TestStand ATML and XML Report Viewer Support After Internet Explorer Retirement

Issue Details

Microsoft has announced the retirement of Internet Explorer (IE). Since the TestStand ReportView UI control relies on IE’s rendering engine to display XML and ATML reports, I would like to know how this affects report viewing in the TestStand Sequence Editor and shipping user interfaces, as well as how to view these reports outside of TestStand.

Solution

ATML and XML reports require a stylesheet (XSL) to be rendered as readable reports. While the shell component of IE could apply these stylesheets directly, other browsers like Chrome and Firefox do not support this functionality. The ReportView UI control in the TestStand Sequence Editor and other shipping User Interface uses the WebBrowser control (Trident Engine), not the IE shell. This control remains supported by Microsoft.

Starting with TestStand 2021 SP1, the WebBrowser control has been replaced with CEF (Chromium Embedded Framework). Reports are now rendered using CEF, and an HTML version of the report is automatically created alongside the XML file. This HTML file can be opened in any modern browser.

TestStand Report Viewer Utility

For users on earlier versions of TestStand, NI provides a standalone TestStand Report Viewer Utility to view ATML and XML reports. To use it, download and unzip the attached TSReportViewer.zip. The viewer will save the transformed HTML file to disk next to the report, allowing users to use any browser to later open the generated HTML file.

Known Limitations:

• XML reports larger than 40 MB are not supported.
• Report files must be stored locally for rendering; viewing files from network drives is not supported.

Additional Information

To make TS Report Viewer the default application for XML/ATML files:

1. Right-click an XML or ATML report file.
2. Select Open With > Choose another app.

3. Click More Apps > Look for another app on this PC.

4. Locate and select TSFileViewer.exe.
5. Choose Always use this app to open .xml files, then click OK.