What's the cost of Labwindows run time engine

[Ferris]

Dear Sir,

I have some questions about CVI and hope you can help me figure it out as usual.

1st, what's the advantage of labwindows against Labview? I know one is C programing environment and the other graphical environment. But the Labview seems more user-friendly.

2nd, What is run-time engine according to your definition? I know Matlab has similar component and is free of charge. Does the run time engine in Labwindows charge? If so, how much?

3rd, Previously, I thought labwindows is used to convert Labview program into C source code which is faster (how fast, compared with labview) and very popular in the industries, so companies do not have to buy labview and run it for just simple application in the field. But if the run time engine costs a lot, I can find no reason to use labwindows.

Thank you very much!

[AllenP]

1) LabVIEW is a graphical based programming environment and LabWindows/CVI is a C based programming environment.  Both can be used for similar tasks.  Users familiar with C may prefer CVI.  LabVIEW is typically easier to learn if you are unfamiliar with both.

 2)  The Run-Time Engine is a separate component that can be installed to execute LabWindows/CVI programs and LabVIEW programs.  It is free of charge for both LabVIEW and LabWindows/CVI.

3)   LabWindows/CVI does not convert any LabVIEW programs into C code.  LabVIEW programs are already compiled as you write them, so you won't need to convert them to C to use them.  You should see similar performance in similar LabVIEW and CVI code.

Allen P.

NI

[Colinr]

One additional thing to rember when compareing CVI to LabView is that if you wish to deploy LabView programs onto machines with out LabView installed then you will need the application builder  program( additional cost)  to generate the .exe file form the labview code. 

CVI alows you to generate the .exe  program within the IDE  so no additional cost.

[Ferris]

Thanks. That perfectly answers my concern.