The various methods of deploying code from Labview

[Rusttree]

From what we have experienced, there are a couple different ways to build and deploy code from Labview. We're a little confused what exactly the differences are between them.

1. Click the white arrow in the Robot Main VI.
2. Right-click on Robot Main.vi in the project explorer and select "Run".
3. Expand the last item in the project explorer window (I forget the name of it), right-click and select "Build" then "Run as startup".
4. Same as 3, but select "Build" then "Deploy".

I know that with #1, you get feedback back to the front panels of your code in Labview to help with troubleshooting. Other than that, are there differences with deploying the code to volatile vs. non-volatile memory in the cRIO? Other things?

Thanks!

[Greg McKaskle]

The first two have the same results.

The last item in the project is called the Build Specifications. Basically the Makefiles for constructing any applications or libraries from the VIs.
Here is my take at the terminology.

Build -- executes the script to build whatever you asked for, but it is stored locally on the host computer and isn't placed on the controller.
Deploy -- puts the latest version of the output of this script on the controller. If not built, it prompts you to build it first.
Set as Startup -- tells the controller to run this app, if present on power up.
Unset as Startup -- don't ...
Run as Startup -- The higher level command that builds, deploys, and sets as startup.

I confirmed the issue with the dashboard in your previous post. At this point in the season, you should typically be running from source and debugging, and I wouldn't recommend deploying and doing startup yet.

Greg McKaskle

[Rusttree]

Originally Posted by Greg McKaskle

At this point in the season, you should typically be running from source and debugging, and I wouldn't recommend deploying and doing startup yet.
Greg McKaskle

Agreed. We were more working along the lines of making sure everything worked the same as we remember last year. Then move on to actually doing some programming.

I'd still like to clarify one thing for curiosity's sake. If I make a new change to the code, do #1 or #2 from my list above, and then reboot the cRIO, is the new code retained? Or was it just loaded in RAM and lost on reboot?

[Greg McKaskle]

Run button works out of RAM. Deployment, which is included in Run As Startup are saved to flash.

Greg McKaskle