How Is Array Data Stored In a Database from TestStand?

Issue Details

I am logging array data to a SQL database using TestStand's database logging functionality by saving the arrays as AdditionalResults of some of the steps in my sequence. When I look at the PROP_RESULT table using the TestStand Database Viewer, I can see that the array result is saved to the table, but the Data column is empty. 

How do I view the actual array data?

Solution

When arrays are stored in a database by TestStand, the array data is saved in binary format in the PROP_BINARY table, not in the PROP_RESULT table itself. You can view the binary data in the Database Viewer:

1. In the Database Explorer pane, navigate to Default»Tables»PROP_BINARY
2. Right-click on PROP_BINARY and select View Data
3. In the Results tab, you should see the a row for each binary result stored in the table
4. Double click on the Binary Data value under the Data column to open the the View Binary Data dialog. This window will show you the numeric values in a table, a graph, or you can click on the Memory tab to see the raw bytes.

The array data is written by concatenating the binary representation of each numeric value in the array. By default, numeric values are stored in R8 (8-byte floating point) format and little-Endian byte order.

Additional Information

If you would prefer that each array element is written to the PROP_RESULT table, you can use a for loop in your sequence to iterate through the array and call an Additional Result step to log each element of this array to the database. The attached example shows how this could be accomplished.