Field point OS? Alternative languages

[Gary van der Merwe]

Hi.

What OS dose the Field Point 2 use?

The reason I ask is I would like to investigate using an alternative
programming languages to Labview. I have vast experience with text
languages (C, C++, C#, VB, Pascal, and a bit of ASM). I am finding to
frustrating not been able to declare variables and have ultimate
control over the flow of the program.

Gary

[Aaron_G]

Gary,

Your question is a little unclear. What do you mean by FieldPoint 2?

The operating system and programming language do not necessarily relate to each other. FieldPoint provides drivers (ethernet & serial)for LabVIEW and LabWindows/CVI (ANSI C). Additionally, Measurement Studio provides an interface (ethernet only) that can be used in any programming environment that Measurement Studio can be used in. Furthermore, the serial protocol is defined in the FP-1000/1001 Programmers Reference Manual so you can write a driver in any language and on any OS that you want.

Do you mean that you wish to write text based programming for the embedded control code of the FieldPoint RT controllers? If so, I recommend against it. Whereas there are posts/Developer Exc
hange articles that mention the Operating System, NI does customize certain features of the OS so simply knowing the OS does not guarentee that your code will work. Likewise, they do not guarentee that the OS will not change in a future update, nor do they publish the interface needed to talk to the low-level hardware drivers for the communication bus between the IO modules.

As for program flow control, this is moderately easy to accomplish with good programming techniques. LabVIEW is data flow dependant. It is very easy to force the execution of the code to occur in certain orders based upon the wiring of the error cluster from one VI to the next. Likewise, the proper use of sequence structures can also play a role in controlling the flow of the program.

Regards,
Aaron

[Gary van der Merwe]

Hi

Sorry about the about the lack of clarity.

The device I am programing is a Compact Fieldpoint.

I would rather be using a text base programing language. I have many
reasons for this, but I am not going to go further because I don't
want to get into an argument about the pros and cons about labview.

Is the OS devloped by NI? If that is the case, then I'll take the
answer that the NI salesman gave me (no) as correct.

Or is it a OS devloped by a 3rd party, then I am sure that there will
be an alterntave.

Gary

[Aaron_G]

Gary,

The OS was developed by a 3rd party (Pharlap ETS), but various options within it are customized and/or overridden by NI so you may have some difficulty in getting your code to work if you expect it to support all of the default options.

To the extent that LabVIEW gives you the ability to call external code through CIN's or DLL's, you may be able to put the majority of your code in a DLL that you have your embedded LabVIEW application call. This will preserve your ability to access hardware resources that are otherwise undocumented.

Regards,
Aaron