Graphically Editing Test Patterns
Contents
The MxSuite offers a powerful way of creating test data. Often test patterns are easily created or edited graphically using only your mouse. Alternatives exist to creating the stimuli and expected responses graphically. Sometimes you may prefer to enter the data manually. See Manipulating Signals.
When you first create a TestCase, the patterns for each Signal will be straight horizontal lines, with a value corresponding to the Signal's Initial Value in the Signal Dictionary. There are several edit modes for Signal patterns. The edit mode depends on the classification of data represented by each Signal. The edit modes, along with the graphic editor characteristics are described below.
This edit mode is available on Discrete Signals, which can only assume integer values. •Step - Hold down Ctrl and double-click in the Signal plot area to insert or remove a step. The magnitude of the value depends on the vertical position at which you double click.
•Pulse - Double-click to insert or remove a unit Pulse. The magnitude of the pulse value depends on the vertical position at which you double-click. The width of the pulse is based on the current display grid. Use the zoom control to modify the grid. You can switch to ramp mode (described for Continuous Signals) by using this button on the Signal Toolbar: •Drag Time - To move or extend a pulse select one of its sides and drag it to the left or right. Note that a pulse is removed when its sides are coincident. •Drag Value - Select a horizontal line segment to drag it up or down •Edit Transition - Move the mouse over a vertical line segment. The line turns red to indicate it is selected. 1.Right-click to display the cursor menu or press F4:
Note: If no transition is selected, Insert Transition is displayed.
2.Using this dialog, you can: ▪Change the time when the transition occurs. ▪Add a description to the transition. When a description is present, the transition is marked with a square orange dot in the TestCase. The text of the description is displayed in reports and when the mouse is passed over the transition. ▪Change the value of the transition. If a constant has been defined, you can click ▪Click the down arrow in the Value box to select null data or an Enum label: |
The Continuous Signal editor allows you to quickly create signal waveforms. There are a few basic functions listed below: •Ramp - Double-click at a point in the Plot Area of a Continuous Signal to insert an Anchor. This locks that point on the line so it does not move. Once you have an Anchor, click elsewhere and drag vertically to insert a ramp between the Anchor point and the drag point. The step size of the ramp is based on the current display grid. To modify the grid, use the zoom control. You can switch to Pulse mode (described for Discrete Signals) by using this button on the Signal Toolbar:
•Drag Value - Select any horizontal line segment and drag it up or down. Note that horizontal line segments are amalgamated when they have the same value. •Drag Time - Select any vertical line and drag it horizontally. Note that vertical line segments are amalgamated when they have the same value. •Edit Transition - Move the mouse over a vertical line segment. The line turns red to indicate it is selected. 1.Right-click to display the cursor menu or press F4:
Note: If no transition is selected, Insert Transition is displayed.
2.Using this dialog, you can: ▪Change the time when the transition occurs. ▪Add a description to the transition. When a description is present, the transition is marked with a square orange dot in the TestCase. The text of the description is displayed in reports and when the mouse is passed over the transition. ▪Change the value of the transition. This can be done in Counts or in Engineering Units. If a constant has been defined, you can click
▪Click the down arrow in the Value box to select null data: |
Messages are shown as a spike (vertical line) on the Signal plot line. Each spike represents the transmission or receipt of a message. Note that the raw data for a message can be seen in the status bar at the bottom of the screen.  Message spikes (transitions) •Insert/Edit - Double-click on a message Signal to insert a message transmission (or expected message receipt). A dialog box is displayed. Enter the data that you want to transmit or expect to receive. You can enter the data as a string of Hex values or a string of characters. oSelecting the "Pass/Fail MASK" box allows you to enter a mask. The bits in value are tested only if the corresponding mask bit is set. oIf you have created a Message Definition (see Editing Message Fields) you can also display the data in the message buffer already decoded into its individual fields. •Just move the mouse over the line and the value at that location is displayed in the status bar at the bottom of the MxVDev main window. •Edit Transition - Move the mouse until a message spike is highlighted. Double-click the spike to edit the message. Some Signals have a custom transition editor. This is the default dialog for editing message transitions with defined fields:  Click to expand. Use the Message Raw Data tab to enter or view the contents of the message as hex values. To edit the message as text, select the Text checkbox.  Entering raw message data. Click to expand. Once a Message transition (or expected receipt) has been added to a Signal trace you can edit or delete it by either double-clicking the transition or by right-clicking and selecting Edit Transition. In either case, the Edit Message form is opened. To delete the transition, click the Remove button. You can also use the Transition List to edit the message. |
A Task Signal is used to invoke the execution of a C function. If the Signal trace has a non-zero value at a particular Test Step, the C function is invoked. If it has a value of zero, the C function is not invoked. •Insert/Edit - Double-click anywhere in the Task Signal to insert a single event spike. As the test executes, when the cursor reaches that spike the associated function is invoked. •Edit Transition - Move the mouse until an event spike is highlighted. If you double-click, the event spike is removed.
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Event transitions (or simply "events") are represented on the Signal plot line as spikes. Depending on the definition in the Signal Dictionary, the transition may or may not have a numeric or Enum value.  Event transitions with Enum values
 Event transitions with no value •Double-click in the plot area to insert a spike. You may not be prompted to enter any data. •If a form is presented, it is customized specifically for the data required for that event. |
Array transitions are shown as a spike (vertical line) on the Signal plot line. Double-click on the plot line to create or edit a transition.  Array Transitions
If the element is blank (such as [2,0] above), the value of the element is unchanged. Array element Signals are edited according to the type (discrete or continuous) of the elements.  An Array Element Signal of Continuous Type |
In MxVDev you can select a section of a Signal waveform (a Range) and perform editing operations on it, such as cut, copy, and delete. If a part of a Signal waveform has been cut or copied, the transitions that define the waveform are stored in the MxVDev paste buffer. These transitions can be pasted back into the Signal waveform. To select part of a Signal: 1.Place the mouse pointer over the Signal at the start of the section to select and click and hold the left mouse button. 2.While holding the button down, slide the mouse to the end of the section. 3.The selected Range is highlighted in blue. 4.Right-click on the selected area and select from the choices presented: oCopy copies Expected Transitions to the paste buffer. oCopy Actual copies Actual Transitions to the paste buffer. You can also copy multiple transitions from the Transition List into the paste buffer and paste them the same way. Single transitions cannot be copied. Pasting•When pasting a section of Signal from the paste buffer you can either: oInsert the paste buffer section by pointing to the insert location, right click and select Paste, or oReplace a section by first selecting a Range to replace, then right-clicking on the selected section and selecting Paste. Notes: •Transition times are relative to the beginning of the selected Range. •The value of the Signal before the first transition in the pasted Range is not changed. The initial value of the Range is not copied or pasted. •You cannot cut from one Signal and paste to another. However, you can drag and drop an entire Signal from one TestCase to another. •To apply Signal minimum and maximum limits, use Paste Special. Copy SpecialThe Copy Special command is available when Actual Transitions are in the selected Range. 1.Select the Range to copy. 2.Select Edit->Copy Special from the MxVDev main menu. 3.Choose the type of transitions to copy: Expected or Actual.
4.Click OK to copy the transitions in the Range to the MxVDev paste buffer. 5.Use Paste or Paste Special to paste the transitions. Note: The transitions are always pasted as Expected Transitions, regardless of the type copied. Paste SpecialYou can access Paste Special using Edit->Paste Special or from the TestCase context (right-click) menu. Paste Special gives you the following option:
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The Insert/Delete Time function adds or removes time to the selected Signal (or a group of selected Signals). The time is inserted or deleted at the point of the measurement cursor. All transition times on the Signal after the cursor are adjusted. There are two methods: •To insert or delete an interval equal to the Test Resolution, use the Insert Time ( •To insert or delete an interval of any size, select the Insert/Delete Time command from the Signal menu. When you use this method, you can click the checkbox to modify the TestCase duration by the same time period.
Note: Be sure to set the measurement cursor before selecting the Signals. |
) or Delete Time (
) icons in the 
Undo and Redo ChangesTestCase‑>Undo (shortcut: Ctrl-Z) reverses the most recent editing command. For example, this can be used to remove an unintentional modification to the test Signal. Undo/Redo features operate individually for each test case. If you undo too many changes, TestCase->Redo (shortcut: Ctrl-Y) can restore the changes again. For example, if a Signal was changed, Undo will remove the changes and Redo will insert them again. |
Notes:
•To select multiple Signals, hold down the shift key and click on the first and last Signal of the group. You can use the up and down arrows in the Pick Signals dialog to arrange the Signals into a consecutive group.
oTo select non-consecutive Signals, hold down the Ctrl key and click on each Signal.
oTo select all the Signals in the TestCase, press Ctrl-A.
•You can annotate any transition in a Signal to help document your TestCase. Select a vertical line segment, press F4 or right-click and select Edit Transition. Add your annotation in the comment field, and select OK. When you pass the mouse over the transition the comment is displayed.
•To reset Commanded or Expected Values for a Signal to all zero values, right-click on the Signal Plot Area then select Signal‑>Clear. This feature is available for individual DataBlocks also.
Video Demonstration: Editing Signals
