works on Windows currently. 

I can't speak for the other products or for National Instruments or the future of it.  However, I don't see TestStand changing any time soon unless they completely overhaul it.

It would be cool if they added an adapter, assuming it needs to be different from the existing .net adapter.  Maybe an idea exchange?

If you do find anything else out I'd love to hear.

Regards,

[David_Jackson]

I reached out to NI via our support channels last week with a question on Measurement studio and TestStand support for .NET Core and this is the reply I got:

"Measurement Studio 2019 is not expected to work with .NET Core. NI is currently investigating the best way to support .NET Core across our platform since this impacts more than just MStudio (Drivers, TestStand, etc..). We're working closely with Microsoft and the IVI foundation to ensure we take an approach that considers the long-term health of our products and also compatibility with existing systems. We do not have a detailed roadmap to share at this time."

Its not just the multi-platform support that people are moving to .NET Core for.  It is the fact that .NET 4.8 is the last version of the .NET framework as it currently stands to be developed by Microsoft.  All future development will be targeted at .NET core, which is effectively what .NET 5.0 incorporates. 

I agree that I think the best way to move forward would be to add an adapter that supports calling modules built on .NET Core. It would be great to have some idea of when TestStand will be in a position to support .NET core.

[~jiggawax~]

Thanks for the follow up.  This is really good to know.

[testergi]

@David_Jaskson,

Thank you for providing this info.  As mentioned, hopefully NI sees the importance of moving forward with .NET Core supporting the different products.  Maybe we'll hear more after .NET 5 is RTMed.

[russellb]

Any ideas that .NET Core will be support with TestStand?

[dotNet_to_LabW]

Hello,

Is there any update? I mean, if (near)future version of TestStand is gonna support .NET Core?

Regards

Ricky