I think the real question is are you going to be swapping modules in and out of the backplanes after the systems are deployed? Normally before a system is deployed, I configure it using MAX and the ".iak" file is created and saved. When the ".iak" file is saved, the target is updated and the "fpbank.ini" file created on the target. These files are necessary when using the FP vi's to access I/O.
For example. If a host program uses the FP-Read, the vi needs a valid copy of the ".iak" file on the host. If an embedded vi on a cFP uses the FP-Read, it needs a valid copy of the "fpbank.ini" file on the cFP.
If you need to swap modules after systems are deployed, you need to figure out if there is a way to programatically create new .iak and fpbank.ini files without MAX. I don't think there is a way to automatically detect what is there without using MAX. I do think that the fpbank.ini could be created programatically if the user told your application exactly what modules were installed in what slots of a particular controller/backplane. You would need to reboot the controller after the new .ini file was copied in. The .iak file is a bit tougher because it is a binary file.
