Variant Manager for NI TestStand

New part number. Same sequence. No code.

A new variant arrives and, on paper, almost nothing changed — an assembly number, two internal IDs the part reports over CAN, a tolerance that moved. But to get it running you have to open the sequence, find the values buried in the steps, and edit them without breaking anything else.

Variant Manager takes those values out of the sequence. You import the limits and variables from your own .seq file once, and from then on every variant is a set of values you edit in a clean interface — not a file you hand-craft, and not a sequence you reopen.

Download and evaluate

The download is free and includes a 6-day evaluation with the full feature set. The TestStand loader library is included from the evaluation onward — it is not a separate purchase.

The evaluation clock is measured by the station's TPM counter and only advances while the software is actually running, so time on a powered-down station is not consumed — and it cannot be extended by changing the system date.

Download the installer (.msi) — Windows x64

Buy a perpetual license — one station, no expiry.

How this is done today, and why it hurts

There are two established ways to move test values out of a sequence, and both have the same shape of problem.

An INI file read by a custom LabVIEW VI. Before you change a single limit you first have to build the file format and the VI that imports it. It works, and then it freezes: adding one more parameter means touching the INI, the VI and the sequence again. The effort is front-loaded and it never stops being paid.

TestStand's Property Loader with CSV or Excel. No custom code, but the artifact you end up editing is a spreadsheet of property paths. A technician who does not know the sequence internals cannot look at that grid and see which number is the upper limit of which measurement. It is a data dump, not an interface.

And both collapse the same way when variants multiply. Ten part numbers means ten INI sections — or ten INI files — or ten CSV or Excel files, each carrying the identical list of parameter names with different values. Nothing links them, nothing validates them, and nothing tells you that variant seven is missing a value until the line stops.

A concrete case

An automotive part where the only difference between two variants is the assembly number and the internal IDs the unit reports back. With an INI file you create a second data group and retype the values. With the Property Loader you create a second spreadsheet containing the same two properties with different contents. In Variant Manager you duplicate the variant, rename it, and change two fields.

How it works

1. Build your sequence in TestStand as you always have — with your limits and your variables, given default values or left empty.
2. Open Variant Manager and select the sequence file. It reads it through the TestStand engine directly — no export step, no intermediate file, no VI to write.
3. Import the parameters. Take everything, or pick only what you expect to change between variants.
4. That becomes your base variant — the full set of parameters with the values for the first part number.
5. For every new part number, duplicate the base variant, rename it and edit what differs. The sequence is never opened again.
6. At run time, a library call at the start of your sequence reads the values for the active variant and writes them into the limits and variables that already exist in TestStand. From the sequence's point of view, the values were always there.

An interface built for the values, not for the file format

Imported parameters are organized in sections — the limits available for editing on one side, the sequence variables (globals and container variables) on the other. A test engineer or a technician edits a tolerance or an ID by finding it by name and typing the new value. There is no property path to decode and no column to count.

Not just limits

Anything you stored in a sequence variable becomes variant-editable. If the CAN or SPI command IDs and payloads your test sends differ between variants, and you kept them in variables, changing them is now editing a field instead of opening the sequence.

Nothing ships half-configured

A variant cannot be saved as ready while any parameter is still without a value. And at run time, the loader validates before the test starts: if a value is missing, execution is stopped up front instead of failing cryptically halfway through a sequence, on a unit, on the line.

Every change is on the record

Editing a value writes an entry to the history with the previous value, the new value, who made the change and when. There is no silent modification — which is the question that always gets asked after a bad build, and normally cannot be answered.

What this does to your TestStand licensing

Changing a value inside a sequence requires opening it, and opening it requires a TestStand Development seat. That is why stations that only run tests often end up carrying a development license just so somebody can adjust a limit.

Variant Manager moves those value changes out of the sequence, so that particular reason to put a development seat on a production station goes away.

To be clear about what this does not mean: you still need a TestStand Development license to write, edit and maintain the sequence itself. Variant Manager does not replace the TestStand development environment and does not let you build test logic. It removes the need to reopen a finished sequence just to change values — nothing more, and nothing less.

What Variant Manager is not

• Not a sequence editor. Test logic is developed in TestStand. This tool reads your sequence and never writes to it.
• Not an operator interface. It is for test engineers and technical staff managing product configuration, not for the line HMI.
• Not a replacement for TestStand. TestStand still runs the tests.

Requirements

• Windows x64 with the .NET 8 runtime
• NI TestStand installed on the machine where sequences are imported
• TPM 2.0 enabled on the station. This is a hard requirement — licensing and the local database encryption are bound to it. Verify it before purchasing; some older test stations do not have it.

Specifications

How licensing works

1. Download and install on the station. The 6-day evaluation starts automatically.
2. The software shows a station ID derived from that machine's TPM.
3. Buy a license and provide that station ID at checkout.
4. We email your license key. Apply it in the software and the station is licensed permanently.

The key is cryptographically bound to that station ID, so it activates that machine and no other.

Questions

Do I have to rewrite my existing sequences?
No. Variant Manager imports the limits and variables that are already in your sequence. What changes is where their values come from, not how the sequence is written.

Does it modify my sequence file?
Never. The sequence is read-only from this tool's perspective. Values are written to the station's database, and the loader injects them at run time.

What if a variant is missing a value?
You cannot mark it as ready, and if it somehow reaches production incomplete the loader stops execution before the test begins rather than failing partway through.

Do I still need a TestStand Development license?
Yes, to develop and maintain the sequence itself. What you no longer need is to reopen that sequence — and therefore hold a development seat on a production station — every time a value has to change.

Is the TestStand loader an extra purchase?
No. It is included from the evaluation download onward.

What if I replace the station PC?
Contact us with the new station ID and we reissue your key for the new machine at no cost.