Design considerations if interface is going to be C or LabVIEW

[Terry_ALE]

The LabVIEW and C interface to LabVIEW FPGA seem to support the same functions.

Are there design considerations for a LabVIEW FPGA design if it will be interfaced to using the C API (as opposed to the LabVIEW API)?

I cannot come up with anything but this is a question that has come up more than once and thought I would post to the forum to see what comes back.

[RavensFan]

Where has this question come up before?

Do you prefer programming in C or in LabVIEW?

[Terry_ALE]

In projects and training course discussions (not on this forum).

I have a preference for LabVIEW.

[rolfk]

I have no experience with the C interface to the NI FPGA sofware, but while it is in theory of course the same and LabVIEW at some point has to interface to the shared libraries that implement most of the interaction between an FPGA target and the LabVIEW software and that shared library interface is in reality a C based API, I have a certain hunch that the LabVIEW FPGA interface is a lot more exercised and therefore field tested.

And it is probably more likely to get some knowledgeable support from NI outside of the NI-RIO development team, if a problem occurs during the use of LabVIEW FPGA than when you use the C FPGA interface.

[dmysliwiec13]

Here is a support manual which briefly describes what you can and cannot do with the C API on the FPGA. These might be useful considerations to keep in mind when designing a project. 

What You Can Do with the FPGA Interface C API

http://zone.ni.com/reference/en-XX/help/372928G-01/capi/overview/

This documentation does not go into too much detail. However, programming with the C API for FPGA is much less straight forward and has potential to cause great frustration. 

Danielle

National Instruments

[Terry_ALE]

What You Can Do with the FPGA Interface C API seems interesting.  It is from 2013.  I could not find a newer version.