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DESCRIPTION OF VI's

The Imperial Test Executive will provide a simple and efficient way to help you develop your test programs under the LabVIEW environment. The first step in Test Program development is to begin developing your tests. A generic boiler plate of a Test VI (called TSBOILER.VI) will furnish you with a foundation to make your source code as easy to develop & debug as possible, and also allow the executable code to be completely user friendly. Copy the boiler plate TSBOILER.VI into your test directory, and then you may begin to use it as a template as you develop each individual test. Twelve VI's will be used to handle all of the posting, data logging and graphic control to the user interface. These Imperial VI's will be placed in your test VI's during development, and are all listed below. After all of your tests are developed, you will simply need to place them into the Test Plan. A generic boiler plate of a Test Plan VI (called TPBOILER.VI) is included and is used to set up your test execuction. All you need to do is copy the TPBOILER.VI into your test directory, rename it, and then begin placing your VI's in the appropriate places.

Test Plan Development Overview

The test plan development has three important areas. The Pre-Run (eg. initialization,power-up ect..), The Test Step(s), and the Post-Run (eg. Power Down, etc..). There are two boiler plate VI's that can be used. TPBoiler.VI (TestPlan VI) this is where all of the test steps reside. The other is TSBoiler.VI (TestStep VI) this is where all of the code for the individual test steps is placed. TPBoiler is used once in each project, TSBoiler would be reused, as many times as required.

Step 1
Once all of your Test Program VI's are completed you are now ready to place them into the Test Plan. A generic boiler plate of a Test Plan VI (called TPBOILER.VI) is included and is used to set up your test execution. Copy the TPBOILER.VI into your test directory and rename it. It may be named what ever you wish as long as it ends with a VI extention. We reccommend referencing your Test Plan to the specific Test Program (eg. board1tp.VI).

Step 2 Front Panel
Open Boiler VI panel as shown in Figure 2. From the front panel, set/default "the number of states" the VI will have. The last State being the Error/Exit Handler. The Test Step is designed as a state machine. If an error, catastrophic failure or the operator wishes to Abort the test the Test Step will handle it and end. Any local variables that the program may require can be placed in the frame on the front panel labeled 'Local Variables'.You are also required to set/default the 'Test Name' in this panel.

Figure 2

Step 3 Init frame sequence
From the panel mode of the Boiler VI, open the diagram (select window then view diagram). There are three important sequences here. The first sequence as shown in Figure 3 can be used for variable initialization. Do not place any other Test Executive VI's in this sequence.

Figure 3

Step 4
This VI as shown in Figure 4, is setup as a state machine that is self incrementing. If in any of the states, an error occurs, the machine will auto jump to the end and handle the error then exit. If the operator Aborts the Test Step, the State Machine will stop and exit the VI. The first state tells the Test Executive that the test step is to begin.

Figure 4

Step 5 Post Description State
The second state (Figure 5) can be repeated as many times as needed in the test step states. This is the post description with a blank string input, this string should be a detailed explanation of what the test is doing at this point in time, how the UUT is stimulated, what is being measured, and where measurements are being taken. These are just a few examples of what you might place here. This should be done for every measurement, and it provides a great tool for troubleshooting and debugging code. The test information window has scroll bars so your comments can be very descriptive.

The TestExec/Labview variable is used for development when not running the test executive. Setting this variable to 'true', will allow Pre Run and Post Run VI’s to run. The Stim/Measurement VI’s are inserted in the various states after state 0. After the measurement state the Comparison state is set up.

The Stim/Measurement and Comparison is repeated as needed.

Figure 5

Step 6
All of your stimulas and measurement code is placed in this state(s).

Figure 6

Step 7
After stimulus and measurement states, the next step is to post to the test executive the measurement taken. The TECompareVI is used to evaluate, and post to the test executive. The Test Executive can supply a datalog and also logges all data to an odbc database.

Figure 7

Step 8
The third sequence as shown in Figure 8, is the end test.VI. This tells the Test Executive that the test Step is completed. Once you have a Test Step completed, Save the VI using 'Save As' so not to change the boiler plate VI’s.

Figure 8

Step 9 Open TestPlan.VI
Open the TestPlan.VI as shown in Figure 1. This is where your test steps will reside.

Figure 9

Step 10 Pre-run sequence

The first VI to insert is the PRE Run or Power Up VI (if needed). The Pre Run Frame is also where the program can get information from the Test Exec such as Operator Mode, Diagnostic’s flag, UUT Serial number.

Figure 10

Step 11 Inserting Test Steps

The Test Plan Boiler Plate provides you with two locations to place your test VI's, After the first two tests simply 'add case after' the last test step and before the programmable function keys (note: each sequence is labled in the boiler).After the last test step the next three sequences are reserved for the programmable function keys in the Test Executive.

Figure 11

Programmable Function Keys [F5],[F6],[F7]

When you have completed entering your Test Step VI's the next three sequences are used to configure the optional programmable function keys. If you have a VI that you would like to have operator accessable from the runtime mode, you may connect the VI in these three locations, and modify your .TES file to label the keys.(These are the only three keys that have this option). If you wish to not to use these programmable keys, leave the three sequences in the default state of the boiler.

Figure 12

Step 13 Post Run

After the last comparsion, the next sequence(shown in Figure 8) has a select case based on the Test Exec\LabVIEW boolean input. This accomodates running outside of the Test Executive during development, a Postrun (eg. Power Down, Reset..) VI should be placed in the false selection frame.This sequence contains only the ENDTEST.VI and must be the last sequence in the test step

Figure 13

VI Descriptions

BEGIN TEST.VI

The BEGINTST .VI is stored under IMPERIAL\LabView directory. This VI must be placed in the beginning of your code before any data postings occur. The purpose of this VI is to inform the Test Executive that the test step is about to begin. The name of the currently running test is the only input to this VI. This VI should be placed in a sequence all by itself.

TECMPARE.VI

The TECMPARE.VI is stored under LabView\IMPERIAL directory. It will provide the programmer with a clear and effective format of handling all posting and data logging to the Imperial Test Executive and to the programmers test VI. This VI must be placed after each measurement when a comparison and a posting is desired. This VI will handle all of the comparison and return a pass or fail to your VI. The input Suspect Parts is optional, the programmer can pass in a string that represents the parts being tested which form the ambiguity group of the test. After a complete run, if suspect parts was used and diagnostics turned on a histogram analysis is performed and the result will be displayed as the most likely to least likely components.

Test	Enter the name of the test step (name in .tes file)
Test Description	Enter the name of this measurment (each individual test)
Units	Reals (VDC,VRMS...) Bit (BIT or BYTE Comparison) Digi (RESULT< 0 = FAIL, or RESULT > 0 = PASS) All Units are limited to 4 characters.
Suspect Parts	Enter parts being tested ("U1,U2,U3") Separated by comma's only. (No Spaces!). This input is optional, if diagnostics are to be utilized every test should have an input to suspect parts. This will ensure that you will arrive at the most accurate results.
Digits beyond decimal point	Enter number of digits beyond the decimal point for display.
Result	Actual measurement (real or integer)
HiLimit	Enter High Limit for comparison (real or integer)
LoLimit	Enter Low Limit for comparison (real or integer)
Output	Returns a string to post to Test Results Window of the VI and the Test Executive.
Pass/Fail	Returns True (Pass), or False (Fail).

POST DESCRIPTION.VI

The POSTDSCR.VI is stored under LabView\IMPERIAL directory. It provides a method for the programmer to pass information to the operator via the Test description window in the Test Executive. This is a very convenient way for the programmer to inform the operator of what is currently being executed in the test, this is a very useful troubleshooting/debugging tool.

TE_INFO.VI

The TE_INFO.VI is stored under IMPERIAL\LabView directory. It is used by the programmer to obtain information about the mode of operation the operator has selected in the Test Executive.

Input Parameters (queries):

Command Parameters:

Output Parameters:

END TEST.VI

The ENDTEST.VI is stored under IMPERIAL\LabView directory. This VI must be placed at the end of each test step in your code.This VI should be in a sequence by itself.

TE_WAIT.VI

The TE_WAIT.VI is stored under IMPERIAL\LabView directory. This VI is similar to a hourglass display, informing the operator that the test program is not hung up, but executing a time consuming operation. A TRUE input opens up the dialog wait display and starts the wait cycle, a FALSE input closes the dialog wait display and stops the cycle. This will is done with two Wait VI's, one prior to the operation, and one after the operation.

TE_POWER.VI

The TE_POWER.VI is stored under IMPERIAL\LabView directory. This VI is used to control the power indicator which on the front panel interface of the Test Executive. TRUE illuminates screen indicator and FALSE turns off indicator.

ENDUSER.VI

The ENDUSER.VI is stored under IMPERIAL\LabView directory. This VI ends user defined code that is launched by the Programmable Function Keys in the test executive [F5,F6, & F7]. This re-enables the front panel of the Test Executive This Must Not Be Forgotten otherwise front panel display will be left disabled leaving the system inoperable. The input to this VI is displayed in the Test Information Window and is an optional input. The user programmable functions are located in the testplan immediatly after the last test step in the sequence.

DASH_NUM.VI

The DASH_NUM.VI is stored under IMPERIAL\LabView directory. If the products part number has a part number and an associated dash number this VI will return the number before the dash and the number after the dash.

Example: Part# = 12345-67890
Returned Part Number: 12345
Returned Dash Number: 67890

.TES EDITOR

After your test VI's are complete, you will need to launch the .TES File Editor to create your .TES file for the specific UUT. This icon is located under the Imperial Test Program Group. You may open a new .TES file or you are given the option to create a new file. When you are done creating your .TES file in the editor you will need to save it to the TesPlan Path. If you are unsure of the exact path, you may use the 'Browse Button' to locate it for you. The following information needs to be supplied to create a correct .TES file.

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