State vs SubVI, which one is faster/better?

[Mystogan]

Hi,

im working on a project which using a state machine to build an application for windows CE. I'm wondering which one is faster/better. I'm continuing the project, so basically I'm not the one who created the project from zero.

The task is simply to switch ON/OFF different valves at certain time. We have a subVI "command_DO" in the project which is used to send T/F to switch the valves (input is port number and a boolean).

In a certain situation, I need to turn ON/OFF some valves at once, let say 5 valves at once. For this case, I think I can call 5 subVI's in one state, which I think it would save time rather than calling 5 states with 1 subVI in each state. I thought, calling 5 states would cost 5x time of 1 state call.

But on the other side, this means I would have much subVIs in the state. Just imagine, if it becomes more complex, I think the  '1 state with 1 subVI'-form could help me with just simply calling states instead of calling subVIs directly.

I couldnt find much information about this (state vs subVI), and I hope someone can help me with this.

regards,

Yan.

[crossrulz]

I'd use a FOR loop.  But the subVI inside of the FOR loop and use Autoindexing to set your values.  That makes it very extendable if you need to add or remove commands.