Searching for information about .fpgaconfig files and Veristand aliases

[joedowdle]

Hello all,

I did a search for information regarding the .fpgaconfig files and couldn't find what I was looking for or much of anything really.  Background about what I am doing:  I am using LabVIEW FPGA in conjunction with VeriStand with two PXI-7813R's.

These .fpgaconfig files are what configures the I/O paths and names for the RIO boards.   I want to have custom names for these channels by generating a .fpgaconfig or .txt with VeriStand aliases that I can import.  I want to be able to automatically do this from the FPGA project I have.  All the usef channels in the FPGA projact are named something other than the default.

I'm not sure which method would be easier or if either one is possible; but in case you're unfamiliar with the aliases from VeriStand, the text file just lists channals names like this:

     Targets/Controller/Hardware/Chassis/FPGA/RIO1/Input/Digital/DI0 on C1          channel_name
     Targets/Controller/Hardware/Chassis/FPGA/RIO1/Input/Digital/DI1 on C1          channel_name

I don't know much about the .fpgaconfig files except fo the existance of the default ones located in:  C:\Users\Public\Documents\National Instruments\NI VeriStand 2011\FPGA

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks.

[joedowdle]

I've still been looking for information that will help me and I found this:

https://www.ni.com/docs/en-US/bundle/veristand/page/create-fpga-configuration-file.html

Is this the only way to do it or can it be automatically generated somehow?  This would be a very time consuming process to do by hand for the applications I must support. Thanks.

[Jesse_D]

Hi Joe, 

I think you will need to modify the files manually. We have templates for your card at the same location you found the example .fpgaconfig files (C:\Users\Public\Documents\National Instruments\NI VeriStand 2011\FPGA). Also, you can use the FPGA Tools to create a default .fpgaconfig file but you will need to make the final tweaks by hand. 

To be clear, you also will need to create FPGA code that corresponds to the .fpgaconfig file you create. An overview of the entire process is given here. 

[joedowdle]

Thank you for the help.  I have been trying to check out that tool for a while now, but I keep having problems with LabVIEW crashing when I use any sort of FPGA project wizard.  I already have a post with that, that I am getting help with.  It's frustrating to say the least.  If I can't get that working then I may be forced to do it by hand the entire way.  I would think there would be something out there to automatically generate them... maybe this would be a good future update.

Thanks again.

[Jesse_D]

Hopefully as the IO tools develop they will take care of all of config file settings. I know that I this idea has come up before on the idea exchange. Why not vote it up?