Hi un-programmer, 🙂
I'm sorry to hear about your frustration. Let's break the problem down a little for starters.
1. What do you mean by elevator VI or program? Is this an example program you found with the Example Finder? If it's your custom program, maybe you could post it online for us to have a look at?
2. So, you'd like to set up your cRIO for analog output. I'd recommend starting with the basics:
a) Does your lecturer or TA understand how the cRIO works and are they willing to explain it to you? They probably will be able to tell you that a cRIO project will often have VI's in three different "locations." Typically, the FPGA VI is the LV code that will be automatically compiled into VHDL code and "written" to the FPGA upon deployment; the Real-Time VI is the VI that handles the deterministic processing of the data coming to/from the FPGA; and the host computer (PC) VI is used to handle the storage of data that is transfered (usually by network-published shared variables). That's important information to start with.
b) Have you read the Getting Started Guide found at <http://www.ni.com/pdf/manuals/372596a.pdf>?
c) Here is a link to the sample Course Manual for the CompactRIO and LabVIEW Development Fundamentals Course: <http://www.ni.com/pdf/training/us/crio_sample.pdf>. It happens to cover some of the basic setup procedures for the cRIO and may be worth reading.
d) I also recommend going through help files where applicable. The "context help" feature (ctrl+H) in LabVIEW is useful for interpretting the purpose of LabVIEW functions, too. Can you get a copy of the manual?
3. FPGA code deployment: just run the FPGA VI. It should compile and then deploy it to the FPGA.
4. Regarding further training, there are definitely LabVIEW websites that outline the basic functions of LabVIEW. I am not so sure about LV FPGA online training, so you'll have to look around.
You could also give us a call at 866.ASK.MY.NI to open up a Service Request and we can help you troubleshoot problems.
If you were to ask more experienced engineers about the relative difficulty of LabVIEW and/or cRIO and I am sure they would almost all say that things have gotten much more intuitive and "easy" as time goes on. That's good news for you just as much as it is for the rest of us. We all have to start somewhere and our success is generally determined by our enthusiasm. If you're passionate about technology and engineering, then no one can tell you you're supposed to do anything else. Welcome to the community.
Regards,
Dan Richards
Dan Richards
Certified LabVIEW Developer
